Condo associations.

A condominium is your unit plus an undivided share of the common areas — halls, stairs, roof, land, and shared systems. The master deed fixes each unit’s percentage interest, and that number drives your share of the budget and the weight of your vote. Condo units are assessed and taxed individually by the city, so ask for the tax bill on the unit rather than the building. Before anything else, confirm the building is a condominium under Massachusetts law (M.G.L. c. 183A) — some buildings marketed as condos are co-ops or shared-equity arrangements, which carry different ownership and financing rules.

Massachusetts does not require sellers to hand over a standard resale packet the way some states do, so the burden falls on you to ask. Request the master deed and every amendment, the bylaws and rules, the current budget and the year’s budget-to-actual figures, the schedule of collections and delinquencies, the reserve fund balance and any reserve study, the last twelve months of meeting minutes, recent financial statements, insurance declarations and certificates, engineering or repair reports, and a written note of any pending litigation or planned assessment. Associations and management companies usually charge a fee and take days to weeks to respond, so start the request the day your offer is accepted and let your attorney review the package before your contingencies run out.

The monthly common expense comes from an annual budget, so read what that budget actually buys. One building’s fee covers heat, hot water, water and sewer, master insurance, snow removal, landscaping, and reserves; in another you pay heat and electric yourself and the fee covers little beyond the halls and the roof. A higher fee that includes heat and water is often cheaper overall than a low fee where you pay those separately, so compare total carrying cost instead of the fee line alone. Ask whether the current fee covers the current budget, how many units are behind on payments, when the fee was last raised, and what the board expects for next year.

The reserve fund pays for the expensive items that arrive on a schedule: roofs, boilers, windows, paving, elevators, siding. A thin reserve is not a crisis today — it means the bill shows up later as a special assessment, and assessments are due on the association’s timetable, not yours. Ask for the reserve study, the current fund balance, and the last three years of assessments and special project votes. If an assessment has already been voted, ask who pays it: a seller can credit the balance at closing, but only if that is written into the offer before you sign.

The association’s master policy covers the building and the common areas, but how far it reaches into your unit depends on the master deed — some policies stop at the bare walls, some cover the unit as originally constructed, and some cover more. Get a copy of the declarations page and ask what the deductible is and whether it can be charged back to a unit owner when a claim starts in that unit. Then buy your own unit-owner policy for your belongings, any upgrades you make, and loss-assessment coverage. Quotes are far more useful once you know what the master policy already covers.

Before closing, your attorney or closing agent orders a 6(d) certificate — the association’s statement of unpaid common expenses on the unit, which state law requires within ten days of a written request. When recorded, it clears the unit of liens for sums not listed, so a buyer is not left paying a seller’s arrears. That protection matters most on foreclosure and auction purchases, where unpaid association charges can follow the unit. Have your attorney read the master deed for a right of first refusal or trustee approval right as well — some Massachusetts buildings require the association to act before a unit can be sold to an outside buyer, which adds time to the closing timeline.

Read the rules before you fall in love with the unit. Check pet limits, rental caps and minimum lease terms, short-term rental bans, age-restricted buildings, alteration approvals, moving hours, and guest parking. Verify how parking and storage come to you — a deeded space, an assigned space, or nothing more than a common lot where spaces go by need — because the listing rarely says which. If you plan to rent the unit, get the leasing restrictions in writing; if you plan to live in it, ask whether owner-occupancy rules could narrow your buyer pool when you sell.

Condo financing can fail on the association rather than on the buyer. Government-backed and conventional loans set standards for the project itself — reserve funding, insurance, pending litigation, delinquency rates, and how many units a single investor or entity owns — and FHA keeps a public, searchable list of approved condominium projects you can check before you offer. A building can lose eligibility without warning, which affects both your loan and your future resale. Ask your lender to review the project in the first week, before your financing contingency runs, and ask the board whether the building has been approved or certified recently.

The people running the association decide how quickly your leak gets fixed and how carefully the money is managed. Ask whether the building is self-managed or works with a management company, how long the manager has been there, and how the board handles repair requests and rule enforcement. Try to attend the annual meeting or at least read the meeting packet and minutes, because budget arguments, deferred maintenance, and disputes with a contractor all show up there. Walk the halls, look at the basement and roof access, and ask a few owners what the board does well. In a new-construction building, ask whether the developer has turned the association over to the owners and what warranty remains.

Much of Brockton’s condo stock is older or converted — schools, mills, and multifamily buildings brought back as condominiums, alongside townhome-style and garden buildings. Ask the age of the roof, boilers, and electrical service, whether each unit has its own panel or is submetered, whether a buried oil tank exists and what registration or closure records are on file, and whether finished attics and additions are reflected in the recorded master deed — space that is not shown may not be deeded to you. Conversions sometimes leave fewer parking spaces than the units need, so check the allocation against the unit count. None of these are dealbreakers; they are price and reserve questions, and it is far better to ask them during the offer period than at the closing table.