Although it depends on the size and scope of the particular type of report, in most cases Strategic Inspections can produce a draft report for review within 15-30 days from being hired. However, if agency or regulatory deadlines require a faster delivery timeframe we are always eager to work with your timelines as best as possible.

Yes, a reserve study that meets Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA standards is acceptable for all lenders that utilize these agencies. In addition, compliant reserve studies are also utilized by jumbo and portfolio mortgage lenders. Typically, a reserve study is provided to a lending organization by a developer or community association to outline actual reserve needs instead of the arbitrary 10% agency and lender requirement for reserves.

An association loan will have major ramifications for a reserve study, and in fact a reserve study is often a tremendous companion whenever the association seeks something like a repair loan. A reserve study can take into account the amount of money being borrowed as well as the planned capital improvements. As a result, it can dramatically lower the annual reserve funding contributions required either by your repair loan lender or the 10% requirement for agency-backed unit financing over the 30-year horizon of the study.

Yes, as part of the reserve study process, a site-inspection is generally performed to determine an actual remaining useful life for capital components rather than relying strictly on their age and estimated useful life. During this visual inspection and based on repair and replacement records, the reserve study will be able to reflect not only any repair or replacement work done, but also the care and maintenance by the community on those components. By extending the remaining useful lives of these items through repair and replacement, their long term replacement costs are reduced along with the overall required annual contributions.

A reserve study is often a tremendous companion to any rehab project, as it effectively gives the association credit for their maintenance work and reduces their future annual reserve contribution requirements based on the work performed. By providing detailed plans, including drawings, schematics, rehab or product warranties, and any other information relevant to the rehab, a reserve study can take into account the upcoming changes to the condominium and produce a new post-rehab 30-year funding plan. Typically association reserve requirements are substantially reduced by the extension to all the repaired or replaced items’ remaining useful lives.

Similar to a rehab project, a new reserve study or update to an existing one is often a tremendous companion to any expansion or upgrade projects, as it will help the association plan for the long term maintenance of those additions in a new 30-year funding plan. By providing detailed plans, including drawings, schematics, rehab or product warranties, and any other information relevant to the additions, a reserve study can take into account the upcoming additions to the project and ensure that future budgets are setting aside adequate funds to prevent or mitigate the need for special assessments.

Yes, a reserve study will always take into account current reserve account balances and adjust future contribution requirements accordingly. So if you’re development has been contributing 10% annually over the past several years and has spent very little of it, that starting balance will be reflected within the 30-year funding plan. In some cases, huge cash reserves have been built and the only way to recognize their efficacy and usefulness to the development is to perform a reserve study and outline the effect of that cash over a 30 year horizon. In almost every instance where large reserves have been built up the reserve contribution prescribed by the reserve study is reduced drastically or eliminated entirely.

Yes, Strategic Inspections has pioneered its own Pre-Construction Reserve Study product to address this very need. By providing detailed plans, including drawings, schematics, product warranties, and any other information relevant to the project, we can produce a reserve study based entirely off of plans. Having a reserve study performed prior to construction provides a tremendous benefit to developers. It outlines the reserve requirements for the site which helps in crafting initial budgets and common charge assessment amounts. And since the development’s components will be brand new, it can also help save the developer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over the first few years of sales when the developer is responsible for the common charges of unsold units by reducing the 10% reserve fund line-item requirement for purchasers’ unit financing, and will assist the development when it seeks such financing approval from the FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and portfolio lenders.

Yes. And similar to a development which has not yet been built, since the development’s components will be brand new, it can also help save the developer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over the first few years of sales when the developer is responsible for the common charges of unsold units by reducing the 10% reserve fund line-item requirement for purchasers’ unit financing, and will assist the development when it seeks such financing approval from the FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and portfolio lenders.

Yes. A Cooperative development can benefit from a reserve study for all the same reasons as a condominium, including as a budgetary tool and to potentially reduce the need for annual reserve contributions as high as 10% of the cooperative’s budget.