Help - FHA renewal

Hello, I read here endlessly but here's my first inquiry for some ideas. I've been a board member for a few years on our 3 member board both other members are now new to the board and I've picked up the treasurer job. Our former president was a one-man-show and literally did it all without sharing. So it as if all three of us are new.

We have FHA approval due to a new developer purchasing the incomplete last building after the original developer went bankrupt. This new developer attained FHA approval to help him sell the units. For 2015, that certification will be two years old and have to be renewed. He used a company that says they will notify us and handle all of it.

My questions are:

Do you always get a company to do this kind of thing for you?

Is this something we should be shopping around for. IOW, is there price differences for such service? Do fees differ?

Basically can someone briefly give me the way this is usually done?

I thank you very much for any input.

What a nightmare. Yes, we went through this about 3 years ago when our on site property manager fell asleep at the wheel. Self-Managed with single non-certed PM on site. (clueless). We could have totally avoided this situation if we had a real PM that knew that this train was coming down the tracks.

Yes, there are speciality companies that do this and you should use one. It's very, very difficult to do this yourself. They tried to have some gp attorney do it and it bombed. Google this and you'll find specialists in this field. Even lenders are no help. No more spot appraisals. The fee for doing this is not bad and I believe that the firm which they later hired, does not charge if they do not get the re-cert.

This is hell on resales - We got lucky and found a buyer with a suitcase full of cash (20%) down.

Google, Google, Google.

First thing = Thanks for all of the answers.

But to answer Ellie with more. Yes, we are self managed. Nope, the former president did not give us one single shred of paper including past receipts, insurance polices or anything else.

We are now 5 buildings with a total of 40 units (8 in each bldg). The first developer built 4 of them, put up the framework of this new 5th building and then declared bankruptcy and ran off with anything in the treasury. Eventually another developer came along & bought the partial building and the land for the final 6th building. He completed this building and then it became part of the association.

The new builder/developer purchased FHA certification & paid for it himself from one such nationwide company you refer to. The former president supplied the answers to "the company". The association became certified March, 2011 - Then in 2013 the owners here trying to sell insisted the FHA be paid and renewed when asked at our annual meeting. So, the 'then' president paid the same company to renew it.

Now, it's going to be my turn in the barrel. I was on the board at that time but the ex-president did not share anything.

I basically am asking here, if there is a fee to HUD or if the fee is for the company doing the work instead of the self managed board? I mean no company does things for nothing. So, I read on the web things like cost is $850.00 and I guess I should have been more clear with my query. What I need to know is 'if' we let the same company handle it - or would it be wise to shop around for a better price. Is there differences in fees to have this done. Or is the actual fee to HUD that much??

I haven't seen whatever we have currently but you are correct from what little I've seen on the web. We could indeed do the paperwork if it is a money saver to do it that way. I just want to know the various charges and if they could be shopped for and the government fee itself to see where the money goes. I am doing the treasury and believe me, I like to see us keep the money rather than pay a fee just because someone did this before and we might be smarter to switch or shop around a bit.

So, let me put it this way what do you save by doing it yourselves? Or how much is the actual 'fee' to the government of the prices I see on the web from these companies that want to do everything for you?

I hope I am explaining clearer and thanks.

If you do a little research via the web, you'll find that this is one of those projects that you probably do not want to attempt yourself. So if you submit it, don't cross your t's and dot your I's, then what?

Ah,ha!!! Now you're cooking. Thanks for that thought. I do have bank register back to the year one. Nope, no two (2) payments made in 2013, only one for $850.00 paid to an online nationwide service to do it for you. Ok, so I searched all over the web. This is like some guarded secret by the services that want big bucks to do it for you.

What I have discovered is there is absolutely NO fee paid to HUD itself for FHA Certification. IOW, the services run you anywhere from 750.00 way up over a thousand. It is their fee plain and simple to do the work for you. Think about that, you need to feed them the information to fill the form(s) anyway. I also managed to find the 2014 required documents. I do believe the lady here that suggested we do it ourselves is a winner for us. This is all cut and dried. We have no arrears, we have a substantial reserve, we have excellent insurance coverage, and I run a nice monthly & annual budget sheet. I don't mind paying professional services when necessary but right now, I think we'd be nuts not to try it. You can do it more than once if it fails and you have 3 months prior to the date as well as 3 months following the date of renewal. I will check with the other board members to see if 'we're game' to try it.