If you’re considering buying a condo – I recommend this book. If you already live in a condo and have discovered it has more going on (arguments, lawsuits, assessments, hassle) than you expected when you bought it – I recommend this book. If you are considering joining the board of a condo association you belong to and want to know what to expect – I recommend this book. If you are already on a board and a big issue has just come up and you have to deal with it – I recommend this book.
So, have you figured it out yet? I recommend this book. And, I’m not being paid to recommend it, although for full disclosure I will say the company that published it (Sphinx Publishing/Sourcebooks) contacted me several weeks ago and sent me a free copy of Condo Owners Answer Book to read, with a request that I write a review. I get asked to do stuff all the time, and more commonly, I am asked to BUY things all the time – so to have a company ask me to read something and comment was slightly new and I have to say that reading is one of my major pasttimes so this was an easy request for me.
For those that are considering a purchase of this book, the relatively inexpensive amount of money that it would take to buy, considering all of the issues that you can be confronted with as a condo owner, makes it worth every penny.
I’ve been selling real estate for 5 years and I’ve owned several properties for about 12 years. Given that I am in the midst of property, property contracts, and clients every day I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned in reading this book. That’s right, the attorney who wrote it is one sharp cookie! 🙂 Her name is Beth A. Grimm and she’s worked in condo law for quite some time. She’s got a fun website called: www.CaliforniaCondoGuru.com that’s worth checking out, particularly if you’re in California, where Ms. Grimm holds her license to practice law.
Some of the elements that she put into the book (some I knew and some are new to me) are things such as being sure to ask for minutes from a board prior to purchase and to have that as part of your document review. Many telling items are covered in board meeting minutes and you’ll learn a lot about the property you’re about to move into by reading them. Such as, is there an ongoing dispute among owners or the board? Is there a pending lawsuit? Are there safety issues in the building? Is a large assessment being considered? The list can go on and on. The importance of getting these during a purchase review period is large because these aren’t public documents and they must be requested by the owner of the unit – buyers aren’t allowed to ask the board for non-public documents but members of the association (the seller) may have copies of them, actually, they have a right to them.
A website that she points out, that I wasn’t familiar with before, is www.condocerts.com. Some associations will post their meeting minutes here – but it’s not a requirement.
I like also that Ms. Grimm takes a very no nonsense, practical approach and she doesn’t gloss over the pitfalls of ownership in condos. There is strong coverage of each topic and all are explained in simple terms. Additional items I liked were the appendix sections at the end of the book. In fact, I wish Appendix B would have come in earlier since there are likely people who miss it when reading the book and getting to the end think that these are just boring references sections or part of the Glossary that precedes them. Appendix B lists national and international sites that are quite useful resources for condo owners. Groups such as Community Associations Network, Community Associations Institute (CAI), National Association of Housing Cooperatives (NAHC), and even The Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI). There are others listed as well but I’ll let you buy her book to get them. If you like what you read from this book there are other books that she has authored or recommended as well that you might want to check out.
I want to point out too that for those of you out there that think any ole’ real estate attorney will suffice if you’re in need of help in a condo association – you’re wrong. Condominium laws are an animal almost unto themselves so if you’ve got an issue you should go to an attorney that knows your local state condo laws inside and out. Most general real estate attorneys do not know the intricacies of condo law and statutes. If you’ve ever read a condo CC&R, bylaws, and other documents as well as condo law legislation you’ll understand why it’s so complicated and a section of real estate all on its own. A recent example came up with a client of mine who owns a unit as an investor but he sits as President on the small HOA board. A unit in the building is potentially under foreclosure because of a loan default and the unit owner is also in arrears of his HOA dues. My client was asking me about how to place a lien on the unit in the event the unit is sold – which may be imminent – and I directed him to a condo attorney as well as advising him to read his regulating documents for his association. He was hoping that the process would be simple, much like when he puts liens on his client’s properties (he’s a contractor) but my concern was that he wouldn’t complete the process correctly and that it would be key for him to get proper advice on how to move forward.
