How to Sell a Condo: The Resale Package, the Buyer's Loan and the Clock Behind Both

Selling a condo vs house comes down to who else has a say in the deal. With a house, it is you, the buyer, the buyer's lender and the title company. With a condo, the association is a fifth party, and the condition of the whole building travels with your unit.

The inspection row surprises sellers. A home inspector looks at your unit, not the roof or the garage structure, which is why buyers lean on the association's paperwork instead; our guide to what home inspectors are not allowed to do explains where the inspection stops.

Most advice on how to sell a condo starts with staging. Start with the paperwork instead, because the association's timelines are the ones you cannot speed up later.

1. Read your declaration, bylaws and rules for transfer approval, a right of first refusal, move-out rules and transfer or capital contribution fees.
2. Ask the management company what the resale package and estoppel cost, how to order them, and how long they take.
3. Pull the latest budget, reserve study and any engineering or inspection reports, and read the last year of board minutes for planned assessments.
4. Ask whether the building is FHA-approved and whether recent buyers closed with conventional loans.
5. Price from recent sales in your building and nearby buildings of similar age.
6. Choose a listing agent who has sold in condo buildings and knows the association's process.
7. Stage and photograph the unit, and book the elevator for showings and the move if the rules require it.
8. After you accept an offer, order the estoppel so it is still valid on the closing date.

A condo resale package is the set of association documents a buyer receives before closing. Some states spell out its contents, the deadline and who pays; others leave it to the contract and the governing documents. Two detailed examples follow. If you sell elsewhere, look up your state's condominium act or ask a local real estate attorney.

Florida: the seller's document list and the 7-day window

Under Florida Statutes 718.503(2), a buyer who has signed a contract is entitled, at the seller's expense, to current copies of the declaration, the articles of incorporation, the bylaws and rules, the annual financial statement and budget, and the association's "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" document. The list also includes the inspector-prepared summary of any milestone inspection, the most recent structural integrity reserve study or a statement that none has been completed, and the turnover inspection report for a turnover inspection done on or after July 1, 2023. The buyer is also entitled to a governance form prepared by the state.

The contract has to carry statutory language. Unless the buyer got the basic documents more than 7 days before signing, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, the buyer can void the contract by written notice within 7 such days after signing and receiving them. For contracts signed after December 31, 2024, a parallel clause covers the milestone summary, turnover report and reserve study, also with 7 days. Any waiver of these rights has no effect, and the right ends at closing.

For a seller, the practical point is timing. Hand over the full set early, ideally before the buyer signs, and the review window either runs alongside the inspection period or never opens at all. If you are listing a unit in a Brickell tower, gather the milestone and reserve study documents before the first showing, because Florida law makes them part of the buyer's package. Our guide to the reserve study for a condo association shows what buyers look for in them.

California: Civil Code 4525 and the 10-day clock

California Civil Code 4525 requires the seller to provide, as soon as practicable before transfer of title, a list that includes:

• The governing documents, and a statement on any age restriction that goes beyond what the law allows.
• The most recent annual documents the association distributes under Civil Code 5300, such as the budget report.
• A statement of current regular and special assessments and fees, plus any unpaid assessments, fines and penalties on the unit.
• Any unresolved violation notice, and any board-approved change to assessments that is not yet due.
• Any construction defect information the law requires, and a statement describing any rental prohibition.
• The latest report from the inspection of exterior elevated elements, such as balconies, under Civil Code 5551.
• On the buyer's request, the last 12 months of approved board minutes.

Under Civil Code 4530, the association must provide these documents within 10 days of the seller's written request. It may charge a fee based on its actual costs, must give an estimate on the statutory charges form first, and must bill these fees separately from other transfer charges; the seller pays the association. A seller in San Diego who orders on the day of listing can have the package within 10 days, which can be before the first offer arrives.

The estoppel certificate and the payoff

The estoppel certificate is the association's signed statement of what is owed on the unit. In Florida, Statutes 718.116 requires the association to issue it within 10 business days of a request, and if it misses that deadline it cannot charge for it. The certificate is good for 30 days if delivered by hand or electronically, 35 if mailed. The statute sets fee caps that the state adjusts every five years; the current DBPR fee schedule allows up to $299, plus $119 for delivery within 3 business days and up to $179 more if the account is delinquent. A rush order on a current account in Fort Lauderdale could therefore cost up to $418.

The certificate matters because Florida makes a new owner jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due before the transfer. That is why the closing agent orders the certificate and pays your balance from the sale proceeds. Our guide to what an estoppel is in real estate covers the certificate line by line and the rules in other states.

