Hello William,

Thanks for the kind words about The Sound Home Resource Center/ www.soundhome.com. Here are a few pointers re. the purchase of a unit like this:

1. My friend Dale Galvin wrote some material about condominium conversion In Washington State. The laws and practices are most probably different in MA but Dale?s material might give you some ideas regarding the important questions and issued. Dale? Topic page can be found at: http:// www.soundhome.com/topics/topic_condoswashington.shtm.

The inspection of your condo unit must include some review of the exterior envelope of the building. I am less concerned about the structure and even less about the interior of your unit. After all, you know a great deal about your unit. In addition, the cost of new tub walls or similar items is in the hundreds or low thousands of dollars. The cost of a re-working the exterior envelope can cost tens of thousands per unit.

In most areas, a building that is converted into condominiums must undergo an inspection. I have found that such inspections are not as thorough as they should be, but they help and can give your inspector some good information.

2. When I inspect a condo unit, I walk all around the building, look at the roof, siding, decks, windows and doors. I also look at work details and make the assumption that what I see in the areas that are available for an inspection matches the work in other areas.

3. I looked at the condo?s web site and noted that at least some of the siding is made out of stucco or EIFS. In wet climates like ours, these siding systems tend to have many problems. I also noted many decks and patios, these are the types of features that require some very special construction work and attention to detail.

4. One last thought, if you know of other tenants who are thinking of purchasing a unit, you might want to join forces and money and hire a single inspector who is a specialists in exterior envelope issues and can spend more time to inspect the buiding.

George