Jun. 9, 2008 - Make And Model Revisited

Just like the different types of Community Associations, the laws that apply come all shapes and sizes too.  For instance, there are three different types of state laws, or statutes, that apply to Community Associations.  You have your general, your specific, and your uniform types.

A general statute applies to Community Associations as well as other types of organizations.  If your association is incorporated, which most are, then the corporate laws of you state apply to your association/corporation.

Specific statutes are association specific.  Mostly they exist to to provide for the establishment and operation of a community as a legal entity.  Some of them regulate development and sale.  Some provide protection for purchasers, owners, and tenants.  Some regulate operation.  The specific statutes are probably the most important type.  They take precedence over the declaration and bylaws.  Since they can be amended by the state legislature it is important to stay on top of them if you want to be a home owner who is in the know.

Only about one third of the states have adopted any uniform statues.  The National Conference on Uniform State Laws is attempting to get a standardized set of statutes going but there is some resistance.  For a person who moves around a lot, or owns properties in multiple states, the adoption of uniform laws regarding association living could be a real blessing.

So you see, there is a little more to community association living than just offer, acceptance, and move in.  An educated homeowner, is a happy homeowner, indeed.  

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Jun. 6, 2008 - What Makes Them Think They Can Do THAT?

Jun. 5, 2008 - Checking Out The Make And Model

Basically, the are three different types residential community associations.  Some of them even have sub species.  Allow me to expound.

First you have your Planned Community.  In this type of community the homeowner owns their dwelling and the piece of land the dwelling is built on.  All of the common areas and usually the amenities such as swimming pools, roads, clubhouse, tennis courts, etc., are owned by the community.  If you live in, or are considering a community like this then you will be a member of either a Homeowners Association (HOA), an Owners Association, a Townhouse Association, a Property Owners Association (POA), or a Planned Unit Development (PUD).

The next model is the Condominium.  When you live in one of these you are the proud owner of your living unit and an undivided interest in, or a percentage of the common elements.  The common elements are everything except the actual living units.  They can include things like the pool, the lobby, the corridors, the garage area, etc.  The community association as a whole does not own any real estate.

That brings us to the third type, the Cooperative.  What you own if you live in one of these is stock in the cooperative and a proprietary lease, also know as an occupancy agreement for your living unit.  This lease defines your rights and obligations as they pertain to the living unit.  The community association, which is usually set up as a not for profit corporation, owns all of the real estate.

Any one of these three types of associations can be stand alone or clustered.  If they are clustered they are general either a Master or Umbrella Association, or a Mixed Use Development.  The former would consist of more than one residential community association and the latter would consist of a mixture of residential, commercial, and maybe industrial use properties.

So you see, because each of these different associations depend upon a different form of ownership, it is very important that you, and more importantly your REALTOR®, know what you are getting into before you decide to buy in.  Everybody will be happier if you know what you are getting into.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Jun. 3, 2008 - So Let Me Repeat Myself

May. 15, 2008 - A Rose By Any Other Name

Sometimes I tend to forget that all real estate is local and that the same thing has different names in different locals.  Also, the same thing might be referred to by different names in different circles.  Therefore when I posed the question "What exactly is a Community Association?" I seem to have caused some confusion.  Let me try to straighten that out.

The term Community Association is probably the most common moniker.  It is the term I use.  It is also the term used by The Community Association Institute and The Florida Bureau of Condominiums.  I am sure it is widely used by others as well.

If you are speaking to someone from The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws you would hear them referring to a Community Association as a Common-Interest Community or CIC for short.

Then there is The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants who likes to refer to a Community Association as a Common Interest Realty Association or CIRA.

Once you get way out west The California Department of Real Estate refers to a Community Association as a Common Interest Development or CID.

Now that I have cleared that up, what do you call a Community Association?

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

May. 14, 2008 - What Exactly Is A Community Association?

I have long maintained that if you don't know what you are selling you should not be selling it.  The same thing goes for buyers, if you don't know what you are buying you should not be buying it.  There is a saving grace for buyers however, and that is a knowledgeable REALTOR®. 

If you, as a buyer, are considering moving into a Condominium, a Co-operative or a community with a Home Owners Association, you are considering moving into a Community Association and you need to ask your REALTOR® exactly what that means.  If he or she alludes to the fact that it is anything other than a group of owners who are bound together for the purpose of providing a communal basis of preserving, maintaining, and enhancing their homes and property you need to move on to another REALTOR®.  It doesn't have to be those exact words, but whatever they say should embrace the same spirit.  It is a group of owners whose property brings them together with a common cause.

You should also be told that there are three important points to consider.  When you buy into a Community Association membership in the Association is not optional.  You will be bound by certain documents that govern the Community Association.  The assessments that are levied in order to operate and maintain the Community Association are mandatory.  In other words, you are going to have to abide by the governing documents of the Community Association so you had better review them and make sure they are something you can live with before you make an offer to purchase.  Once the purchase of the property has closed you are an assessment paying member of the Association and that should be a beautiful and harmonious thing.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Feb. 6, 2008 - And The Survey Said.................

