Thinking of buying a condominium or a town home? Do you know the difference between the two? If not, this is just one reason why you need to contact me to guide you through this process.

Condominium and town home living offers many advantages over single-family residential living. These advantages may include amenities such as a community pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, golf course, riding and hiking trails to mention a few. Furthermore, this style of living can remove the worry about when to replace the roof, paint the house or repave the driveway. Statistically 42% of condo buyers are single females, 20% are single males, and the rest are couples. This style of living is ideal for singles, single heads of household, and empty nesters. I am single and have enjoyed town home living for many years. Also, I have been on the board of my homeowners association for four years, and I am beginning my 3rd year as president of the HOA board.

While there are many advantages to condominium living, there are some very important considerations and information necessary before making a final decision to buy in a specific community. Following is a partial list:

1. Is the community on the FHA approved list? Is it eligible for FHA lending?
2. What about the community’s finances? Are they adequately reserving for the future when roofs have to be replaced, or the driveways/parking areas need to be repaved?
3. Have there been any special assessments in recent years? Is there one currently assessed with a multi-year payment schedule that would be my responsibility?
4. What percentage of units are owner occupied? While you may not care, I can assure you that your lender will.
5. What does the HOA fee cover?
6. What kind of insurance will I need to carry to protect my personal possessions, as well as my personal liability in case someone is injured while visiting in my home?

This is just a sampling of the information needed to make a properly informed decision regarding a purchase. As your agent I will know all the questions to ask such as how do you get all of the information listed on Form F23 without having to pay for it?

Many real estate agents would rather not deal with condominium transactions, as they only do one occasionally and there are details to attend to that they are either unfamiliar with or don’t realize their importance for the transaction to be successful. On the other hand, I know this market both as a town home owner/HOA president, and a real estate professional with extensive experience helping clients buy and sell condominiums and town homes.