How do HOA transition on complete sale of units

[Avi Lahiri]

I am considering purchasing a investment property to get some monthly cash flow from rent. It is one unit in a condominium complex. The complex has 5/6 buildings each with 3-4 units. I think most of them will be used as rental property. While going through the HOA document I saw that the HOA secretary and president are from the company that purchased the complex from the original developer. As this company is selling the unsold units , I am wondering what would happen to the HOA once they are done with all their sales ? Will new board members/president or secretary be selected from the new condo owners? I am also concerned that at that point new HOA might have to raise the fees significantly or charge lumpsum to the condo owners based on something that might come up. Any insight into this or how to do due diligence around this?

[Greg M.]

Usually the developer turns the HOA over to the owners when all or a set percentage are sold. It's possible that the company that owns a bunch of the units retained the right to control the the HOA until they are done selling.

Simplest answer is to ask the seller who controls the HOA and if not the individual owners, when will it be turned over to them?

New developments generally have low HOA fees. Operating costs are known and everything is new, so reserve levels are usually tiny as there is a long time to build them up before they need to be tapped.