For this condo I just sold in Saratoga for $900,000, I was the agent for the seller. I have now sold this very same condo 3 times! The condo market is definitely not as hot as the SFR market, so it’s a little more questionable for how things will go with a condo in this COVID world we live in. Fortunately, there was a buyer that really loves this community, and was actually waiting for another condo to pop up, so we likely got lucky in that sense. Once we listed the condo, the buyer made an offer right away, and based on the overall activity and such, we felt it was best to take the bird in hand and not mess around.
This buyer was super solid, large down payment, made an offer over the list price, and waived ALL the contingencies (loan, appraisal, and inspections).
The transaction itself was super smooth…until it wasn’t…towards the very end of the transaction, the seller got a letter from the HOA that they noticed the sellers had hard flooring and are an upstairs unit, which does not comply with the HOA rules and regs. Well, firstly, in the community there are a number of upstairs condos with hard flooring, AND for this particular unit, the ONLY hard flooring is in the entry and hall, and is a VERY small part of the overall flooring.
Secondly, this owner did NOT even install the flooring, they bought the condo this way. Not only that, but even the previous owner did NOT install the flooring and bought it the same way. The flooring was put in over 8 years ago and 3 owners ago. Apparently, the HOA was looking at online pictures of the inside of units while they were on the market and that’s how this all came about. They never even had a complaint from the downstairs owner.
So, there was a lot of back and forth about this flooring issue, which probably takes up maybe 4% of the overall flooring and never a complaint from any other owner or neighbor, just the HOA actively seeking out violations on the internet. Wow!
The owners were able to get an emergency board meeting, since we were seriously close to closing the transaction. This notice came very close to the closing of the sale, so the timing was really crazy. And, the HOA decided to let the flooring stay as it is, as long as the neighbor below has no complaints. We talked to the neighbor below and she had no issue with the flooring and even advocated for the sellers that it was no problem for her.
So, in the end, after all of the back and forth, and this notice coming out of nowhere just maybe a week before the transaction closing, the end result was to do nothing and just let it be.
Most people don’t even read all of the rules and regs of the HOA docs, especially to the level of what type of flooring is permitted. And in this case, this condo had been passed on from owner to owner now 4 times (to include the most recent buyer), without any of them even aware there was an issue until this came up. There are currently a number of upstairs units with hard flooring in most of the space, so it’s a rule that not too many seem to be aware of. But, now I know…and NOTED!
Sold in Saratoga for $900,000
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