The lawsuits are not high-profile cases, but they bring to light issues for prospective home buyers as well as owners trying to refinance or sell their property.

Just the existence of pending litigation — often regardless of the severity of the alleged defects — can limit borrowing and refinancing options for buyers and owners, according to real estate professionals.

Such lawsuits, which can be complex and drag on for years, also can potentially discourage buyers, though brokers said that has not been the case generally, especially with recent tight inventory and low interest rates.

For instance, at the Imperial Plaza, a 33-story glass-sided tower at 725 Kapi'olani Blvd. where a construction defect dispute has lingered since September 1995, there have been 95 sales in the past eight years.

At One Archer Lane, the association of apartment owners sued developer The Myers Corp. and a variety of contractors in January, alleging that the six-year-old building near the corner of King Street and Ward Avenue requires $6 million in repairs.

Plaintiffs in that case allege that defects from negligent design and construction include a recreation deck with drainage and leaking problems, lanais with concrete chipping and rusting rebar, wall cracks, windows that don't open and close properly, binding doors and other problems.

The defendants replied in court filings that they are without knowledge as to the truth of defect allegations made by the association.

Still, the case does not appear to have hindered sales at the project, according to residents who said for-sale notices in the building disappear quickly. Since the case was filed seven months ago, there have been 12 unit sales.

Stephanie Vojdani, a broker with Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties who owns a unit in One Archer Lane, said there was a lot of interest in two condos Coldwell agents recently sold in the building, with the most recent one — a two-bedroom, two-bath unit listed for $399,000 — on the market for six weeks.

By comparison, the median time on the market for a $179,500 (median-price) condo in Honolulu was 29 days as of June. But Honolulu Board of Realtors research economist Harvey Shapiro said more expensive condos take longer, and that six weeks for a $399,000 condo is "exceptionally fast."

As of last week, there was just one unit in the 331-unit building available for sale, with another unit in escrow, according to Coldwell Banker.

Hawaiki Tower is another condo high-rise with a pending construction defect lawsuit filed by the project's owners association. Since the suit was filed in October, there have been 25 sales. During the previous October through July period, before the suit was filed, there were 21 sales.

The difficulty for buyers or owners trying to purchase, sell or refinance a unit in a building with pending litigation is that they typically find many lenders aren't willing to issue a mortgage on the property.

Residential lending officers at several local banks said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-sponsored companies that buy loans issued by most lenders, won't purchase mortgages on property with pending litigation.

That limits financing options to those lenders that keep, or portfolio, their loans. But even lenders with portfolio loan products may not be willing to issue a mortgage for a condo involved in litigation, depending on the lender or their assessment of the lawsuit.

Generally, lenders maintain an internal "approved condo" list. Sometimes entire buildings are stricken from the list after the filing of a construction defect lawsuit. Sometimes individual units in a building may be left on or taken off the list.

"It's not a blanket policy," said Nathan Hokama, an American Savings Bank spokesman. "They look at the nature of the litigation and the risk impacts to the bank, and then make the decision."

City Bank likewise has a case-by-case policy for issuing mortgages on property with pending construction defect lawsuits.

For instance, the bank regards claims involving Hawaiki and One Archer Lane as more cosmetic, and will lend to qualified buyers. But the Imperial Plaza case, at least at the outset, appeared to be more serious to the bank, which won't lend on the property.

"It seemed like a black hole — something you couldn't get your arms around," said Jasen Takei, executive vice president of retail banking at City Bank.

After eight years and nearly 2,000 documents filed in the Imperial Plaza case, 10 of 28 claims, including allegations of mold damage, no longer remain. Complaints of unreasonable sound transmission between units, shower water temperature fluctuation and inadequate lanai drainage are pending.

"We're getting more comfortable with the Imperial," Takei said.

Mike Nekoba, president of local mortgage brokerage firm The Mortgage Group Inc., said some lenders don't want to deal with property involved in construction defect cases at all, even if the alleged defects are minor.

"It's almost like the building gets tainted with the lenders," he said. "I think a lot of lenders, once they know there's a problem, they strike the condo off their list."

The bottom line, Nekoba said, is fewer financing or refinancing choices for borrowers.

Nekoba said he had one client recently who refinanced a mortgage for a unit in Hawaiki, and they were limited to three or four lenders when a slightly better rate probably could have been found in the larger market.

"Because you're limited, the borrower is not necessarily getting the best rate," he said, adding that he is not aware of any condo in Hawai'i where no lender was willing to issue a loan.

Tracy Yamato said he recently found at least three lenders — Hawaii HomeLoans, Pacific Access Mortgage and GMAC Mortgage Corp. — willing to refinance his One Archer Lane unit at what he felt was "a very good rate."

Like Vojdani, Yamato does not believe the lawsuit has affected property values or the marketability of the condo's units.

Nevertheless, appraiser Robert Hastings of Hastings Conboy & Braig Associates Ltd. said buyers should be aware of pending litigation involving a property. "Go to the apartment owners association, or the people who have been there a long time, and ask the appropriate questions," he said.