Let me tell you a story about a very unhappy home buyer. Harry Homebuyer decided he was ready to move from Columbia, Maryland to Queen Anne’s County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He wanted to downsize and was thinking a condo in a water oriented neighborhood might be perfect for him. So he called his buddy who was a Howard County Realtor and they went about setting up some homes to see.
Off they went on their search for the perfect water privileged condo. It wasn’t long before they came upon a home which Harry just loved. The condo had everything he had hoped for in a home. It had water views, a community marina, a pool, a clubhouse and even a little gym right there in the community. The condo fees were a little high and stretched his budget, but he figured that he was getting so many amenities that it would be worth it and he could just cut back on his spending a little to compensate for the high condo fee.
Harry decided he wanted to make an offer on the property so he and his Real Estate Agent got together and wrote up a great offer. After a short period of negotiation Harry and the home seller agreed to terms and Harry had a fully ratified contract on the home. They did their inspections which went well and everything moved smoothly. About 45 days later Harry went to settlement and moved into his dream home.
About a month later Harry received a letter in the mail telling him that there was a new assessment on the condo for some repair work which needed to be done throughout the entire neighborhood. This assessment was in addition to his already high condo fee and was going to go on for about 4-5 years. This was more than Harry could afford.
After struggling for about a year to make ends meet Harry realized he could no longer keep the home. He decided to put his house on the market. Unfortunately, there were many, many of his neighbors in the same situation. So many of them had been unable to pay the new fees and had actually gone to foreclosure. This dragged the home prices down to a level far below what Harry had paid for his home. Sadly, Harry also lost his home.
So what is the point of this story? If Harry had worked with an agent who was local to Queen Anne’s County and who knew the area they would have known about this special assessment and would have been able to warn Harry about it. Harry would then have had all of the facts and been able to make an informed decision. Maybe he could have negotiated a better price which would have lowered his mortgage payment to a level where the higher assessment wouldn’t have had as much impact. Maybe Harry would have looked at some of the other neighborhoods which wouldn’t have had this assessment, but still have all of the same or similar amenities. Either way, Harry wouldn’t be in the position of losing his home.
It is extremely important to make sure you have the right Realtor representation. Talk to your prospective agent and make sure they are an expert in the local Real Estate market. You will be very glad you did.
