3 things selling condos can teach any real estate agent
Condo transactions differ from single-family home sales, but the process offers lessons for every agent — no matter which market segment is their primary focus.
Key points:
- While there are details specific to condo transactions that real estate professionals dealing primarily with single-family homebuyers and sellers may rarely face, these types of deals can be instructive for all agents.
- It’s important for agents to make sure their client understands that a unit’s purchase price is not the same as what it actually costs once assessment and association fees are added to the mix.
- If bad news pops up at any point during a transaction, don’t delay sharing it — the sooner a buyer or seller understands the full picture of a deal, the stronger the agent-client relationship will be.
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The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author.
After nearly 20 years in residential real estate, I have learned that condo transactions have a way of exposing whether an agent is really doing the job or simply moving a deal from one step to the next.
A condo transaction may look straightforward at first. The unit is in good condition, the buyer likes the location, the price makes sense and everyone is ready to move forward. But the unit is only one part of the equation. The building has its own financial history, insurance, reserves, maintenance needs, rules and potential liabilities. Any one of these variables can change what looked initially like a great deal.
That has become especially visible in Florida, where aging buildings, higher insurance costs, and inspection and reserve requirements have put more attention on condominium finances. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation says certain residential condominium buildings three stories or higher are subject to milestone inspections, while structural integrity reserve studies are designed to determine the funds needed for major future repairs and replacements.
Those issues are specific to condos, but the lessons they teach are not. These three factors apply to agents in almost every residential market, regardless of whether they're selling a condo or a single-family home.
1. The listing is the beginning of your due diligence, not the end
With a condo, agents quickly learn that the MLS sheet cannot tell you everything you need to know. A beautifully renovated unit can still sit in a building facing a major repair, an underfunded reserve account or an assessment that materially changes the cost of ownership. That means agents have to develop the habit of looking beyond what is easy to see.
For a condo buyer, that can mean reviewing budgets, reserve studies, inspection reports, meeting minutes and information about pending or recently approved assessments. For a single-family home, the documents are different, but the mindset should be the same. What could affect this property that is not obvious from the photos, showing or list price?
Agents are not inspectors, attorneys or accountants — and we should not pretend to be. But we should know when there is a question that must be asked and when a client needs advice from the appropriate expert.
2. Price and cost are not the same thing
One of the easiest mistakes that can be made in real estate is focusing too heavily on purchase price. Condo transactions make the problem obvious. A unit may be priced attractively, but higher association fees, an upcoming assessment and other building expenses can make it less affordable than another unit with a higher asking price. The same principle applies elsewhere. Property taxes, insurance, deferred maintenance, renovations and recurring ownership expenses all affect what a home really costs.
That is why a good agent should resist the temptation to define a bargain by the list price alone. Our job is to help clients see the larger financial picture and understand the tradeoffs they are making. Sometimes the lower-priced property is still the better choice. Sometimes it is not. The important thing is that the client understands why.
3. Bad news gets more expensive when you delay it
Condo deals also reinforce something I have seen throughout my career: Difficult information rarely improves with time.
If a building is facing a major assessment, I would rather discuss it early than allow a client to discover it when they are emotionally and financially committed to the transaction. The same is true of pricing concerns with sellers, inspection issues with buyers and any other variables that could affect a home sale.
Agents sometimes worry that raising a concern will kill a deal. But I look at it differently. If a deal only works because the client does not yet understand an important risk, it is not a strong deal.
Clients do not need us to eliminate every problem. That is impossible. They need us to identify issues early, explain what we know, acknowledge what we do not know and help them get the information needed to make an informed decision.
Condos provide a particularly good training ground because so much of the value and risk exists beyond the unit's front door. That is increasingly true across real estate. Consumers can find listings, property histories and market data more easily now than ever before. What they cannot always do is determine which information matters most, what deserves further investigation and how different factors fit together. That is where an experienced agent still earns the client's trust.
The best lesson condo transactions can teach us is simple: Do not just sell the property in front of you. Understand the bigger picture around it.
Jeremy Olsher is a South Florida real estate advisor and leader of Mizner Residential Group (Florida Search) with nearly 20 years of experience. He specializes in residential sales, relocations and market strategy, helping buyers and sellers navigate complex real estate decisions with a practical, data-driven approach. Jeremy has been recognized on RealTrends America's Best Real Estate Professionals list from 2021 through 2024.