Buying a condo is slightly different than buying a freehold house. However, there are additional differences when it comes to buying a new condo from a developer versus buying a resale condo. Here are my tips for buying a resale condo.
Get A Status Certificate
A status certificate is a report on the current state of the condo corporation. It is prepared by the condo corporation’s Board of Directors and offers a financial snapshot of the well-being of the building. But there are a few places where you can be easily mistaken from reading what appear to be healthy notes. The first is that you need to remember what you see is only accurate at the time of its preparation – things can change afterwards. A prudent tip is to verify with the condo corporation whether or not there were any returned cheques after the status certificate was produced.
Second, just because the condo has a reserve fund of a million dollars does not mean that the corporation is necessarily in a healthy state. It is equally important to see how many repairs need to be done and how much those are projected to cost. If the repairs cost $1.5 M, then the reserve fund is not in the best shape.
Learn About The Condo’s Rules
Every condo will come with its own policies. Some are more stringent than others. It is important that you become familiar with the status certification and the condo corporation’s declaration yourself from top to bottom. Policies can change in resale condos, so at one point pets might have been allowed, but they might not be now! Sometimes pets can only be of a certain size, or you can only have a certain number of pets in the condo. There might also be additional rules on parking – or how many parking spaces you are entitled to. Make sure that these policies are a good fit for you. The unit may be beautiful, but if you are planning on having a specific set of curtains that your condo has a policy against, you might encounter problems.
Make Sure You Get What You Pay For
Sometimes, a condo buyer will move into their condo only to discover that something they thought was included in their condo was not. Make sure that any promises or verbal agreements are also in writing! If you saw that the current owner has a hot tub on their balcony and you agreed to pay for it and included that additional fee in your offer, only to find it removed when you move in that spells trouble! This is because the previous owner may have removed it, or it could have been removed by the condo corporation because its installation was not authorized by the Board of Directors. Either way, make sure all agreements and contingencies are in writing.
These are just a few of my favourite tips when it comes to buying a resale condo. If you would like to know more, please feel free to reach out to me here. I would love to help make buying a resale condo as smooth as possible for you.
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