Buying a condo in Seattle: read the building before you buy the unit

6 min read · 9 sections
By Henos Adhana · Licensed WA Real Estate Broker #25016434 · eXp Realty

With a condo you are buying into the association's finances as much as the unit. In Washington the association has 10 days to produce a resale certificate once the seller asks, and you can cancel within five days of first receiving it. Use that window to read the reserve study, any special assessments, the insurance and the rental rules, and check early whether your loan type works in that building.

What you actually own#

A condo is a form of ownership, not a type of building. You own your unit, usually from the walls in, and a share of everything else: the roof, the structure, the lobby, the elevators, the land. The association runs all of that, and your dues pay for it.

That is why the paperwork matters more than the finishes. A beautiful unit in a building with thin reserves and a tired exterior is a special assessment waiting to happen.

Houses and condos are separate markets right now#

In Seattle this year the two have behaved differently. Houses priced to the market still sell. Condos have been slower, with more of them for sale and more room to negotiate, according to the brokerage reports that track Northwest MLS data.

That is good news for a condo buyer, with one caution. A building where many owners want out can struggle to fund its repairs. A soft market makes the documents more important, not less.

The resale certificate, and your five days#

Once a resale condo is under contract, the seller asks the association for a resale certificate. The association has 10 days after the request to provide it, and can charge the seller up to $275 for it.

The certificate is the building's financial disclosure. It shows the current assessments and anything unpaid, any special assessments, planned major spending, where the reserve study stands, the latest financial statements and budget, unsatisfied judgments and lawsuits, the insurance, notices of code violations in the unit, rental restrictions and any right of first refusal.

You can cancel the purchase within five days of first receiving it. Under the newer condo law, WUCIOA, it is five business days, and if the certificate arrives late you can push closing back to keep them. Many older Seattle buildings still sit under the older Condominium Act until 2028, where it is five days or until closing, whichever comes first. Either way, block the time in your calendar the day the certificate arrives.

Sources

• RCW 64.90.640, resale certificates under WUCIOA, Washington State Legislature
• RCW 64.34.425, resale certificates under the Condominium Act, Washington State Legislature

The reserve study#

Reserves are the association's savings for the big, predictable jobs: roofs, siding, windows, elevators, boilers, paving. Washington requires most associations to update a reserve study every year, and to have a reserve study professional do a visual site inspection at least every third year.

Read three things in it: how well funded the reserves are against what the study says they should be, the projects planned for the next five years, and what the study recommends the association put aside each year compared with what the budget actually puts aside. A gap between those last two is how special assessments happen.

Sources

• RCW 64.90.545, reserve studies, Washington State Legislature

Special assessments, and who pays them#

A special assessment is a one-time charge on every owner for work the reserves cannot cover. The resale certificate has to show any that are already approved.

If one has been approved but not yet paid, who pays it is a term you can negotiate. Raise it in the offer if you already know, rather than after the certificate arrives.

The meeting minutes are where assessments show up first, often months before a vote. Ask for the last year or two of them along with everything else.

Your loan and the building#

With a condo the lender underwrites the building as well as you. The budget, the reserves, how many units are owner-occupied, owners behind on dues, litigation, commercial space and how many units one owner holds can all come into it. A building that falls outside the mortgage agencies' standards is usually called non-warrantable. You can still finance it, but usually with more down and at a higher rate.

For an FHA loan, check HUD's list of approved condominium projects. If the building is not on it, FHA can still approve a single unit in some cases, on a longer list of documents.

Ask your lender to look at the building before you write the offer, not after. It is the cheapest way to avoid a contract you cannot close.

Sources

• FHA-approved condominium search, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• FHA single-unit approval, required documentation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Insurance, rentals and the rest of the rules#

The association's master policy covers the building. You buy your own policy for the inside of your unit and your belongings. Ask what the master policy's deductible is and how the declaration assigns it, because after a leak that deductible can land on the owner whose unit it started in.

Many associations cap or ban rentals, and the resale certificate has to show any restrictions. If you might rent the unit out one day, that is a question for before you offer, not after you move in. Pets, parking, storage and electric car charging all sit in the same documents.

The law changes on 1 January 2028#

Washington has governed condos and homeowners' associations under several different statutes, depending on when a community was created. From 1 January 2028 the older acts are repealed and one law, the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, covers every community.

Many older buildings are amending their documents to get ready. The minutes will tell you whether yours has started, and whether the process has turned up anything expensive.

Sources

• Senate Bill Report, SB 5796 (2024), Washington State Legislature
• The impacts of standardizing the law applicable to community associations, Washington State Bar News

Common questions#