WAUKESHA

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HOMES

Your Guide to Homes, Home Improvement, Lawn & Garden and MORE!
A publication of the Waukesha Freeman and Oconomowoc Enterprise MARCH 2016
CONTENTS

Condo, sweet condo

Questions to ask before signing on the dotted line
By Sara Rae Lancaster
Special to HomesPlus

Exploring the best

ways to get stale air
out and fresh air in
while temperatures
are still cold.

The Lenten Easter rose

signals its time to prep
the garden for spring

Moving into a condo makes a

lot of sense for a lot of people:
empty-nesters who no longer
need as much space, young professionals who spend little time
at home due to busy work schedules, people who dont want to (or
cant) keep up with yard work.
Its easy to see the appeal. With
minimal exterior home maintenance, a built-in community, and
even amenities like fitness centers and pools, its like having the
benefits of an apartment and
hotel wrapped up into a property
you own.
And today there are all kinds
of condos, said Pewaukee resident Mary McCurdy, a condo
owner for over 13 years. From
high-rise units downtown to condos out in the country. Some condos are even free-standing, so
families with young children can
have a yard, if they want to. Really, condo living is for everyone.
Even with condo livings mass

appeal, there are some things

prospective buyers should keep
in mind before signing the closing papers. Educating potential
buyers about the right questions
to ask is part of the Community
Associations Institute-Wisconsins (CAI-WI) mission. A chapter
of the international membership
organization, CAI-WI provides
education and resources to Wisconsin homeowner volunteers
who govern communities like
McCurdys and the professionals
who support them. On Friday, the
CAI-WI will host its annual conference and trade show where
people associated with, or interested in, condo living can boost
their knowledge about condo life.

Asking the right questions

Education is very important,
said Chad Emrath, a real estate
portfolio manager with Ogden &
Company, Inc. People are coming into these associations and
they dont always know what
questions to ask or what to
expect.

Emrath and McCrady suggested potential buyers consider the

following questions before making the move.
Compare managed vs.
self-managed associations
Self-managed associations are
usually smaller and try to keep
their dues low. The cost savings
appeals to many members, but it
does come with a trade-off.
A smaller sized association
that is self-managed may not be
as consistent with maintenance,
or the association may not have
contacts for all the necessary
resources members need, said
McCurdy, who has lived in both
managed and self-managed associations.
Based on her experience, she
prefers managed associations. I
think its a lot easier when you
have a management company
and are not relying on the association to take care of everything,
she said. Self-managed associations still exist, but Emrath said

See CONDOS/Page 6

Creative Outlet
While the styles of condominiums
can range from lofts to detached
single-family homes, the questions
buyers should ask remain the same.

MARCH 2016

HOMES PLUS

Condos
Continued from Page 1
the pendulum is swinging toward managed
associations even for some smaller communities.
We have managed associations that
range from 12 units up to 164, so its not
solely dependent on size, he said. An
association with 12 units may want to have
professional management because they
dont want to deal with the extra work as a
small team.
Ask about financial health
Another important question potential

buyers should ask is how financially

healthy is the association? How much
does the association have in the reserve?
How often have they had to call for a special assessment? Those are all questions
that are good to ask, Emrath said.
To get a clearer picture of what kind of
fee increases members might face due to a
special assessment, Emrath suggested
dividing the total reserve amount by the
number of units. This gives a more realistic idea of how much money is available to
each unit for maintenance and repairs.
If the association has $100,000 in the
reserve, you may think thats a lot of
money. But how many units are there? he
said. Suddenly, that number may not

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seem like its as much.

Dont hesitate to ask for copies of the
board meeting minutes and financial
records, as well.
I usually suggest going as far back as
you can go financially and request at least
a year in minutes, Emrath suggested.
Those documents should be easy enough
to be provided to the prospective buyer and
can reveal a lot about the associations
behaviors and trends.
Whats covered in maintenance?
Also ask what is (and isnt) the associations responsibility when it comes to
maintenance. The best example I have is a
rummage sale I went to where the guy was
selling all his tools. I asked him, Why are
you selling all this stuff ? and he said, Im
moving into a condo. I dont need any of
this. Thats when I handed him back his
snow shovel and said, You might want to
keep this. Emraths reason: Not all associations hire out snow removal.
And do they clean out the gutters?
Because you probably dont want your elderly mother up on a ladder to do that,
Emrath said. Be sure you know all the
procedures and regulations.
Talk with board members and
future neighbors
If prospective buyers want to get a feel
for whether a community is a good fit,
spend some time in it.
Walk around the neighborhood. Talk
with the neighbors. Call the board members, McCurdy said. Get a feel for the
neighborhood and the people who live

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WAUKESHA:
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I had to change my thinking

and decisions from what was best
for me and what I wanted to
what was best for the community.
Mary McCurdy,
condominium owner for 13 years

there to see if it feels like a fit for you.

Suited for community living
This is also the time buyers will want to
ask themselves a few questions about their
own behavior, namely, are they community
minded? If not, can they become someone
who is?
The biggest change I had to make was
going from a mindset that focused on being
an individual owner to being an owner
who was part of a larger community,
McCurdy said. I had to change my thinking and decisions from what was best for
me and what I wanted to what was best for
the community.
McCurdy admitted she didnt ask any of
these questions when she bought her first
condo.
But the second time around, I knew to
ask all of this and I did, she said. The
whole process has been an education.
One last tip for after move-in day: Get
involved. Getting involved in the management of the association is really beneficial, McCurdy said. Who else would be
more concerned about the community and
what happens within it than someone who
lives there?

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WAUKESHA:
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