CloseCenter

Selling path

Selling a condo when an assessment or reserve shortfall is on the table

Condo buyers are buying a share of a building's obligations along with the unit. When there is an assessment coming, the question is not whether you disclose it — it is who absorbs it, how the number is presented, and whether lenders will still finance the building. Get those three right and the unit sells. Get them wrong and it sits.

Term sheet

How this compares to the alternatives

Same four questions for every path. Read the row you care about across all three columns.

This page

Condo with a special assessment

Right for you if
your association has voted, or is about to vote, on an assessment or a large repair.
What it costs you
Standard local commission if you list. The assessment itself is negotiated: paid off at closing, credited to the buyer, or left with the buyer at a lower price.
Realistic timeline
Usually longer than a comparable house, because the buyer's lender reviews the association as well as the borrower. Document delays are the common cause.
What can go wrong
Finding out late. If the buyer's lender rejects the project after inspection, you lose weeks and re-list with days on market attached.
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Compare

Find your Realtor

Right for you if
your house is in condition to list and you want the highest realistic price.
What it costs you
Standard local commission, paid at closing. CloseCenter costs you nothing — the agent pays us a referral fee out of their own commission, only when the home closes.
Realistic timeline
Time on market varies with price and condition, then closing usually runs a few weeks once you are under contract.
What can go wrong
The house sits. Price was wrong, condition was wrong, or the agent went quiet. That is what the 30-day review exists to catch.
Read about find your realtor →

Compare

Cash offer

Right for you if
certainty and speed are worth more to you than the last dollar of price.
What it costs you
No commission and no repairs, but the offer comes in at a discount to open-market price. How big depends on condition and location, and we put the number in front of you.
Realistic timeline
Usually closes within about 2 weeks, depending on title work or issues that turn up. You usually pick the date.
What can go wrong
Retrading — the buyer lowers the price after inspection. Ask for proof of funds and a hard, non-refundable deposit before you take the property off market.
Read about cash offer →

Ranges are general and depend on your market, condition, and lender. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.

At a glance

All six paths, side by side

Net proceeds, speed, certainty of closing, and what you pay.

Levels and day ranges are general and depend on your market, condition, and lender. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.

  • Find your Realtor
    Net proceeds
    Find your Realtor Net proceeds: High
    Speed
    Find your Realtor Speed: Low
    Certainty of closing
    Find your Realtor Certainty of closing: Medium
    What the seller pays
    Commission at closing
  • Cash offer
    Net proceeds
    Cash offer Net proceeds: Low
    Speed
    Cash offer Speed: High
    Certainty of closing
    Cash offer Certainty of closing: High
    What the seller pays
    No commission, lower price
  • Creative selling
    Net proceeds
    Creative selling Net proceeds: High
    Speed
    Creative selling Speed: Medium
    Certainty of closing
    Creative selling Certainty of closing: Low
    What the seller pays
    Paid over time, not at closing
  • Guaranteed Sold Program
    Net proceeds
    Guaranteed Sold Program Net proceeds: Medium
    Speed
    Guaranteed Sold Program Speed: Medium
    Certainty of closing
    Guaranteed Sold Program Certainty of closing: High
    What the seller pays
    Commission, plus the backstop terms
  • Avoid foreclosure
    Net proceeds
    Avoid foreclosure Net proceeds: Medium
    Speed
    Avoid foreclosure Speed: High
    Certainty of closing
    Avoid foreclosure Certainty of closing: Medium
    What the seller pays
    Depends on equity and lender approval
  • Sell your land
    Net proceeds
    Sell your land Net proceeds: Medium
    Speed
    Sell your land Speed: Low
    Certainty of closing
    Sell your land Certainty of closing: Medium
    What the seller pays
    Commission, often a higher rate

Typical days from first call to close

Typical days from your first call to the closing table. Levels and day ranges are general and depend on your market, condition, and lender. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.
PathTypical days from first call to close
Find your Realtor

60–150 days

Cash offer

10–21 days

Creative selling

21–75 days

Guaranteed Sold Program

30–120 days

Avoid foreclosure

14–60 days

Sell your land

60–210 days

What the seller pays under each path

Find your Realtor

  • Agent commission, paid at closing
  • Repairs or credits you agree to after inspection
  • Normal seller closing costs and prorations
  • Preparation: cleaning, photography, any staging you choose

