Can I make an unconditional offer on a condo?

without conditions

Most homes are selling over asking price without conditions, but does that mean you have to forego looking at the status certificate when you buy a condo?

You know, it’s a very tough year to be a home buyer. Homes are selling fast without conditions. But some price ranges are tougher than others. For example, I have a few sets of clients looking in the $350-$400K range, so I recently pulled all of the sales data for this price range for houses for sale in the heart of Kitchener Waterloo and discovered that most of the sales over the past five months, maybe 80% of them, went for over asking price.

No big surprise there.

Most too sold in a week or less time and this tells me that the typical home inspection clause, which allows the home buyer a week to do an inspection was waived.

But what about condos?

The condominium market is normally nowhere near as competitive as the single family home market. When you are buying a condo apartment unit or a condo townhouse you usually have a lot more time and typically your offer to purchase will include the lawyer’s review of the status certificate condition.

Is this one really necessary?

The answer of course is yes, but it can be no if you don’t mind a little risk.

So what is the status certificate condition?

It is an inspection of the financial condition of the condominium. It will allow you to discover if there is a special assessment pending, the current and projected financial health of the condo corporation and if there are any liens or judgements against the condo.

It is a pretty important document.

Three maybes

It is unusual to be in a bidding war for a condo unit but this year anything can happen and has done. As the status certificate is essentially a financial inspection of the condo corporation, in the unlikely chance that you are asked to forego this, should you?

It is still a risk but my answer is yes if one of these conditions are met:

1) there have been a number of sales recently in the building or complex. If this is the case, it is safe to assume that one of those ordered the status certificate.

2) it is brand new. Special assessments are most often needed by older buildings for major repairs or updates to pavement, roofs, or windows.

3) it is not a condo conversion. Old factories that are converted into funky condo spaces are currently not covered by Tarion Warranty.

 

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