Comments on: A deeper look into town home joint maintenance agreements…

By: Reba Haas

Reba Haas — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:19:56 +0000

my guess is that there likely have been some issues which is why a lot of the townhomes I see now (new and on market) are better about listing JMA’s or CC&R’s.

By: jcricket

jcricket — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:10:26 +0000

I can’t believe with all the townhomes going up no one has yet had to even bring up (i.e. litigate) issues like roof repair, common walls, etc.

Is it just a function of the new-ness (so that no one has had to replace their roofs, plumbing in a shared wall, etc)?

I’ll admit that when I was looking for my first home back in 1997 the townhomes looked good (ended up buying a small standalone in-fill home instead) and I didn’t even think about things like common maintenance. But since then that type of housing has exploded in popularity (look at ballard and greenwood, for examples) and that explosion of popularity usually comes along with increased scrutiny.

By: Reba Haas

Reba Haas — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:35:48 +0000

I agree, fooman, this is a sub-topic that we discuss with our clients to remind them that even if they are fiscally responsible it doesn’t mean their neighbor will be. A lot of people that buy the new townhomes don’t usually think they’ll live there longer than 5 or so years so they just hope that problems won’t come up during their residency. They’re planning on someone down the line having to pick up the slack, if any. It will be even more interesting another 10 years from now when many of these places start needing new roofs, etc. that are big ticket items. Dealing with the purchase and sale negotiations then will have a whole new twist especially if the roof needs replaced.

By: fooman

fooman — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:56:47 +0000

As a former townhome owner, I can only agree. These zero-lot-line setups are powderkegs waiting to blow. Give it about 5 more years, and this will really start to rear its ugly head.

The biggest worry I had was that my other three neighbors spent every penny the earned. If a maintenance issue came up, I am almost certain it would have been 100% on my shoulders. Tack on to this that the days of high appreciation are gone for good, so for many, tapping into equity to pay for maintenance will not be possible.