- Posted on May 12th, 2014
4 Important factors that are often overlooked when buying a condo
Buying a Condo
When buying a condo in Miami, each Buyer has their own set of needs and wants. What they will end up purchasing depends on taste, budget and many other considerations like place of work, schooling and so on.
However, there are four things that cut across all clients and that should be considered. But, many times they are overlooked by the buyer and not pointed by buyer’s real estate agent, when buying a condo in Miami.
They are:
Condo Docs
These documents are massive. These are in many instances a hundred fifty plus pages. A lot of what is in there is not of particular interest but there are some portions that you need to pay attention to because they can affect whether you consider the property suitable to you or not.
I always recommend taking a long “glance” at the book. Flip through every page, as there is interesting information and you will learn a lot about the condominium.
Inside the Condo Docs. you will learn about:
- Voting rights
- How the Board is constituted
- How the building should be insured
- What are the amenities and where they are located
- The rules and regulations that govern the building.
- Pet policy
- Rental restrictions
Among the most important elements in the Condo Docs are Pet Policy and Rental Restrictions. Imagine you only travel, or are moving permanently, with your two Maltese Teacup Dogs. You might think, well they are small. Well some condos only allow one pet.
Financials for Building
You are sharing with the other residents of the building the privilege of a beautiful pool, gym, maintenance crew, valet, concierge, and the list goes on.
You will want to know how much in condo fees they collect and where those funds go (how big “uncollectable” is for the building).
Also, buildings always needs maintenance. Every five years or so the building will be painted, equipment will need to be replaced. It is important to know whether the building collects reserves for those expenses and how large those reserves are or whether they will need to assess all condo owners for repairs. As a general rule a building with reserves is a better maintained building.
Parking and Storage
This is obvious yet often overlooked when buying a condo. Find out about parking spaces, where they are. What is the guest parking situation? It’s not necessarily that you can change things but you want to know before you buy.
You might want to know whether you need to drive from the street to the 10th floor of a large building to get to your spot. If you get dizzy easily in a car this might be just what you don’t need. Also, inquire about storage units. There never seems to be enough space in a condo.
Visit at Night Time or at End of Business Day
See how the building feels to you. Look at the people coming in, traffic in the lobby. How busy are the elevators. What’s the view of the condo at night. You want to be sure you feel comfortable. It’s a great feeling when you can say: this feels like home!
Begin your Miami condo search here.
To work with Andres, your experienced luxury realtor, and Constec Realty Services, an established real estate agency that specializes in luxury Miami real estate, contact us now.
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