Just went thru that this week with a friend, the condo marketers song
and danced around the law finally told my friend we will not sell to
you if you demand a dish. They didnt want them on the front of the unit
which happended to be where it had to go

I pointed out federal law said he could put it on his front porch, a
argument started that their covenants come before any federal law. with
that kind of attitude what other trouble is he in for.


Condo's are tricky animals. If your board is extremely political, it
is difficult to get an honest audit of expenses.

I lived in a condo where the developer had a sales office on the
premises. With deceptive agreements buried in the bylaws of the
condo association, this developer had his lawyer declare large rooms,
storage spaces, about half the parking garage, and otherwise revenue
producing property a "limited common element" assigned to his personal
use. He rented these out, kept the money, and the condo association
gets stuck with the property tax bills.

In addition, we didn't find out until five years after buying in, but
this same developer had all his utilities on condo association common
area meters. We were paying for his heat, light, air conditioning,
and the electric bills to run his business for years.

This guy was an incredible operator. His building manager owned a few
of his own apartment buildings, so that many of our cleaning supplies,
lightbulbs, garden supplies, garage door opener remotes, and
replacement expenses were diverted to his personal building. His
favorite activity was stealing our fire extinguishers and one time he
even took a snow blower.

The point is... even if you have the best volunteer condo board, they
are still only working part time and it is difficult to provide
oversight and controls to areas outside of their immediate realm.

As for me, no more condos.... ever!

Beachcomber