Equus Capital Advisory
Forensic examination of condominium and community associations, for the boards that run them and the institutions exposed to them.
Equus Capital Advisory acts for boards, lenders, counsel, insurers, real estate and title professionals, and developers. We examine the associations they govern, finance, represent, insure, and build. Findings are documented to an evidentiary standard, and where the client retains us for it, we correct what the examination finds.
Volunteer boards now sit on institutional-scale capital, under a lending standard that examines it. We do the examination first, and correct what it finds.
Boards & Unit Owners·Lenders·Counsel·Insurers·Real Estate & Title·Developers
Notice · Effective August 3, 2026
Under Fannie Mae Lender Letter LL-2026-03, the Limited Review is retired for established projects. Conventional condominium loans now require a Full Review of the association behind them: budget, reserves, insurance, and records. Lenders examine associations at file volume. Counsel defends what boards certify. Carriers find policy defects priced into every unit’s financing.
Institutions must now build that examination capability or retain it. Boards can get ahead of the review or meet it unprepared.
From January 4, 2027, the minimum reserve funding standard rises from 10% to 15% of the annual budgeted income assessment, subject to the reserve-study alternative in the letter.
Expertise
Who we serve
For Boards & Unit Owners
The full engagement: health and lending-readiness assessment, correcting what we find, and annual standing certification. For volunteer boards and the owners they serve.
Read the practice →For Lenders
Portfolio triage, per-file Full Review support, and the project desk you retain instead of build.
Read the practice →For Counsel
Forensic capability at the firm’s direction, on complex residential and mixed-use projects with volunteer governance sitting atop institutional capital.
Read the practice →For Insurers
The policy defects that block financing, found before a lender finds them. The loss picture reconstructed after one occurs.
Read the practice →For Real Estate & Title
Pre-listing checks, public-record screens, questionnaire reviews, and post-denial rescue. The work that keeps closings on track when the building is the obstacle.
Read the practice →For Developers
Project rescue, financing-ready structuring, and handover planning. The work that makes units financeable from the first closing and keeps them that way.
Read the practice →Credit Unions·Community Banks·Law Firms·Insurance Carriers·Title Underwriters·Condominium and Homeowner Associations·Developers
Independence
The firm manages no properties, sells no insurance, and originates no loans.
We hold no position on any transaction we examine, and we accept no referral fees, commissions, or revenue share from any party. Every engagement is screened against a standing conflicts register before acceptance, including prior employment relationships of the principal. We are paid for our analysis and nothing else.
Representative Engagement Types
What clients hire Equus to do
Association health and lending-readiness assessment
Lender pre-close and post-close examinations
Default and forbearance work-outs
Counsel-directed examinations
Insurer loss examinations
Reserve studies and funding-plan review
Loan-denial turnaround
Governance and capital-structure advisory
Work Product
What the work product looks like
Forensic examination report
The principal deliverable. Findings, supporting schedules, and work papers, structured for evidentiary use and suitable to underpin sworn declaration or testimony.
Lender diligence pack
Examiner-ready package: determination register, cure list, exposure book, and monitoring cadence. Built for credit committee and counterparty review.
Insurance loss quantification
Reconstruction of covered and uncovered loss for fidelity, crime, D&O, and property claims. Structured to claim-file standards and suitable to support coverage positions.
Reserve study review
Independent reserve study and funding-plan review, reconciled against the budget and Form 1076. Tested against the 10% and 15% floors under LL-2026-03.
Advisory memorandum
Concise written opinion on a discrete question: a control defect, a reclassification exposure, a cure path, or a structural path back to eligibility.
Expert declaration and testimony
Expert reconstruction, damages quantification, and reporting to the firm’s specification and timeline, suitable to underpin deposition and trial testimony.
Process
From first call to engagement letter
Conference
A 30-minute call with the principal examiner to discuss the matter, the documents available, and the desired output. Confidential; no obligation.
Scope and fee letter
A short written scope of work with a fixed or capped fee, turnaround time, and a list of documents needed to begin. Typically delivered within two business days of the conference.
Engagement
Counter-signed engagement letter and a privilege protocol, where the matter is counsel-directed. Work begins on receipt of the initial document set.
Delivery
Draft findings for comment, followed by the final report. Most engagements are delivered in four to eight weeks; expedited timelines are available.
Typical Counterparties and Jurisdictions
Boards·Lenders·Counsel·Carriers·Agents·Developers
Condominium and homeowner association boards, national and regional banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, law firms representing associations and lenders, insurance carriers underwriting association risks, and the real estate, title, and development professionals around them.
Condominium·Coop·Mixed-Use
Conventional condominium and homeowner associations, cooperatives, mixed-governance and mixed-use projects, and the declarant-control and turnover events they encounter.
National·State-Local
Engagements accepted nationally, with home-jurisdiction depth in Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. ch. 703) and working familiarity with the equivalent acts in each state where matters arise.