Condo Appraisal in Claremont: Project Data, HOA Documents and Same-Project Sales

A condo appraisal in Claremont values the unit and reports the project around it. The appraiser inspects the unit, reviews what the homeowners' association (HOA) documents say about dues, budget, special assessments and the project's makeup, and looks first for sales of similar units in the same project. Sales from other Claremont projects come next, and a sale across the county line in Upland or Montclair is used only with the location difference explained.

The pillar guide to condo and manufactured home appraisals covers the wider picture, and the condominiums and manufactured homes hub lists the series.

Where Claremont's condos and townhomes are

Most of Claremont's housing is detached. The attached housing sits in its own pockets. South of the 10 the stock shifts to later tracts, townhomes and condominiums. West of Indian Hill, the Village expansion on the former citrus packing plant site added newer mixed-use and residential infill. Age-restricted communities and units near the Colleges each draw their own buyers, and the Claremont area page describes how the pockets behave as separate markets.

A reviewer rejects a townhome south of the 10 used as a comparable for a detached house near the Colleges, and the reverse is just as weak.

What "project data" means on the report

A condominium project is a development in which each owner holds title to a unit and shares ownership of the common elements, the parts owned in common such as grounds, roofs, hallways, parking and recreation facilities. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide directs the appraiser to give special attention to three things: the unit's location within the project, the project's amenities, and the amount and purpose of the owner's association assessment.

The lender looks at the project from its own side. Fannie Mae's list of ineligible project characteristics includes, among other things:

• Pending litigation in which the HOA is named as a party.
• Critical repairs, material deficiencies or significant deferred maintenance.
• A special assessment tied to a critical repair that has not been remediated.
• Nonresidential or commercial use above a set share of the project.
• One entity owning more than a set number or share of the units.
• A project managed and operated as a hotel or motel, even with individually owned units.

Those are the lender's tests. The appraiser reports what the inspection and the documents show about the project, and Fannie Mae names appraisers as one of several sources of project information, alongside HOAs, management companies, real estate agents and others.

For reports submitted to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on or after November 2, 2026, the separate condo form, the 1073, is retired and replaced by the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, whose purpose, Freddie Mac says, has not changed. The explainer on the 1073 appraisal report covers that change.

The HOA documents, and what each one feeds

• The current budget. It shows what the dues pay for and whether the association sets money aside for repairs, which bears on the amount and purpose of the assessment.
• The dues statement. The monthly charge and what it covers go into the comparison, because buyers weigh dues alongside price.
• Any special assessment notice. A special assessment is a charge the association levies on owners on top of regular dues, usually to pay for a specific repair or project. The report states what is known about it.
• The HOA questionnaire. An HOA questionnaire is a set of written questions about the project answered by the association or its management company. Fannie Mae's Condominium Project Questionnaire (Form 1076) is one; the Selling Guide calls it optional but encourages lenders to use it and keep it in the loan file.
• The recorded documents. The CC&Rs, the recorded covenants, conditions and restrictions, and the other recorded project documents show whether the project is legally a condominium or a planned unit development, which decides how the report describes it.
• Minutes or notices about litigation or major repairs. They are reported as known characteristics of the project.

Who decides whether the project qualifies for the loan?

The lender. Fannie Mae's project standards say the lender must determine that a project meets its eligibility requirements, and they make the lender responsible for the accuracy of the project information it gathers, including what an appraiser reports. The appraiser reports what is found; whether the loan proceeds is the lender's call.

Same-project sales first

Units in one project share dues, common elements, rules, age and buyers. A sale in the same project, of a similar plan on a similar floor, usually needs the fewest adjustments, which is why the search starts there. Fannie Mae's comparable-sales rules make it explicit for new or recently converted projects: the unit is compared with sales inside the project and in the same market area, with at least one settled sale from inside the project and at least one from outside. When a small new project has no sales yet, sales from competing projects of similar size and type may be used, and the report explains why they were chosen and how each project compares.

In Claremont that means an age-restricted unit is compared with units in like projects, because its buyer pool is limited by the community's rules. A unit near the Colleges is weighed first against units in a similar setting, and a townhome south of the 10 is used for it only with the difference explained. Newer Village expansion units are compared with their own kind rather than the older blocks nearby.

What a condo comparison adds

A condo comparison weighs differences a house comparison does not. The figures stay blank.

ConsiderationSubjectComparable 1Comparable 2Comparable 3

Same project or competing project

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Location within the project

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Project amenities and common elements

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Association assessment and what it pays for

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Living area, measured inside the unit

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The last row matters on apartment-style units. Fannie Mae requires interior perimeter measurements when the appraiser measures an apartment unit in a condo building, while townhomes are measured under the ANSI standard used for other single-family dwellings.

Sales across the county line

Claremont is in Los Angeles County; Upland and Montclair, just east, are in San Bernardino County, with a different assessor and different school districts. A Claremont unit is valued from Claremont sales first. A unit sale across the line is used only when it is genuinely better evidence, and the report explains the location adjustment.

What a Claremont owner can gather

• The HOA or management company contact, so the lender or appraiser can request documents.
• The current budget, the dues statement, and any special assessment notice.
• The CC&Rs and any recent notices about repairs or disputes.
• Access to the unit, its parking space or garage, storage and any common areas the appraiser asks to see.
• A dated list of updates inside the unit, with permits where work required them.

A purchase or refinance appraisal is ordered by the lender. A private assignment, such as an estate, a trust or a divorce, can be ordered directly, with the same project review. Fees are set by the scope of the assignment and quoted before work begins, and they do not depend on the value. See residential appraisals for lending and refinance or call (909) 324-6122.

Sources

• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.4-03, Condo Appraisal Requirements, accessed November 6, 2026
• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-2.1-01, General Information on Project Standards, accessed November 6, 2026
• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-2.1-03, Ineligible Projects, accessed November 6, 2026
• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-08, Comparable Sales, accessed November 6, 2026
• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05, Improvements Section of the Appraisal Report, accessed November 6, 2026
• Freddie Mac, Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 and Forms Redesign FAQ, accessed November 6, 2026
• The Appraisal Foundation, Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), accessed November 6, 2026
• California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, license lookup for Gordon Hall, BREA No. AR003877, accessed November 6, 2026

Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877 (lookup: https://www2.brea.ca.gov/breasearch/faces/party/view.xhtml?id=23601). Reports are prepared in conformity with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Nothing here is legal or tax advice; admissibility is always the court's decision.