Fannie Mae won’t finance sales at OC senior community 

Nearly two years after South Florida’s Surfside condo collapse, the tragedy is reverberating in one of the West Coast’s largest senior communities. 

In late January, Fannie Mae, the U.S. government-sponsored mortgage backer, halted warranty approvals for more than 6,000 condos at Laguna Woods Village, a 55+ community in the Orange County city of Laguna Woods, the OC Register reported. 

The pullout by Fannie Mae applies to one part of the community, Third Laguna Hills Mutual, that represents about half the total units, according to the Register. The development, which calls itself  “Southern California’s premier active lifestyle community for people 55 and older,” is over 50 years old and currently has around 19,000 total residents. 

But Laguna Woods Village has a nearly $1 billion insurance deficiency, according to the community’s HOA management firm, which led Fannie Mae to deem 6,100 condos in the community ineligible for the mortgage giant’s financing or refinancing programs. 

In 2021, in the wake of the Surfside collapse that killed 98 people — and exposed the condo association’s poor coverage — the federal mortgage giant implemented new standards, leading mortgage lenders across the country to reevaluate their own financing practices. 

In Laguna Woods, the federal pullout means prospective buyers, or owners who are looking to refinance, will have few financing options. While buyers can still obtain VA-approved loans or more expensive non federally-backed mortgages, any non-conforming loans are generally more expensive. 

Yet at least some agents trying to sell homes in the community had recently been unaware of the change, the Register reported, and others were cagey about disclosing the bad news. 

“We’re not going to tell them,” one said. 

— Trevor Bach