The US Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued the most sweeping changes to its condo approval process since it rolled out condo financing in the mid 1990s.

Believe me, this is cool stuff and worth paying attention to because there is real substance amid the mind-numbing jibberish of details.

The changes are effective Oct. 1 and should help make more condos available to more homeowners, especially those of you interested in new condo conversions.

Until now, unless you had your eye on one of the few projects that HUD approved in the presale stage, you had to wait until the building was “seasoned” — meaning the homeowner’s association would’ve had to be up and running for at least a year — before individual units would qualify for FHA mortgage financing. Come October, that rule will disappear.

In addition, designated lenders will be able to approve a building in one shot, and all units in the building will be FHA eligible.

The biggest bonanza may be for New York City.  Why? Because the FHA is scrubbing a rule that had prohibited lending in buildings where the condo board had a right of first refusal on a sale (ROFR). Almost all condos in the Big Apple have this sticky little provision in their bylaws.

HUD now says that as long as this little nuance isn’t used for discriminatory purposes as outlined by the Fair Housing Act, it’s no big deal and they’ll go for it.

And that’s not all. Do you live (or want to live) (or want to sell) in an area awash with teeny tiny condo associations? Like, two or three units? Communities in my home state of New Jersey where these properties are plentiful include Fort Lee, Cliffside Park, Jersey City, Hoboken, Ocean City and various other towns along the Jersey Shore.

You know the type.

A brownstone in Hoboken that’s recently been chopped up into two or three units.

Or maybe a duplex, side by side. (I’m thinking Cliffside here) You each have a garage. Your own entrance from the street. maybe even your own (small) backyard. But your roof might be a common area, the exterior stucco, the front lawn. Nice, but try to get in to one of these with 3.5 % down or less than sterling credit or with a cosigner etc… and you strike out. On October 1, you get back into the game.

Of course, as with everything the government does, there is always the “fine print,” and before I jump up and down and cheer, I’m eager to see how it all plays out in October, November and beyond.