Some declarations give the board power to approve a buyer, and some give the association or the other owners a right of first refusal, meaning the chance to buy your unit on the same terms before your buyer can. Florida's statutory estoppel form asks both questions directly: whether the rules require board approval of the transfer and whether it has been given, and whether a right of first refusal exists and whether it has been exercised. Your declaration tells you how many days the board has to act; write that deadline into your contract timeline.

Special assessments are the other HOA issue that moves money at closing. A buyer will see any assessment already levied on the estoppel or resale statement, and California's list includes board-approved changes not yet due. Who pays installments that fall after closing is a contract term, so negotiate it up front rather than at the closing table. Our guide to the HOA special assessment explains how they are approved, and if the buyer needs to sell a home first, a contingency with a kick-out clause lets you keep marketing the unit in the meantime.

A buyer with a strong pre-approval can still be turned down because of your building. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide B4-2.1-03, dated August 5, 2026, lists project types it will not finance, including:

• Buildings that need critical repairs affecting safety, structural soundness or habitability, including failed mandatory inspections or unfunded repairs costing more than $10,000 per unit to be done within 12 months.
• Projects where the association is a party to pending litigation, apart from minor matters the guide exempts, or where the developer is in litigation over safety, structural soundness, habitability or functional use.
• Projects run like hotels or with mandatory rental pooling.
• Buildings of 21 or more units where one entity owns more than 20 percent of the units, and projects with more than 35 percent commercial space.

A building that fails these tests is called non-warrantable, and the buyer pool shrinks to cash buyers and lenders with portfolio loans, usually at a higher rate. Our guide to the non-warrantable condo covers what that costs a buyer. FHA has its own project approval, and our guide to FHA qualified condos shows how to check a building's status. Ask your manager these questions before you list. Knowing how to sell a condo in a building with a financing problem starts with knowing about the problem, because a deal that dies at underwriting can cost you weeks of market time.

Condo pricing starts inside your building. Units in the same tower share the same budget, reserves, amenities and financing status, so a sale two floors down tells you more than a renovated unit across the street. Here is an illustrative example for a 1,100 square foot unit:

At $487 to $498 a square foot, a 1,100 square foot unit points to roughly $536,000 to $548,000 before adjustments for floor, view, parking and condition. Price per square foot is a starting line, not an answer; our guide to what comps mean in real estate covers adjustments. For context, NAR's report for September 2026, released October 13, 2026, put the national median condo and co-op price at $363,700, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier. Your building's own sales matter far more than that figure.

Staging a condo for sale is mostly about space and light. Clear counters and closets, remove extra furniture so rooms read larger, and show storage, parking and balcony space in photos. Buyers also look at hallways and the lobby on the way in, so tell the manager when showings start.

Choosing a condo listing agent

A condo listing agent should know how your association delivers documents, which lenders have closed in the building recently, and how the board approval process runs. Ask candidates how many units they have sold in buildings like yours and how they handled the last estoppel or questionnaire delay. Commission is negotiable and set by a written agreement; see whether closing costs include realtor fees for how it is paid now.

NAR's September 2026 report put the median time on market at 33 days for all existing homes. The contract-to-closing stretch then depends on the buyer's loan and the association's clocks:

Your proceeds are the price minus your mortgage payoff, association balances, commission and the closing costs that fall on you; our guide to who pays closing costs, buyer or seller covers the split. On the gain, IRS Topic 701 lets you exclude up to $250,000, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and lived in the unit as your main home for at least 24 months of the 5 years before the sale. If you rented the unit out, the rules change, which our guide on how to rent out your condo touches on.

A CPA can confirm the tax side, and a real estate attorney can review the contract and the association's documents; see how much a real estate lawyer costs. Owners who sold in your building recently know how the association actually behaved, so ask them on Ask a Resident and compare units on Leevli's listings. In an illustrative case, a seller in Chicago's Lincoln Park who learns that the last buyer waited three weeks for the board can build that into the closing date from the start.

The statute sets the deadlines, but only owners who sold here know how fast this association really moves and what buyers asked about.

• How long did the management company take to deliver your resale package or estoppel, and what did it charge?
• Did the board interview or approve your buyer, and how long did that take?
• Did any buyer's lender reject the building or ask for extra documents?
• Is the building on the FHA approved list, and has that ever lapsed?
• Are there special assessments being discussed that are not yet in the minutes?
• What transfer or capital contribution fee did the association charge at closing, and who paid it?
• How long did the last few units in the building take to sell?
• What did the building require for move-out, such as elevator booking or a deposit?