Association Controls

Residential communities often form associations to care for common areas within the community and to govern aesthetic concerns within the neighborhood. These homeowners or condo associations often have monthly fees that are assessed on the value of your home. The services provided by homeowners and condo associations can vary from community to community. Be sure to read the fine print in the association rules before buying. Some offer trash, recycling and snow removal as part of your monthly fee. Others charge extra for these services. Some prohibit parking trucks, boats and trailers in front of your home. Others dictate your landscaping. You need to be sure that you can abide by the rules of the neighborhood you are considering living in.

You also need to know that the amount of the homeowners' association fees will be added into your monthly living expenses when looking for a mortgage. Living in an area with an association will cost you. A higher fee for a community that provides a wide range of services from trash to gardening may decrease your loan amount significantly. Be aware of the consequences of choosing one type of home versus another.

TERMS TO KNOW

Adjacent

Near or next to but not necessarily touching.

Adjoining

Actually touching that which it is next to; abutting.

Common Area Assessments

Levies against individual unit owners in a condominium or planned unit development (PUD) project for funds to defray homeowners' association costs and expenses and to repair, replace, maintain, improve, or operate the common areas of the project. The allocation of the proportionate individual share of the common expenses.

Common Areas

Portions of a building, land, and amenities owned (or managed) by a planned unit development (PUD) or condominium project's homeowners' association (or a cooperative project's cooperative corporation) that are for equal use by all of the unit owners, who share in the expenses of their operation and maintenance. Common areas include swimming pools, tennis courts, and other recreational facilities. In a condominium or cooperative, the buildings, parking areas, and other commonly-owned assets.

Condominium

A real estate project (may be dwelling, office, garage, marina) in which each unit owner has title to a unit and an undivided interest in the common areas of the project, and sometimes the exclusive use of certain limited common areas.

Condominium conversion

Changing the ownership of an existing building (usually a rental project) to the condominium form of ownership.

Cooperative (co-op)

A type of multiple ownership in which the residents of a multiunit housing complex own shares in the cooperative corporation that owns the property, giving each resident the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit.

Homeowners Association

A nonprofit association comprised of all owners that manages the assets (physical and monetary) of any common-ownership-type property such as a condominium, cooperative, planned unit development (PUD) or any other property developed with common ownership. In a condominium project, it has no ownership interest in the common elements. In a PUD project, it holds title to the common property. In a cooperative, it owns all the property.

Think & Do Reminders...

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