What You Need to Know About the Condo Inspection - Redfin
What is important to know about Condo Inspection
If you are considering buying a condominium unit, you may be confused about the type of home inspection you should perform on the property. Before we look at the types and scopes of home inspections for travelers, let's take a moment to better understand how condominiums work and identify your areas of greatest risk. We've made condo-specific vocabulary to better prepare you for the condo buying and inspection process. For more information the definitions are linked to some of these terms.
The most important thing to understand about a condominium is the Home Owners Association (HOA). The HOA is responsible for maintaining the parts of the building that are outside the walls of your unit. Apparently he has no assets other than the money collected from you as a member of the collective building - the billing fees you pay to maintain the building. Therefore, if you are buying a condominium that has low savings, low monthly payments and deferred maintenance, you may be buying with a maintenance obligation.
Generally, HOAs are maintenance obligations that are not funded by the assessment of each unit owner. The special assessment is a one-time charge so that the HOA can continue with necessary building maintenance. If there is a serious backlog of maintenance, assessments can be expensive. They can even be a significant percentage of the value of each unit. So when buying a condominium, your biggest risk is usually the overall condition of the building(s) combined with the overall "health" of the guest house, rather than the interior of the unit.
What to look for before you buy your apartment
When you make an offer on a condominium, you will have the opportunity to review a resale certificate. This is your moment to try to assess the overall health of the HOA. Buried within this mountain of paper, lies some important information. Look for the reserve research. This is the document in which the HOA projects the costs associated with capital improvements necessary for the building. Try to understand how detailed this reserve study is and if the maintenance budget is well funded. Commission organizations that have not performed reserve research or that disclose little information on building maintenance are generally at higher risk for assessment.
Committee organizations that demonstrate a proactive approach to building maintenance generally present lower risks for special assessment. You can even look for envelope research; That's when the HOA hired an engineering firm to do a detailed inspection of the exterior skin of the building. Envelope research shows a proactive effort to understand the extent of exterior maintenance required for expensive building systems such as siding, decks, roofs and windows.
Before closing your apartment, here is a checklist of things to look at:
Mold (stains on walls or windows)
Cracked walls
Water damage, including deformed or sloped floors and walls
Strange or unpleasant odors
Water pressure provides
Check that the electrical systems are working properly
Make sure the A / C system and other HVAC systems are working
Check if there are spaces in the shower area in the bathroom area as well as in the kitchen
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Complete tests against face tests only
Most home inspectors offer two types of condominium home inspection services: full inspections or interior inspections only. Interior only inspections do not include attics, crawl spaces, exteriors, roofs, parking lots or other common areas. Interior-only inspections are best suited to large buildings where it can be difficult for a home inspector to contribute much to building maintenance knowledge; There are just too many inaccessibles in these great towers.
In most other cases it is recommended to carry out full tests. A full inspection includes an attic or crawl space that connects to your unit. The inspector will also go around the outside, go up on the roof if possible and go through parking garages and basements. Full inspections are not as comprehensive as commercial inspections, but they will give you a good general sense of the overall condition of the building or buildings. You can then take the information gathered from a full condo inspection as well as the disclosure you receive from the HOA and try to assess the overall "health" of the condo.
You must be wondering how much apartment inspections cost. This can vary depending on the type of test you choose, where your apartment is and how big it is. The average home inspection costs about $315.
Note on special assessments
Just because a building is at risk for special assessment doesn't mean it's a bad idea to purchase a unit there. Some university departments prefer low fees and periodic assessments in order to handle maintenance. One way to picture it is this: imagine you buy a condo that you think is worth $200,000 and you expect a special assessment of $20,000 per unit, but you end up paying $160,000 for the condo. beautiful right? Special assessments aren't the end of the world, but they make it difficult to gauge the value of what you're buying.
Your goal in buying a condominium is to build an information gathering team with your real estate professional and home inspector and then read the resale permit to ensure as best you can about the overall health of the condominium you are buying. In order to do this thoroughly, it is often advisable perform a full apartment inspection.
What You Need to Know About the Condo Inspection - Redfin
Thinking about buying a unit in a condominium? Here's what you need to know about condo inspection.
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