[95avblm3]

My wife and I lived in a waterfront 3-story townhome with a two-car garage, an elevator and a deeded boat slip for 5.5 years. We sold it to downsize our living quarters and upsize our property, but that's another story. It was a cool place with more features than we could have afforded in a detached home of similar size and location.

Our experience was overall very good but there were certain things that helped it be...

First, our neighbor (by pure coincidence) turned out to be an old friend and Porsche guy, so we had good neighbors. We could occasionally here cabinets closing in the kitchen or a bedroom door but overall it was pretty quiet... the drone outside of the AC condensers was more of a nuisance than any noise inside.

Second, it was not a very big complex and had an active social committee, so we got to know a lot of our other neighbors.

As others have said, get a copy and read the documents before committing to make sure that the rules are compatible with your lifestyle!

Furthermore, have a look at the budget and the financials of the association! Ours was incredibly well run and I served on the board for a while. We continuously reduced dues while building our reserves because we had taken the time to pursue delinquent property owners. If a BOD is not savvy or otherwise mis-managed, you could be at the risk for "special assessments" which could suck. If the association is well run, this shouldn't be a problem.

Next, perform a little due-diligence on the structure. It goes without saying that a good inspection is important but I would also look into the developer/builder. The construction quality of our unit left some things to be desired... like it would have been nice if they brought a level on the job when they were setting our floor joists. Our developer went belly-up after rebuilding one of the buildings in our community due to Chinese drywall... so there's no going after them for any other issues.

Finally, ours was titled and insured as if it was a detached single-family home. This always concerned me with the common wall... If a hurricane took out our building, how do I know the 6 other neighbors with units in my building had sufficient insurance to rebuild their portion of the exterior. I would look for a place that is insured more like a condo, where the association is responsible for insuring the structures and you just take care of your interior and contents.

Just my $0.02