Biltmore Condos Look Like a Buyer's Market. The HOA's Budget Decides Whether You Can Use It.

When a seller accepts your offer on a Biltmore-area condo today, a 10-day clock starts. Arizona's revised resale disclosure law took effect September 12, 2026. Under it, in a building with fewer than 50 units, the seller must get you the association's financial package within 10 days of offer acceptance. In a building with 50 or more units, the seller notifies the association that the offer was accepted, and the association's 10 days start when it receives that notice. Under the standard Arizona REALTORS® HOA/Condo Addendum, you then have five days after receiving it to send written notice of anything you disapprove of.

That short window matters more this fall than it used to. If you're financing, your lender is reading the same budget, reserve study and insurance certificates. Since August 3, the lender's rules for judging them are stricter. In ZIP 85016, the leverage condo buyers seem to hold comes with a condition. It only works in buildings a lender will accept.

What 7.0 months of supply says, and what it leaves out

Here is how condos and single-family homes in 85016 compared in August 2026, according to the Phoenix REALTORS® local market update:

On paper, the condo side looks like it favors buyers. Supply was 7.0 months, up from 6.1 in August 2025. Inventory was up 13.4% from a year earlier, and condo sellers received 95.9% of list price, down from 98.1%. The $445,000 median was 17.9% above August 2025. But it comes from 15 closings, and the report itself warns that small samples can make percentage changes look extreme. Read the median as a snapshot of one month's mix of units. It doesn't show a trend.

The numbers miss a split inside that inventory. Some of those 144 listings sit in buildings that can support a conventional loan under the rules that took effect August 3. Others may need more work from the lender, or a cash buyer. The ZIP-level data can't tell those two groups apart. Only a building's own documents can.

Fannie Mae closed the shortcut on August 3

In a lender letter dated March 18, 2026, Fannie Mae retired its condo "Limited Review" process. Lenders had to stop using it for loan applications dated on or after August 3, 2026. Established condo projects that once qualified for that lighter review now need a Full Review, or a Waiver of Project Review where one applies. The waiver was expanded to cover projects of ten or fewer units. Projects of five to ten units also can't be part of a master association or larger development. Buildings larger than that don't qualify for the expanded waiver.

The same letter tightened how reserves get judged. If a lender uses a reserve study to show that an association's reserves are adequate, it must now confirm that the budget includes the study's highest recommended reserve allocation. Lenders can no longer accept the "baseline funding" method, which lets the reserve balance approach zero without going below it. On the insurance side, the master policy must cover at least 100% of estimated replacement cost.

Fannie Mae gave its reasoning in the letter. It said it has seen a link between condo projects with underfunded reserves and projects needing critical repairs. It added that owners in those buildings can face unexpected special assessments or higher dues. The letter also acknowledges that rising premiums and limited insurance availability are causing problems for some homeowners associations. None of this names Phoenix or any Biltmore building. The point is that an association's budget is now part of your loan approval, as much as your own credit file is.

January 4, 2027, is already inside your closing window

The next change is already scheduled. For Full Review loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027, the minimum reserve allocation rises from 10% to 15% of the association's annual budgeted assessment income.

An offer written in late fall can easily have a loan application dated after that cutoff. Some associations may need to raise dues or cut other line items to get their reserve contribution from 10% to 15%. A budget adopted for 2026 can show you which ones. Take the annual reserve contribution and divide it by total budgeted assessment income. If the result is close to 10%, the building meets today's floor and could have trouble with the 2027 one. If it's well above 15%, that question goes away.

The same calculation matters to the next buyer of your unit. Reserve funding affects resale as well as the purchase you're making now.

The Arizona package now arrives with more of what a lender reads

HB 2397 changed A.R.S. 33-1260. Governor Hobbs signed it June 22, 2026, and it took effect with the session's general effective date of September 12, 2026. For a building with fewer than 50 units, the seller delivers the package. At 50 units or more, the seller notifies the association, and the association has 10 days from that notice to deliver.

