In a previous post The fact that Georgia's condominum Act seem to mostly protect the original townhome buyer and builder therefore was noted. In this post; a closer look into the results of this lack of governance. I have been brokering townhomes in Cobb county, with particular emphasis on Smyrna~Vinings for about a year. In one community that I farm intensely, I have discovered that real estate agents, for virtually every listing sold and,on the market currently, in the MLS states that Home owners Association fees in Fee Simple townhome communities include Exterior Liability, Fire Insurance and Exterior maintenance...this is NOT TRUE!! This opens the door to buyers suing Real estate agents when they discover that the latter is not true.
A living example of the latter: I am on the Architectural Control Committee (ACC) of a particular FEE SIMPLE Townhome community where almost all real estate agents state on the MLS that the Association Fee covers the elements stated above. I recieved a phone call from a homeowner as a member of the (ACC) asking the Association to fix a broken railing leading to her front door. I had the unfortuante job of telling her that this is not covered by the HOA. She was not a happy camper and freaked out on me over the phone. I told her that in a FEE SIMPLE she was responsible for all Exterior Maintenance of her home. She said the following: "Well, according to what it says on the sheet from the MLS my real estate agent provided it states that Exterior maintenance is a provision of the HOA.....", I said...."unfortuantely it doesNOT! She then stated that she wa going to call her lawyer...HMMM!!!
This is a very unfortuante circumstance. As Professionals we should be ABSOLUTELY COGNIZANT about what we state about FEE SIMPLE vs Condominium Asociation Communities. It is, amongst many other unfortuates, another reason why E&O insurance continues to go up in annual charges, not withstanding the hardship caused by bad information.
(to be continued)
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