Buying a home often involves compromises. You may dream of 20-acres-off-a-dirt-road but reality points to a quarter-acre-in-a-platted-subdivision. To add insult to injury, the home in the platted subdivision comes with a homeowner’s association (HOA).
Homeowner’s Associations
Homeowner’s Associations are usually non-profit corporations mandated by a State or Local Entity that can’t afford to govern and enforce intricate local land use rules.
What’s wrong with homeowner’s associations, you ask? The upside to HOA’s is they uphold the value of the governed homes by mandating minimum standards of care. The downside is that standards of care can be applied harshly, inconsistently, or carelessly by Board volunteers attracted to power for power’s sake.
The document that gives people HOA heartburn is the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R’s). CC&R’s are usually written by a developer’s attorney serving at the pleasure of the developer. As such, CC&R’s frequently represent the point of view of the developer only, can be poorly written, and often have multiple amendments, complicating the interpretation of individual clauses.
Buyers are already overwhelmed during the real estate transaction. How is a buyer supposed to find the time to read the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions they will be required to abide by, let alone understand multiple amendments to the document?
The purchase or sale of real estate is complicated. With so much on the line, it’s better to be safe than sorry!
Timely Contract Solutions
Buyers: Use TC Review to understand the CC&R’s that govern the property you intend to buy. Get answers to your questions. Identify solutions. Be prepared with legal options if adverse or unforeseen land use requirements are found.
Sellers: Use TC Review to understand your legal position and identify choices you have under the signed contract. FSBO’s may need protection from off-the-shelf contracts that don’t fit the circumstances of their sale. Be prepared with legal options if adverse or unforeseen circumstances arise.
Use Timely Contract solutions to avoid common problems of the real estate transaction … and to sleep better at night!
This posting is not legal advice. Legal advice is based on specific facts. This information is necessarily general in nature.