Balmoral Park

A community built into the downturn

A project begun in 2005 and finished in 2009 was building through the sharpest housing downturn in living memory. That is not a judgment about the community; it is a set of four specific questions with documented answers.

The first is timing within the community. A build interrupted by a downturn typically restarts later, which means units that look identical can be separated by several years of code, materials and wear.

The second is the developer control period. Under Michigan condominium practice a developer controls the association until enough units are sold, and a project that takes longer to sell out extends that control. Developer-controlled boards commonly hold assessments low to keep units saleable — which is exactly the period when reserves should be building. A community that came through a long build frequently arrives at owner control with an underfunded reserve and components already ageing. Ask when owner control transferred and what the reserve balance was at that point.

The third is who bought. Unsold inventory in a stalled project often ends up with the developer, a lender or an investor buying at the bottom, sometimes in blocks.

The fourth is the sales record. Prices achieved in 2005 to 2007 came from a market that no longer exists, and prices in 2009 to 2011 from a different one that also no longer exists. Neither anchors anything today, and any analysis leaning on the community's own history has to start later.

Fifteen or so years on, all four are answerable from the association's records and the register of deeds — and a community that came through it and is now well run will say so plainly. A board that has rebuilt its reserve after a difficult start is in a materially better position than the history alone suggests.

A park listed twice, under two spellings

The practical implication for a buyer is simply this: an amenity list is a starting point for questions rather than a set of facts. Where a feature matters to a decision, establish it independently — which park, who owns it, how far, and what is actually there.

For a seller the implication is the reverse and more urgent: a listing that repeats an unverified feature list invites a buyer to check it, and a buyer who finds one item wrong will discount everything else.

Finished basements, and the appraisal arithmetic

Finished basements are named here, and below-grade finished space is one of the most commonly mispriced features in a home.

It is generally not credited by appraisers in the same way as above-grade square footage, and how much credit it receives varies. Two units with identical total finished area can appraise differently depending on how much sits below grade. That is not a reason to discount it — it is genuinely usable space — but it is a reason to expect the appraisal arithmetic to differ from the listing arithmetic, and for a seller to be precise about which part of a stated area is below grade rather than face a surprise.

The three-way distinction matters alongside it. A true walk-out has a door at grade on the downhill side and is a genuine story with its own entrance and full-height glazing; a daylight lower level has above-grade windows but no door; a standard basement has neither. Because it depends on where a unit sits on the site, some here may have one and others another.

A finished lower level also conceals what an inspector would otherwise see: foundation walls, framing, and any staining that would indicate past water. That makes the seller's written answer about water history more valuable, not less. Check grade falling away, downspouts discharging well clear, no staining at the base of finished walls, and whether the sump pump has a battery backup.

Ask whether the finishing was permitted, particularly where a bedroom is in it — egress is the item that matters, and the city's building department holds the record at no cost.

In a condominium there is a further question: whether the lower level walls and floor are unit or common element. The master deed says, and it decides who pays if water gets in.

A 2005 to 2009 build at fifteen to twenty years

These are modern-code buildings with modern insulation, modern electrical service, modern egress and glazing that performs.

What fifteen to twenty years brings is the leading edge of the first replacement cycle. Original water heaters are at or beyond normal expectancy. Original air conditioning is approaching it. Furnaces are generally still within their expected life but not by much. Original roofs are in the second half of a typical asphalt shingle service life rather than at the end of it — which makes this the period when roof condition genuinely varies from building to building depending on exposure, ventilation and the quality of the original work.

Attic ventilation is worth a specific look for that reason. A poorly ventilated roof space shortens shingle life measurably, and at this age the difference between a well-ventilated and a poorly ventilated roof is starting to show.

Original glazing units begin to show seal failure as fogging between the panes around this age, and it appears unit by unit rather than all at once.

The item specific to this period is exterior cladding and its edges. Composite and hardboard products perform according to how their ends, edges and penetrations were sealed and how the ground drains away. The bottom courses, and anywhere a deck meets a wall, are where the original detailing shows.

And in a community built across four years, some of that will vary between the earlier and later buildings — which is another reason to establish the specific year.

What the association documents decide

Buying a condominium unit means buying into a corporation as well as a home, and the corporation's condition is not visible at a showing. Four documents settle it: the master deed and its exhibits, the bylaws, the current budget and the reserve study.

The master deed defines what the unit actually is — where the boundary runs between unit and common elements, and what limited common elements are assigned to its sole use. That is the most misunderstood part of condominium ownership, and it decides who pays for a great many things.

The bylaws set the rules that govern daily life: what may be altered, what may be parked, whether units may be leased and how many at once, and how the board is elected.

The budget and the reserve study together answer whether the association is solvent. An association with thin reserves and a large component near the end of its life is not cheaper — it is a deferred bill with an unknown date, and it arrives as a special assessment.

Board minutes are where a coming expense, a dispute or a construction defect claim surfaces first, and they are the most informative document nobody reads. I go through the recent ones as a matter of course.

One Michigan detail worth knowing: condominium documents are amended by recorded instrument, so what is recorded governs regardless of what any summary says.

An Ann Arbor address is not necessarily the City of Ann Arbor

The City of Ann Arbor is ringed by townships — Scio, Pittsfield, Ann Arbor, Superior and Lodi among them — whose mailing addresses read Ann Arbor. A mailing address is a delivery route rather than a jurisdiction.

Each township is a separate government with its own board, tax rate, services, zoning and assessor. The rate difference between a city parcel and a township one is real and recurring, which is why comparable sales must be matched on municipality. Rates and taxable values both change, so compare the current millage and the parcel's own taxable value rather than a remembered difference; a tax bill arrives on the local schedule, and a lender collects an estimated share of it monthly.

School assignment follows a third line again. Three distinct versions of the split exist around here — Ann Arbor addresses with Pittsfield taxes and Saline schools; Pittsfield taxes with Ann Arbor schools; and a Ypsilanti address with Pittsfield taxes and Ann Arbor schools — which together show that no direction of inference works.

Four tiers of protected open space

Where open ground adjoins a property, ownership is the first thing that decides whether it stays open — but not the only one.

Land held by a public body is generally the most durable, though a public body can still sell or repurpose land. Land under a recorded conservation easement is next — an easement runs with the land, surviving a change of owner and of local board. Association common area is real protection that the owners themselves pay for. Unbuilt private land carries the least protection of the four, but that is not the same as none: zoning, recorded deed restrictions and state wetland regulation can each constrain what may be built, filled or cleared, and EGLE requires authorization for specified activities affecting regulated wetland.

From a window all four look identical, which is why it is worth checking the record rather than the view: ownership, any recorded easement or restriction, the zoning, whether wetland is mapped, and whether a development application has already been approved.

Schools

Balmoral Park is served by Ann Arbor Public Schools. District boundaries are redrawn from time to time.

Buying or selling here

The specific year and the association's history through the downturn are the two things that matter most.

For a seller, the assessor's year built resolves where in a four-year build a unit sits, and a current reserve study plus a clear account of when owner control transferred answers the questions the history raises. Answering them plainly is a stronger position than hoping they do not come up.