Continental House
We review association documents and resale certificates for clients on a regular basis. Every week we post stats and something fun or interesting.
This week it is Continental House with 42 residential units in Queen Anne.
- Average Sale Price – no sales since 2016
- Currently For Sale:
- Average Monthly Assessment – $0.52 per sq.ft. (so if your condo is 1,000 sq.ft you’d be paying ~$520/month).
- Move-in Fee – yes, $700
- Pets – none allowed
- Rental cap – no (although “…rentals are not to be permitted without board approval…”)
- EQ insurance – yes
- Reserve funding – 23% (at least 70% is generally recommended)
- Risk of special assessment – one is currently in place ($1m, elevator replacement)
Fun facts – Nothing overly exciting was observed in our review of the records. Day-to-day financials appear in order (reserves and long term needs of major components might warrant a bit more attention), earthquake insurance is in place, and everyone seems to get along and obey the rules (no abundance of fines on the books).
Continental House does however clearly prefer it’s units to be occupied by their respective owners. The building is nearly 100% owner occupied and renting and / or selling comes with a few twists that we rarely come across.
First, Continental House has the first right of refusal:
“…In the event of any offer of, or sale, rental, lease or conveyance of an apartment…the Association or its designee shall be a right of first refusal to purchase, rent, or lease the same on the same conditions and at the same price and terms as are offered by the apartment owner to any third person…”
Second, an investor buyer might run into some roadblocks:
“…It is our intent that this be an owner occupied building. The Board of Directors shall not approve the sale of any unit that will not be owner occupied…”
And lastly, there are few associations that go this far when it comes to having a unit go up for sale. The first thing that runs through your mind when you open Continental House’s “House Rules and Schedule of Fees” is “wow, why are there so many paragraphs in red font” and the following are a part of the sea of red (we thought we’d add some color to this write-up to demonstrate):
“Owners must fill out and return to management 1‐week prior to unit being placed on the market for sale a “Notice of Sale” form…
Each unit will be required to have a Resale Checklist Inspection completed by the Management Company prior to any offer being accepted on the unit. Any deficiencies found during the inspection will be reported to the seller, and noted on the Resale Certificate.”
Want us to help you review a resale cert?
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Need help buying or selling? We are here for you!
And of course a fancy disclosure has to follow because attorneys tell us it is a good idea – all information contained herein is based on third party records, is not guaranteed, and is subject to change. We simply review, tell you what we read in someone else’s docs, and hope whatever they have is / was correct at that time.
