What does the HOA addendum have you choose before you sign?
It has you pick one of four ways to handle the association’s paperwork. Both the current TREC addendum (36-11) and the edition before it (36-10) define that paperwork, which the form calls Subdivision Information, as a current copy of the restrictions for the subdivision, the association’s bylaws and rules, and a resale certificate. Property Code section 207.003 lists the same three items as what the association delivers when someone asks for them in writing.
Before any of that, the seller owes you a notice. Property Code section 5.012 requires a seller of a home subject to mandatory membership in a property owners association to give the buyer a written notice of that membership. Both the statute’s notice and the contract warn that assessments can change and that failing to pay them could lead to enforcement of the association’s lien and foreclosure.
Here are the four boxes, in plain terms. Only one gets checked.
- Option 1. The seller gets, pays for and delivers the package within the number of days you fill in.
- Option 2. You get the package yourself, at your expense, within the number of days you fill in.
- Option 3. You already received and approved the package before you signed. You also say whether you want an updated resale certificate.
- Option 4. You don’t require the package at all.
My plain advice: don’t check option 4 on a house you haven’t looked into. The package is how you find out what the neighborhood’s rules and money look like before you’re committed.
Both editions also say the title company can act for the parties to get the package, but only after it receives the fee from whoever is supposed to pay. Write the number of days and the payer clearly, so nobody waits on the other.
How long do you have to back out after the documents arrive?
Under option 1, three days. Both editions say that if the seller delivers the package, you may terminate within 3 days after you receive it, or before closing if that comes first, and your earnest money is refunded. If the seller never delivers it, you may terminate any time before closing, again with a refund, and both forms call that your sole remedy.
Option 2 needs a closer read. Both editions give you 3 days to terminate with your earnest money back once the package counts as received, or until closing if sooner, but the current form, TREC 36-11, words option 2 differently from the 2022 edition, TREC 36-10, including how the receipt date is set. Check which edition your contract uses and read that paragraph with your agent before you count on a date.
Under option 3, both editions say the seller delivers any updated resale certificate you require within 10 days after receiving your payment for it. If the seller doesn’t deliver it in time, you may terminate and get your earnest money back.
Option 4 is the one to think hard about. Both editions describe it in one line: you don’t require delivery of the package. The termination rights tied to receiving the package are written into options 1 through 3, not option 4. If you check it, you’re telling the seller the HOA paperwork won’t hold up the deal, so make sure you’re comfortable with that before you sign.
Three days goes fast. Treat the day your window starts like an inspection day. Clear your evening, read the package, and call your agent with questions while you still have options. Our post on earnest money in New Braunfels offers explains what’s at stake if you miss a deadline.
What should the resale certificate tell you?
Plenty, if you read it slowly. Section 5.012’s required HOA notice, repeated in the TREC resale contract, says a resale certificate contains information including two items it names: the amount and frequency of regular assessments, and the style and cause number of lawsuits the association is a party to, other than suits over an individual member’s unpaid property taxes.
Four more items show up both in the statute and in the TREC addendum’s list of what a title company may need from the association:
- the status of dues and any amounts owed on the property
- special assessments
- violations of the covenants and restrictions
- any right of first refusal on a sale, and whether the association waives it
Freshness matters too. Section 207.003 says the certificate must be prepared no earlier than 60 days before it is delivered. Section 5.012 repeats that 60-day limit.
Here’s where my inspection habit kicks in. If the certificate lists a violation on the property, that’s a condition item, the same as a roof note in an inspection report. Ask what it would take to clear it and who pays before your 3 days run out. Our post on comparing New Braunfels HOA rules before an offer covers the governing documents themselves.
Who pays the HOA transfer fees at closing?
You and the seller decide in the addendum. Both editions say the buyer pays association fees, deposits, reserves and other charges tied to the transfer of the property up to a dollar amount you write in, and the seller pays anything above it.
The same paragraph doesn’t cover the cost of the package itself or the title company’s cost of getting association information, which the addendum handles in its own paragraphs. That second cost can come up even if you skip the package. Both editions say that if you don’t require the package or an updated resale certificate, and the title company needs information from the association, such as the status of dues, special assessments, violations or a waiver of any right of first refusal, a box on the form says whether the buyer or the seller pays the title company for it. Fill in each one so the closing statement has no surprises.
Both editions also carry a notice about repairs. The association may have sole responsibility for certain repairs to the property, and the form says that if you’re concerned about the condition of something the association must repair, you shouldn’t sign until you’re satisfied the association will make the repairs you want. In a neighborhood where the association handles fences, common walls or exteriors, put those items on your inspection list and ask the association about them in writing.
What should a New Braunfels HOA buyer line up before closing?
Work through this list while the contract still gives you room:
- Check which of the four addendum options your offer uses, and fill in the number of days and who pays.
- Calendar the 3-day window under option 1 from the day you receive the package, and ask your agent how option 2’s receipt date works in your form.
- Read the resale certificate for dues, special assessments, amounts owed, violations and any right of first refusal.
- Write a dollar cap for transfer fees you can live with.
- Ask the association, in writing, about any repairs it is responsible for that showed up on your inspection.
Read an HOA package the way you’d read an inspection report. Go through it with a pen, mark anything that costs money or limits what you can do with the house, like a pending assessment or a fence rule, and get answers in writing before your window closes. If something doesn’t add up, that’s your cue to call your agent that day, not after the weekend.
Section 5.012’s notice and the resale contract both say the restrictive covenants and other governing documents are recorded in the real property records of the county where the property sits, and that copies can be obtained from the county clerk. For a list of the rest of your costs, our New Braunfels buyer closing costs checklist and our neighborhood guides are good next stops.
