A4HB Homebuyer's Blog

The trickiest restrictions on property usage emanate from more general city, county and state regulations.  They are tricky precisely because they are more general, because they are not  “attached” to the specific property that you are looking at. As a consequence, you will probably receive no specific notification of these restrictions during the home buying process. For example, many city and county ordinances restrict the number of dogs that a homeowner can have on a residential property or the number of unrelated individuals who can share a  home. If you have five dogs or five good friends who will be

Reviewing local zoning regulations is also comparatively easy. Visit to the local planning or zoning office to find out what the zoning is for the property that you’re interested in and get a copy of the use restrictions that govern that zoning type. Zoning regulations are most likely to become a major issue in your property search if you have a special use in mind, if you want to board dogs or run a commercial greenhouse of example. However, residential zoning restrictions can put limitations on other types of home businesses or on renting out rooms. If you plan anything

Subdivision covenants are probably the easiest limitation on the owner’s use rights for a potential home buyer to evaluate. Most subdivisions or condominium complexes developed since World War II have some form of restrictive use covenants. These are a set of agreements recorded with the county that govern the owners’ use of the properties within the subdivision. Most condominium and town home complexes, and some subdivisions of single family homes that have home owner associations, have unrecorded rules and regulations in addition to the recorded covenants.  Generally, these covenants and rules are enforceable either by an association or by other

When you buy a home or piece of land you are buying not only a physical entity but a legal entity. Almost universally, you buy into a set of restrictions on the use of the property that emanate from both governmental and nongovernmental sources. You also buy into a set of obligations to other parties such as the obligation to pay taxes, road maintenance fees, or home owner association fees.   One of the empowering aspects of owning your own home is that you no longer have to ask the landlord whether you can paint the interior, use a barbecue