Marin County Condominiums: Dealing With A Homeowners Association
When buying a condominium in Marin County, you’re buying the space inside your unit and a share of the common space of the whole development. That space is governed by a Home Owners Association, which determines how most issues within the development are handled. When you’re in contract, you will receive a copy of the Home Owner’s Association documents. This is an intimidating stack, usually several inches thick.
READ THEM! All of them. Let me say this again: READ THEM.
Some of it is boilerplate legal language, but everything that determines the way you live in the condo is covered in those documents.
We’ve closed six condo sales this year in San Anselmo, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Greenbrae, and are happy to share some of what we know about understanding this package of documents. Here is what to pay especially close attention to.
1. Meeting minutes. This will quickly tell you what, if any, issues the HOA is dealing with and how they address them. You’ll also get an idea of the tone of meetings. Are there lots of complaints about the same issues, by the same people? Or are issues brought up and dealt with succinctly?
Each association is different. Some are large and bureaucratic; others very businesslike. Some are so informal they barely have minutes. Read these and it will also tell you a lot about the personality of the building. It’s important for you to be comfortable with the way it is run.
2.Budget. How large is the reserve fund? Do they have enough to cover the association if some large maintenance item comes up that was not planned? Remember, if that happens, all the owners share the expense and each condo owner gets a special assessment. It may be called special, but you won’t be happy about it - it’s money out of your pocket, sometimes on fairly short notice.
For example, I recently had clients in contract on a Corte Madera condominium that had some fairly major structural problems that needed to be dealt with. It was very clear the Association did not have a firm grip on it yet, and there was going to be a large special assessment, as yet undefined. My clients pulled out, and bought a Greenbrae condo with an even bigger HOA budget issue, but were quite comfortable doing so. The Association was way in front of it, had large reserves, and were confident it could be handled.
Don’t run just because there are issues, but do make sure you understand them.
Next: Rules, Restrictions, Special Assessments.
