There are some building violations, but the place I live in also has violations and made repairs. This is what I see:
2015:
3-story front metal staircase and balcony - stair system severely rusting and peeling paint, with broken treads and risers. Guardrail heights are only 32 inches. Permit required for repairs.
3D - ants
3D - bathroom and kitchen walls - mildew build-up
2011:
Room temperatures are 64-66 degrees at time of inspection; insufficient temperature
Thermostat not working properly at time of inspection
Are these things to worry about? It doesn’t mention any work done to repair them (in the permits section).
Talk to others living in the apartment building about everything. For example you learn about the drug dealer in 2C and it might change your opinion about buying.
If so, lenders almost always require a title search and title insurance. The title search looks for all past ownership and lien issues to make sure you can take clear title. The title insurance covers the bank in case the title search wasn’t done properly or missed something. Note that the bank’s title insurance doesn’t always cover you, the owner. You may need to buy your own title insurance.
I popped in specifically to mention owners title insurance. Even if you’re paying cash for the place, that’s worth getting because it protects you against any hidden liens against the old place. This might be less of an issue with purchasing an apartment/condo then if you’re purchasing a house and land together, but it still could happen.
You want to look at the homeowners associations budgets for the past few years. See if there have been any special assessments. Do they have adequate financial reserves in case of a large expenditure e.g. replacing an entire staircase. Has the work you spotted actually been done? If not, I’d run away from that deal. Are you planning on having the apartment inspected? If so, make sure the inspector also checks common areas – because those would seem to be the likeliest sources of large expenditures which mandate special assessments.
If you can, compare monthly fees with those of nearby developments. Are yours unusually high? Are they unusually low? Either could be a red flag.
Make sure your inspector check for any signs of previous water damage in your place. If you have upstairs neighbors, a flood there could’ve damaged your place. Not issue if it’s been correctly repaired, but it’s useful to know.
Your title company should make sure that all assessments from the previous owner have been settled before you purchase. That would include both homeowners association fees and taxes. But it’s a good idea to do your own due diligence as well. When we purchased a condo in Florida a few years ago, the previous owner (the daughter of the resident, presumably deceased) was at least a year behind on the assessments. The Association was actually in the process of starting to foreclose on the unit. Even though we paid cash for the place, this delayed our ability to take possession because the legal people would not release the unit until they had received the monies due them.
Around here the thing to be careful of is the condo association, which can be very controlling if it is in the hands of nasty people. I’ve heard some stories that make me wary of buying a condo.
Oooh, something else to think of: is the unit you’re looking at in compliance with HOA rules? There might be rules regarding outside appearance (deck a standardized color for example), or inside features. A friend looked into a condo once where you were only allowed hardwood flooring on the ground floor (because upstairs, it would make things too noisy for the downstairs neighbors). In general check with the condo association to see if there are any outstanding issues with the current owner, that might lead you to getting stuck with a bill. A careful review of the HOA rules and regulations is in order. In my state, those legally HAVE to be provided to the buyer before the purchase takes place, and you can use them to back out of the deal if you don’t like what they say.
Not just the budgets, but the meeting minutes. That saved our asses when we bought our condo. There was mention of potentially the need for a new roof, which hadn’t been done yet. We ended up having the sellers put their share of a new roof into escrow. Reading the minutes saved us a few thousand dollars, because the association did decide to redo the roof within the escrow deadline.