Condos and townhouses have always been a tricky business, with prices and values swinging much more wildly than single family homes. And with this depressed real estate market, they have been hit harder than homes. To compound the problem, lenders are much tighter on buyers of condos. Even excellent credit and large down payments will not necessarily get you into a bargain condo. If the lender decides there are too many foreclosures in the complex they will not loan any money to buy in that complex, no matter the status of the borrower. They reason that since there are "too many" foreclosed units in the complex the the association will not have the money to maintain upkeep and the values will continue to fall as more units deteiorate from lack of upkeep, and more residents will defult because the "association fees" go up drastically to try to keep the property up. Kind of a "catch 22" situation but certinly not good for buyers of condos.