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Cash offer

  • No agent commission
  • No repairs and no preparation
  • The discount to open-market price — the real cost of this path
  • Closing costs, usually covered by the buyer (confirm in the contract)

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Creative selling

  • Commission, if an agent writes and markets the deal
  • Most of your proceeds arrive over years, not on closing day
  • Servicing, bookkeeping, and legal drafting of the terms
  • The cost of enforcement if the buyer stops paying

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Guaranteed Sold Program

  • Agent commission on the sale that actually happens
  • The backstop price, which sits below the list price
  • Whatever conditions the guarantee attaches — get them in writing
  • Normal seller closing costs

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Avoid foreclosure

  • Reinstatement, payoff, and any legal fees your lender has added
  • Commission, if the property is listed rather than sold for cash
  • A short sale needs lender approval, which sets its own terms
  • Speed usually costs price — that trade is the decision here

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Sell your land

  • Land commission rates commonly run higher than house rates
  • Survey, access, or soil work a buyer asks for
  • Property taxes while the parcel sits
  • Normal seller closing costs

Paid to CloseCenter: $0

Levels and day ranges are general and depend on your market, condition, and lender. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.

This fits you if

  • Your association has voted an assessment or is studying a major repair
  • Reserves are thin and buyers are asking questions
  • You want out before the next funding decision
  • You would rather price the problem than negotiate it twice

Look elsewhere if

  • The assessment is minor and already paid in full
  • You are willing to wait until the work is completed and documented

What we hold the agent to

The accountability layer

Four standards, in writing, the same on every referral. Not a service promise — a set of conditions the agent keeps or loses the referral.

01

Full-time agents only

Real estate has to be the agent's primary income. We do not screen on closing counts — a low-volume full-time agent beats a high-volume part-timer on responsiveness.

If it slips: the referral moves to another agent in the area. Coverage is not exclusive.

02

Contact within 4 hours

The agent calls you within 4 hours of receiving the referral, same business day. Not a text blast, not an automated drip — a call from the person who will handle the file.

If it slips: tell us. We reassign, and we tell you we did.

03

30-day listing review

At day 30 the agent sits down with you and reviews their own numbers: showings, feedback, days on market, price position. No spin, no new photos as a substitute for a decision.

If it slips: we run the review ourselves and put the numbers in front of you.

04

On the file through closing

One person at CloseCenter owns your outcome from the first call to the closing table. You are not handed off to a queue.

If it slips: you have a direct line and a name, not a support inbox.

Process

What happens, in order

No mystery steps. If a step slips, you hear it from us before you notice it yourself.

  1. 1

    Pull the association file

    Budget, reserve study, meeting minutes, the assessment resolution, and any engineering report. Buyers and lenders will read these; read them first.

  2. 2

    Establish the actual number

    What your unit owes, whether it can be paid over time, and whether an unpaid balance transfers with the unit.

  3. 3

    Check the building, not just the unit

    Your agent finds out what has closed there recently and how it was financed. If recent sales were all cash, price for cash buyers.

  4. 4

    Decide how it is handled

    Pay it at closing, credit the buyer, or reflect it in price. Each produces a different net and a different buyer pool.

  5. 5

    Disclose up front and close

    Documents in the listing file from day one. We stay on the file through closing.

Florida

Assessments, reserves, and why some buildings lose financing

Florida condo buildings of a certain age and height are subject to structural milestone inspections and to reserve studies, and the results change what an association has to fund. That is why a Florida assessment conversation so often arrives with an engineer's report attached. Do not summarize those documents from memory — request the current inspection and reserve documents from the association and give buyers the actual files.

The financing question is separate and it is the one that costs the most. Lenders review the project as well as the borrower, and a building with heavy deferred maintenance, an underfunded reserve, or active litigation can fall outside what they will lend on. When that happens the buyer pool narrows to cash, and price follows the buyer pool. Ask the association whether any lender has already flagged the project, and ask your agent to find out what has closed there recently and how those sales were paid for.

None of that makes the unit unsellable. It makes the timing and the disclosure strategy the deal. A seller who hands over the documents up front and prices the known number negotiates once; a seller who waits for the buyer's lender to find it negotiates twice, from a worse position.

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