Here's what you should find in that package, listed in the order that serves a financed buyer reading it in five days:

1. The current operating budget. Calculate the reserve contribution against assessment income to see where the building stands against the 10% and 15% thresholds.
2. The most recent reserve study, if the association has one. Studies over 10 pages can come as a summary, and you can request the full report in writing. If the budget's reserve line falls below the study's highest recommendation, that's the gap Fannie Mae now tells lenders to check.
3. Special assessments. These include remaining installments on any assessment already levied. HB 2397 adds two categories: assessments the board has approved but not yet levied, and assessments submitted to owners for approval within the previous four months.
4. Known material deficiencies. This covers problems in common elements or limited common elements that would leave you directly liable for repair costs within six months of purchase.
5. Insurance certificates showing coverage limits and deductibles. The certificates show limits. Whether the coverage meets the 100% replacement-cost standard is something your lender decides separately.
6. Board-approved minutes from the previous three open board meetings. This item is new. Discussions about insurance renewals, roof bids or dues changes tend to appear in minutes months before they appear in a budget.

The law also changed when an owner or association is liable. A disclosure now has to be knowingly or recklessly omitted or misstated, and disclosers may rely in good faith on association records without checking them independently. So the package tells you what the association's records show. Questions beyond that are yours to ask during your five days.

Fees and the questionnaire

The statute caps the association's aggregate fee for the resale disclosure package and related transfer services at $400. It also allows up to $100 for a rush request requiring service within 72 hours, and up to $50 to update a report that is 30 or more days old. The Arizona REALTORS® addendum puts the statutory disclosure fees on the seller. A financed buyer pays any lender fees for getting association or management-company documents. Where more than one association governs a property, the form applies the $400 cap to each association.

The lender's condo questionnaire is where this can stall. Mulcahy Law Firm, which practices community association law in Arizona, wrote in June 2025 that an association is not legally required to complete the lender's Condominium Project Questionnaire Addendum. The firm also warned that a refusal can affect financing. No source we found settles whether a separate charge for completing that questionnaire falls under the $400 cap. Ask the management company early how it handles questionnaires and what it charges. That way the answer doesn't arrive on day nine of a 10-day window.

Where 2400 Biltmore fits

New condo supply is coming to the area, but on a longer timeline. JDM Partners' 2400 Biltmore sits on 7.68 acres at the northeast corner of 24th Street and Arizona Biltmore Circle. The Phoenix City Council approved its rezoning 9-0 on February 4, 2026, under Ordinance G-7482. The approved plan calls for 195 condominiums with a 1,500-square-foot minimum unit size. Buildings step from six stories at 66 feet down to five stories and then four stories at 44 feet, with a 200-foot setback on the north side.

At the Biltmore Area Partnership's September 22, 2026 luncheon, Nicholas J. Wood of Snell & Wilmer described the work still ahead: final site planning, engineering, infrastructure coordination, design review and permitting. The briefing gave no pricing, sales launch or construction start. For someone buying this fall or winter, the competition is the 144 resale listings on the market in August, and they're being financed under the new rules.

FAQ

Does any of this apply if I'm paying cash? A cash purchase doesn't go through a lender's project review. Your eventual buyer may need a loan, though, so the building's reserves and insurance still affect what your unit is worth when you sell.

Is the $445,000 median a fair benchmark for a Biltmore condo? It reflects 15 closed sales across all of ZIP 85016 in August 2026. It isn't specific to the Biltmore area or to any building.

Is HB 2397 in effect for contracts written now? Yes. It took effect September 12, 2026.

Should I treat this as legal or lending advice? No. For questions about a specific contract, talk to a real estate attorney, and ask your loan officer how they will review a specific project.

At Phil Tibi, we read a Biltmore building's budget, reserve study and minutes before we write the offer, so your five-day review confirms what you already know. Get the Biltmore Market in Your Pocket, and talk with us about which buildings on your list are ready for the lending rules coming January 4, 2027.