What do you mean…I can’t rent out my condo?
Condos aren’t common (yet) in Spokane real estate, condos for sale in Spokane represent less than 5% of all Spokane homes for sale.
However, for those that choose to purchase a condo as their Spokane real estate investment, this is an important topic.
A client of mine, who purchased a condo about a year ago, wrote to me today asking about limiting the percentage of condo units that can be used as rentals to 10%:
A neighbor of came by and had a petition to sign - that would limit the percentage of condos that could be rented — to ten percent of the total number of condos.
At first thought, it sounded good to me because it prevents the neighborhood from deteriorating with ever-increasing numbers of rental units. However, on second thought, I wondered: If that’s such a good idea, why permit even ten percent? Why not vote to prohibit rentals altogether?
The rub, as I see it, is that after the first ten percent of owners eventually rent their condos out - then effectively virtually nobody else can do it regardless of unexpected circumstances or need. But, what would I do if I were transferred to another job location and forced to move - and found I could not sell at a reasonable price because of some downturn in the resale value of the condo?
I’m conflicted over the pros and cons of this issue - so I’m really curious about your take on it. I fully appreciate how dreadful it would be to have 1/2 the condos eventually turned into rentals. All the riff-raff would make the condo little different from living in an apartment - and that would obviously torpedo the resale value of the units.
On the other hand, I dislike the idea that the first 10% of condo owners to rent their units out, are free to do so if it suits them - but then the gangplank is pulled up and for all practical purposes nobody else can do it - even if there was an unexpected and important need….
What’s your take on this interesting conundrum?
My Response: It’s a good policy…
As far as a 10% cap on rentals, I tend to agree with it. My experience is Read more
2 Agent Misunderstandings That Can Ruin Your Transaction
Two of the more common mistakes I see on real estate contracts is
The short answer is, neither of these is allowed by lenders. |
 |
Allowances / Holdbacks / Credits
The idea is, you’ll buy my house from me, at closing I’ll let the escrow keep $xxxx dollars from me for you to use on repairs to the house.
Just this morning I ran a search on the Spokane MLS for the word “allowance” and found 37 listings offering escrow allowances:
- Buyer to receive $10k roofing allowance w/acceptable offer at closing.
- $4,000 exterior paint allowance to buyer at closing.
- Up to $5,000 driveway allowance, paid at funding.
- With acceptable offer seller will offer $10,000 credit on HUD as a repair allowance to the buyers.
Seems fine and dandy, until you try and get your loan funded. The loan underwriter will shoot this down faster and harder than Dick Cheney taking aim on a quail hunt.
What we are NOT talking about is having the seller contribute cash toward the buyer’s loan closing costs. This is a perfectly legitimate and accepted practice from the lender’s eyes. What we are talking about is the seller leaving a credit, Read more
-
Current My Property Manager members login here -
Subscribe
Subscribe with RSS or enter your email address to receive new articles.
-
-
