The cheapest monthly assessment in a River North high-rise is the one that makes me nervous. First-time buyers see $450 a month on one listing and $600 on a similar unit two floors up, and they assume they found the deal. Sometimes they did. More often, the building has kept assessments low by not saving.
In Illinois, you have a right to see how a building actually runs before you close. Section 22.1 of the Condominium Property Act requires the seller to give you a disclosure package. It includes the budget, the reserve balance, any special assessments already approved, and any lawsuits the association is involved in. Most buyers skim it during attorney review. I'd rather you read it like a lease you're about to sign for ten years.
Here's what I look at first:
- **The reserve line.** If reserves are a small slice of the annual budget, someone will pay for the next big repair. It's usually the newest owner. - **Special assessments that are approved but not yet billed.** Find out whether the seller or the buyer pays. Then negotiate. - **Litigation.** One slip-and-fall claim isn't a dealbreaker. A suit against the developer over water getting into units is a different conversation. - **Board minutes from the past year**, if the association will share them. Future plans tend to show up there before they show up anywhere else.
Chicago adds a wrinkle of its own. The city's facade ordinance requires buildings over 80 feet tall to have their exteriors inspected on a set cycle. Many of the towers that went up around Grand and Ontario in the early 2000s are now old enough for those reports to come back with real repair bills: masonry work, balcony repairs, window seals. None of it is glamorous, and all of it ends up in the assessment.
The suburbs have the same issue. Plenty of the condo buildings near the Metra stops in Park Ridge and Des Plaines went up in the '70s and '80s. Their roofs, elevators and parking decks come due on their own schedule, whether the reserve fund is ready or not.
Here's my take, and some agents won't love it. I'd steer a buyer toward a $600 assessment with a healthy reserve over a $400 assessment with an empty bank account every time. The higher number is honest. The lower one is a bill that hasn't shown up yet.
If you're looking at condos and have a 22.1 package in hand, send it to zyren@blacklabelrealty.com and we'll go through it line by line.
Then go look at the kitchen.