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Dodging a Special Assessment

By Matt Goyer June 24, 2009

I smiled when I saw this post from my good friend Katrina:

I sold my condo in Seattle almost two and a half years ago to avoid the next planned renovation to the building exterior that would have resulted in yet another costly special assessment. But after I sold, the project never seemed to materialize. Until today! Thanks for sending along the picture Ben, you just made my year.

Katrina sold her place in spring of ’07 just before everything came crashing down. Good timing indeed.

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8 responses to “Dodging a Special Assessment”

Mike D. says:

June 25, 2009 at 8:34 am

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I believe if you know about a pending special assessment, you are legally obligated to disclose that in the real estate documents to potential buyers. The article you point to only says she sold to “avoid” the assessment and doesn't say she actually neglected to disclose it, but it mildly implies that. If she knew about an assessment and didn't disclose, I believe that is considered fraud:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/2009/06/selle…
Mike D. says:

June 25, 2009 at 8:34 am

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I believe if you know about a pending special assessment, you are legally obligated to disclose that in the real estate documents to potential buyers. The article you point to only says she sold to “avoid” the assessment and doesn't say she actually neglected to disclose it, but it mildly implies that. If she knew about an assessment and didn't disclose, I believe that is considered fraud:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/2009/06/selle…
Mike D. says:

June 25, 2009 at 8:34 am

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I believe if you know about a pending special assessment, you are legally obligated to disclose that in the real estate documents to potential buyers. The article you point to only says she sold to “avoid” the assessment and doesn't say she actually neglected to disclose it, but it mildly implies that. If she knew about an assessment and didn't disclose, I believe that is considered fraud:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/2009/06/selle…
mattgoyer says:

June 25, 2009 at 10:14 am

Good point. In this case there was no pending assessment at the time of sale. Just the possibility of an assessment sometime in the future which wouldn't have been hard to discern seeing as they had just completed an assessment and repair of another part of the building.
mattgoyer says:

June 25, 2009 at 10:14 am

Good point. In this case there was no pending assessment at the time of sale. Just the possibility of an assessment sometime in the future which wouldn't have been hard to discern seeing as they had just completed an assessment and repair of another part of the building.
mattgoyer says:

June 25, 2009 at 10:14 am

Good point. In this case there was no pending assessment at the time of sale. Just the possibility of an assessment sometime in the future which wouldn't have been hard to discern seeing as they had just completed an assessment and repair of another part of the building.
Mike D. says:

June 25, 2009 at 3:34 pm

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I believe if you know about a pending special assessment, you are legally obligated to disclose that in the real estate documents to potential buyers. The article you point to only says she sold to “avoid” the assessment and doesn't say she actually neglected to disclose it, but it mildly implies that. If she knew about an assessment and didn't disclose, I believe that is considered fraud:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/2009/06/selle…
mattgoyer says:

June 25, 2009 at 5:14 pm

Good point. In this case there was no pending assessment at the time of sale. Just the possibility of an assessment sometime in the future which wouldn't have been hard to discern seeing as they had just completed an assessment and repair of another part of the building.

Dodging a Special Assessment

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