Tips For Selling Your Home in a Seller's Market In an Association or HOA

When selling your home in a seller’s market, It is important that all documents are in order

It’s important all documents are in order so when an offer is made your Realtor can forward the documents to the buyer. If you are a member of a Condo Association Florida Statute 718.111 states a prospective purchaser must receive at the seller’s expense the following documents:

• Declaration of Condo
• Articles of Incorporation of the association
• Bylaws and rules of the association
• Year-end financial information
• The document “Frequently Asked Questions and Answers”

A Disclosure Summary is required before executing the contract for sale in a Home Owners Association, Florida Statute 720.401 states. If this disclosure is not presented the contract can be canceled at any time. Potential buyers will also want to see the Declaration, Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and Rules and Financials. Contact Joe Jennings, Sunny & Associates for more information and a free copy of that disclosure.

It’s always best to have a copy of the association’s resale application (Buyer’s Application) ready so your buyer does not hesitate to commit.

Also it is important to make sure you know what fees are involved with transferring your paperwork under your name over to the name of the new buyer? Most associations have CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION and all have an ESTOPPEL FEE.

(An estoppel fee is a fee charged by the homeowners association to the title company in order for them to determine the status of your account. They will determine if you are current and on-track, if you are behind, or if there are any special assessments that are due by the seller.)

You should always disclose those fees prior to a buyer writing a contract to avoid any buyer lack of trust. Those fees should be found in the Buyer’s application form the HOA or COA provides. For more information on those fees contact Joe Jennings, Sunny & Associates for details.

Finally, we all know insurance in Florida is a touchy subject. Have available a copy of your insurance policies and a copy of the association’s master policy so your buyer gets no surprises when searching for insurance.

We at Sunny & Associates do all of the above and more before we list a home for sale.

It’s a process we have learned through many years of experience. We do our best to established a relationship with the management company and its staff prior to issues.

We have community association management (CAM) education and experience, so it’s an easy process for us. That’s is what we do!