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 Bolero with 75 residential units in the First Hill part of Seattle. In addition to residential condos, Bolero has 15 parking spaces that are setup as separate “units” (see our post on Hillside House as it relates to parking spaces).

• • Average Sale Price – ~$822 per sq.ft. (based on four sales over the last year)
  • Currently For Sale:
    • Unit 403 (listed at $325,000 or ~$808 / sq.ft.)
    • View All Units Available at Bolero On Our Site
  • Average Monthly Assessment – $0.57 per sq.ft. (so if your condo is 1,000 sq.ft you’d be paying ~$570/month).
  • Move-in Fee – yes, $100
  • Pets – yes with a limit of 2 per unit (see Fun Facts below for more info)
  • Rental cap – no
  • EQ insurance – yes
  • Reserve funding – 54% (at least 70% is generally recommended)
  • Risk of special assessment – moderate

Fun facts – Let’s talk renters.  We’ve all seen rental caps, requirements to owner occupy the condo for a period of time before being able to rent, making sure tenants have background checks and other screening, the requirements to register your tenants with the condo association, and plenty of other things that relate to individuals who want to rent their units. Many of those things make perfect sense. Some relate to the requirements mortgage companies  have and some are just common sense.  Background screening, for example, might make sense for an owner so they have an idea of who will be living in the house they own (although there’s been some legislative turmoil in the City of Seattle relating to background screening), but does any of it make sense for a condo association? Neither buyers nor current owners undergo any type of background screening and bypass the credit checks (that are typically done by a mortgage company) if you pay cash for the condo you are buying. Why would an HOA require all of the above and then some if, for all we know, their next door neighbor who owns their condo is a career criminal?

Bolero has yet another interesting twist. Their rules say that “Lessees are prohibited from having pets.” Wait, so if I own my condo, I can have a pet, but if I rent from another owner in the building, I can’t? Raise your hand if you’ve ever been a renter. Now raise your hand if you started caring for your pet more (or started buying more pet waste baggies) once you bought a condo. And lastly, raise your hand if you are currently renting a condo from someone else and you are more responsible than one of your neighbors who owns their condo. Wonder what would happen if a city council passed an ordinance that required you to own a property within city boundaries before you could have a pet. When did renters become second class citizens with limited rights in a condo association?

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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.