Condominium and home owners associations desperate for money are experimenting with a tactic called “reverse foreclosure” to force banks to pay association fees.

The process works like this: When a borrower stops paying the mortgage, banks often delay taking the property into foreclosure. When banks delay, neither the former home owner nor the bank is paying association fees.

To remedy this, the association files its own foreclosure notice, taking over the title. The association can’t sell the property because of the bank’s lien on it. So the association goes to court, renounces the property and asks the judge to give the title back to the bank.

When the judge does so, the bank has to pay the fees. Experts say this technique is becoming very popular in parts of the country where there are a lot of foreclosed condos.

Source: Miami Herald, Rachael Lee Coleman (03/07/2010)

McKeon condomiums typically have a #1 unit in front which is usually a 2 bedroom 1 bath unit with a living room and kitchen.  The #2 & #3 units are usually kitchen and living room downstairs and two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. The #4 unit is usually the rear unit and has a porch and pverlooks the alley ways of the complex.  You usually have 2 two car garages, each garage being shared by two units with storage units and overheard storage for each unit as well.

The issues I have found in my experience with this style condominium is:

1. 1.  Unit #2 & #3′s toilet upstairs usually sits on top of #1 & #4 overheard storage units SO, these toilets tend to leak and the damage is above another units storage.  HOA’s should make an effort to assign these spaces based on the unit is would effect, it may not be smooth numbering but would keep each units responsibility more intact.
2. Buyers should always look at the HOA docs and meeting agendas.  Some complexes do not cover the inside of the garage which leaves the responsibility to the two unit owners for interior wall damage and garage door openers and sometimes the garage doors themselves.

We have seen some great things done with the Mckeon interiors such as granite countertops, remodeled kitchens and more.  Here are a few examples:

You can find this style condominium mostly in Citrus Heights, Sacramento and surrounding areas.  Elk Grove has a small complex off of El Mirador off of Elk Grove Florin Road. 

As always if you are looking for a condominium in the Sacramento market, contact SacramentoCondos.com at info@SacramentoCondos .com or through one of our links on the front page.

Bruce Slaton

SacramentoCondos.com

We look forward to serving the Campus Commons community!

Bruce Slaton Lic # 01305148

SacramentoCondos.com

SacramentoCondos.com

Welcome to the new SacramentoCondos.com site released December 1st.  We have attempted to cover as much information as a condominium owner or someone thinking of purchasing a condominium would need to make an informed decision.  We welcome your comments and recommendations and look forward to releasing more features in the future.  Some of the best features I will tell you about off the bat are:

1.  Individual features page for each condo complex

2.  Quick Search for Condos Near Colleges

3.  Quick Link to see about if a complex is FHA approved for financing.

4.  Links to our new Blog SacramentoCondoTalk.

5.  Quick search links for Bank Owned Condos and Short Sale Condos.

Some condominium complex information pages are more detailed than others and this will get better in time.  If you live in any of the complexes and have old marketing materials, floor plans or information you want others to know about, please email us at info@SacramentoCondos.com and we’ll incorporate the information into our complex pages.

I look forward to working with many of you in the coming 2010 year and enhancing your experience with our website and services in the future.

Bruce Slaton

SacramentoCondos.com