If you are planning on selling a house that's within a common-interest community governed by a homeowners' association (HOA), be prepared to add an important task to the predictable ones of finding an agent (most likely), advertising and marketing, cleaning out your things, and getting ready to move. You will also need to gather various important documents to share with potential homebuyers. Now is a good time to start getting organized, as described below.
Be prepared for prospective buyers to request lots of paperwork related to your homeowners' association; or to provide them the documents even if they don't ask, because this might be required by your state's law.
Here are key items you'll in all likelihood need to provide copies of to either potential or serious buyers:
To save time and energy searching for papers at the last minute, ask your real estate broker early on what homeowners' association documents and materials you will need to provide buyers. These are typically spelled out in the standard contracts real estate agents use for the purchase of a house.
If you keep good records (and have a well-run homeowners' association), you might already have much of the paperwork you need in your files. You are likely to also need to contact your homeowners' association for copies of recent documents.
See Organizing Paperwork for Your Home Sale for more on getting organized.
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