Jan. 4, 2008 - Loss Mitigation

First and foremost, since I have ignored my blog for about a month, let me take this opportunity to say that I hope your Holidays (whatever it is you celebrate) were everything you were hoping they would be.  Fortunately I am back here in time to wish you health, happiness and prosperity in 2008.

On Christmas Eve some dastardly evil doer stole the table out of the lobby of the Condominium in which I live.  Since I am the President of the Board of Directors it fell to me to file the police report.  Des Plaines Police Officer Mike Meyers (honest) showed up and asked the usual questions. "Any signs of forced entry"?  "No sir".  "Anybody report any suspicious characters on the premises"?  "No sir".

There was no forced entry because no one has to force their way in.  As much as you harp on the fact that there are rules and regulations that need to be adhered to when you live in a Condominium environment, many people apparently think that they do not apply to them.  There is a reason you are asked to wait until the garage door closes behind you before you pull off.  There is a reason you are required to greet the delivery man, the pizza man and anybody else you don't personally know in the lobby.  That reason is security, loss mitigation if you will.

Thieves are wily enough without a member of the association giving them free access to the building.  They have been know to follow the mailman into the building or come in the garage door while the waste hauler is rolling the dumpster to the garbage truck.  There isn't too much you can do about that.

That's why, as a part of Condominium living, you, the resident of a Condominium, have to do everything in your power to help secure your environment.

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Sep. 25, 2007 - Buying Into A Little Government

The other day, when I was visiting one of the many forums I read daily, a real estate agent asked a question about a Condominium Association that changed the rental rules for the association.  The agent's clients had asked the question.  That prompted the agent to ask other agents.  I was in one of my replying moods and it went like this:

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

May. 31, 2006 - More Condo Or Co-op

The infamous author of Columbus Best Blog, Maureen McCabe asked me if we have Co-ops in Chicagoland. Why yes Maureen, we sure do.

As I said yesterday, there is more to said about the differences between the two forms of ownership, so why don't I just say some of it now? Remember I said in a condominium you own your unit and in a cooperative you own shares of stock in the corporation that owns the building and you get a proprietary lease to live in one of the units. A proprietary lease means you get to occupy the unit as if you actually owned it.

Co-ops are popular among people who like to kind of choose their own neighbors. By way of setting their own rules they can exclude people who don't fit within their chosen parameters. Since they are actually selling stock in a corporation and not real property so to speak, they can be rather discriminatory about who they let in and who they don't. There have been celebrities who have been denied ownership in co-ops because the other share holders believed that the peace and quiet of their building would be upset by having famous residents. Florida is teaming with co-ops that are age restrictive.

Most of the time you have to pay cold hard cash for a co-op. In a condo, the governing body (the association) can always put a lien on your unit if you fall behind in your assessment. The lender can secure your loan by means of a mortgage lien on your unit. You can't very well put a mortgage on a stock certificate now, can you? And since the other share holders in the co-op would be really thrown off kilter by someone getting into the red on their assessments, you can be pretty sure that you will undergo a very deep, grueling intrusion into your finances if you should desire to live in a co-op. 

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

May. 30, 2006 - Condo Or Co-op

As strange as it may seem, I have gotten an inquiry from Mark in the Los Angeles, California area, about the difference between a condominium and a co-operative. I knew I was almost famous, but nation wide????????

I can see how, to the naked eye, a condo and a co-op might look pretty much the same. Which ever one you live in, you are still pretty much an apartment dweller. The difference is in what you own.

In a condominium you own the unit in which you live, plus a predetermined percentage of the common areas such as the lobby, hallways, elevator, etc.

In a co-operative you own shares of stock in the corporation that holds title to the building and you are granted a proprietary lease to live in one of the units.

In either situation you are still paying assessments for the operation of the building and the up keep of the common areas. This is usually in the form of a month payment. 

There is more to be said on the subject, but time is tight and I have to stop for now. I guess you'll just have to keep coming back, eh?

As always, if you have found yourself receiving my blog postings via e-mail, it is because I have either blogged about you personally, blogged about something I know is of interest to you, or I consider you to be a person of deep thinking and intellect and I would love to have you occasionally commenting on my blog. If you would like to be removed from the list simply send me an e-mail saying so.

Feb. 7, 2006 - Who's Looking Out For You?

When it comes to condominium living there's nothing to it right? Make sure the mortgage and the assessments are paid on time and that's the end of that. No more grass to cut or snow to shovel, the trash will magically disappear when you drop it down the chute and the common areas remain clean and updated all by themselves. Even if you have a problem, chances are you will bump into a board member you can dump it on. They don't mind, they asked for the job.

I suppose that in a well run condominum this would all appear to be true. A good Board of Directors is an important asset, but in order for them to look good they need the support and the input of an even better Management Company. A good management company knows the Illinois Condominium Property Act by heart. They have read and read again the Declaration and Bylaws that govern your association. They can quote your Rules and Regulations chapter and verse. They stay accessable. From experience, they can anticipate your every need before you even know you have one.

Having had to deal with many different management companies in the course of my real estate career, I can safely say I know a good one when I see one. Who might that be, you ask. That would be Summit Management Specialists, Inc.

Check them out and tell them Gene sent you.

Once again, if you find that being on my blogs e-mail list is a mistake, or an inconvenience just drop me an e-mail and you will be cheerfully removed.