Ten Points to Consider Before You Invest In a Texas Condo
A Texas condo is a prestigious addition to any real estate investor’s portfolio. But an unplanned purchase can bomb on your bank balance. Here are lists of few points that you must be clear about before making a condo investment in the state of Texas.
After you have completed your Texas condo hunting and zeroed on a few properties, now it is time for contacting the condo board to clear off with a few important real estate questions.
• First of all be clear about the laws that govern the buying and renting of condo properties in Texas. Take the help of a legal expert to make sure of all by-laws, clauses and restrictions governing the condo properties. Before making any commitment, get all the clauses scrutinized by your attorney.
• Make sure you are dealing with a developer that has earned his repute in Texas real estate sector. To get a clear idea about the quality of the developer you can visit one of his finished condo projects. The residents of the condominium can give you a clearer view about the developer.
• If you are considering an older Texas condo project, take help from a qualified engineer to understand the true condition of the building---take specials notice of roof, windows, and walls. Make sure they are in good shape, otherwise they may prove expensive latter on.
• The House Owners’ Association is a major aspect of condo buying. Enquire about the money reserve of the association. Also try to learn if these reserves are used judiciously to keep the building in good health.
• The association assessments are an important part of building upkeep. The House Owners’ Association must be efficient enough to keep pace with the annual rate of inflation. The common practice is to raise assessments by a certain percentage annually to cope with the rising repairing costs and to expand the reserve funds to provide for the future repairs. It is easy to know whether the property follows resalable assessments---just compare the rate to other similar Texas condos in the area.
• Before signing the agreement, make sure of what facilities are covered in the Association fees. The condo owners are commonly entitled to these facilities such as shared area maintenance, variety of recreations available in the campus, regular trash removal and likes.
• If you are exploring an older condominium, then try to find out the history of special assessments over the past five years. If you find there have been major and repetitive assessments over the stretch of this time, then there is reason to worry about the condition of the construction.
• Another important point of query involves the legal status of the project. Before finalizing on any Texas condo, make sure that the property is not under litigation. If you find a property where the homeowners are into a legal tangle, it is better not to opt for it.
• If you are after a very big Texas condo project, in very big projects there can possibly exist multiple associations. These smaller associations may require separate assessments. If you are after a very big Texas condo project, keep this point in mind.
• Then prior to purchase, also investigate about the ratio of owner-occupied and tenant-occupied units. The Texas condos having a higher ratio of owner occupancy will fetch you higher resale value.
Being armed with the right set of information, you are bound to strike goldmine in your real estate investment. But never underestimate the role of an experienced real estate agent to help you find the Texas condo of your dream.
