Homeowner Association (HOA)

A friend of mine from Saskatoon who cleans cars for a living had to do nearly a dozen phone calls to answer this question when he moved to the states. It's a good one! But the moral of the story is phone calls can get you wherever you need to go. I vouch for that as he eventually got a hold of the HOA and got what he was looking for. Best of luck for anyone reading this and trying to answer the same question today!

A realtor can help you with that or just contact the Hoa yourself and have them send you the information.

Often this information is available after it's paid for. Some, but not all HOA's, will allow you to download this information for free, but it's rare.

The management company that manages the townhouse/condo property will in most cases be able to answer your questions. The listing agent or your Realtor can provide you with the management company's name and phone number. The name and phone number of the management company is a field in the MLS that Realtors have access to.

When you are ready to make an offer on a home, the offer conctract and addendum provides a time frame for the buyer to review and consider the condo docs and deed restrictions, and either terminate the transaction or proceed with the purchase.

Hope this helps.
vm

A lot of times the HOA docs are online you just have to know where to look. If you can get the name of the management company you can usually find the info you are looking for. Your Realtor should be able to tell you who the management company is.

Holly's correct.

Many times now the documents are online on the community website. Many HOA's are handled by a bigger management company. Ask the listing agent if they have the management info. Or ask your own agent for this info. They should be able to pull it up. In those situations where it's not online, then the seller should have a copy or one can be provided to you for review within a certain amount of time. Just have your agent specify that.

HOAs are not all up the same way. If the community is professionally managed, usually the homeowner will have to order the official documents and resale certificate for a fee. It just depends on the community.

Try searching online by the HOA name if you have not done so already. You may find some information. HAR.com lists the cost to the homeowner and the items covered by the HOA but there is not a link or anything of that sort to find complete HOA information.

According to the contract, the seller will have a specified amount of time to provide an official copy of the subdivision information and resale certificate to the buyer. If the property is a condo, the buyer has 5 days to review the docs and has the right to terminate before the 6th day. If the property is a fee-simple townhome, requiring docs to be provided should be part of the offer and usually the buyer will have 3 days to review them.

Unfortunately, there is not one easy way to review HOA docs. I hope this answered your question.

I just placed an offer for a prospective buyer who was interested in reviewing the subdivision documents. I called the management company and asked if the documents were available on line. The representative answered yes and gave me the website. If you can't find the correct HOA ask your Realtor for assistance.