Four tips to avoid mistakes while buying condo
De BISAWiki
It costs lots of money to buy a condo. If you take out a mortgage, the expense is even higher. So, making a mistake is not an solution. Here are four tips that can assist you avoid making mistakes.
1. Know very well what you're buying
When you get a home, there's no doubt in anybody's mind in regards to what you're buying: the home along with the yard and any other buildings on that yard, and you keep them free and clear. Along with condos, you're buying space. Your property line starts down the middle of exterior walls and ends on the other hand in the middle of external surfaces walls. And the same vertically, your property line begins down the middle of the floor and goes to the center of the ceiling.
You're also purchasing a shared interest in the land along with the building, the common areas. And that means it's not enough to such as the unit you plan to obtain, you need to pay close attention to the common areas. If there will be repairs to the common parts, you'll be partly responsible for finding cash for them.
2. Know the association
You need to take a close look at the budget and at minutes of the meetings.
The budget should show there is enough money coming in to pay monthly costs (garbage collection, upkeep crew, etc. ) and enough reserves to pay predictable but not monthly work the building will be needing (painting the hallways, changing the carpeting in the hallways, etc. ). That means it should be at least 5% of this association's gross operating budget.
You need to understand what's the exact percentage you keep jointly (the things outside your condo unit you own). You can calculate how much you have to pay for special assessments and simply how much voting power you have.
And, since we're talking about special assessments, find out if you will discover any coming up. Find out when the last one happened. If within the last few years, find out why it was necessary, why the expense was not anticipated. Also, find out when were the previous couple of times that the regular association dues were raised. Too many over a brief time period of time indicates something's not really right.
Know your association does mean you read the master deed along with the declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions carefully. Reason one: you should know what you can and cannot do in your condo unit and in the condo building/project before you decide to invest money. Reason two: it provides you with a better idea about the way your neighbors view themselves, precisely what they value.
3. Know your current neighbors
It's best to buy inside a complex where the other owners have situations much like yours. For two reasons:
Some of them will be on the board of owners, making up rules, the rest is going to be voting for those rules. Exciting if you're in the very first group. But if you're pulling right and everybody else is pulling left, you're planning left.
You have less privacy inside a condo than you have inside a home.
4. Find out with regards to insurance
Yes, the association can have insurance. But that insurance doesn't cover all you buy when you buy a condo. Find out what is not covered and get your own coverage for that portion of your property.
You need to obtain many things be right to obtain a condo you will love residing in. The above four tips will help sort through your options and make a better decision next time you buy a condo.
