While home sellers are often keenly focused on marketing their properties and making a profit in a deal, homebuyers have their own set of responsibilities and potential stressors. When buying a home, your biggest concern is likely figuring out how to navigate the often complicated, multi-step process and getting the most spacious and best-quality home for your money. One important part of the buying process includes determining whether or not you want to live in a neighborhood association, according to real estate broker
Melissa Yardy.
Condominiums and a majority of subdivisions that have been recently developed have rules that govern how you are able to use the property you have purchased. These rules are intended to give the area a uniform appearance. Your real estate broker can retrieve for you a copy of these rules.
Some of the rules that cause the most trouble for homeowners is that you may not be allowed to erect a basketball hoop in your driveway. Likewise, you may not be able to park a work featuring your company’s name in your driveway.
Some neighborhood associations have restrictions on motor homes, thus barring residents from parking these vehicles on their properties. Others ban clothes lines, while others dictate whether or not you are allowed to build a fence around your property or tell you the type of material you are allowed to use for your fence. Restrictions may also exist with regard to installing satellite antennas for television.
You may also learn that your potential buy is situated in a neighborhood where you cannot paint your home a new color without receiving permission from the association’s architectural committee. Some neighborhoods additionally will not permit dogs of a certain size and weight. Understanding these rules upfront will prevent you from purchasing a home in an area that does not suit your personal lifestyle as a homeowner.
