When searching for a new home it is important to not only think about what features you want your home to have but also what services, if any, you want your community to provide. Associations can provide different things; some will provide snow and trash removal while others will provide community engagement and events. As a prospective buyer, you can request to see an HOA’s governing documents and read through them to determine what services the community provides its homeowners.

Furthermore, it is also important to know what restrictions the associations has, you don’t want to move into an association that has a “No Pets” policy if you own a dog. Or if you have big plans for improvements or dreams of a pergola it's going to be important to know whether there's an architectural committee that has final say as to what improvements you can or can't make. Locate these restrictions in the governing documents and determine if you can live with them.

You may also want to consider attending a meeting to see if there is cohesiveness in the association or strife. In addition, you may even want to consider speaking to the neighbors, to learn how the association communicates with homeowners and how enforcement is handled and whether it is applied fairly.

In order to find the association that best fits your wants and needs, it is important to do a bit of research. For most, buying a home is a long-term commitment so make sure that you do not purchase in an association whose restrictions or services fail to match with what you are looking for.

If you live in a common interest community also known as an HOA, then it's highly recommended that you look into loss assessment coverage. A loss assessment is an endorsement that you have on your HO-6 owner policy. Loss Assessment coverage kicks in when you are assessed for property damage by your association.

So here is how it works, because we live in Colorado, lets say a hail or wind storm causes $600,000 in damage, the HOA master policy (Any property damage or liability incidents related to common areas are covered by the HOA’s master policy) may cover the first $500,000 of the loss, but then the remaining $100,000 would be assessed to members. If you live in a 50-unit building, each unit would be assessed $2,000 and your loss assessment endorsement would kick in to cover this assessed $2,000 amount.

Note that In some cases, insurance companies are excluding wind and hail special assessments under their loss assessment coverage while others are capping the coverage to $1,000 per claim regardless of how much coverage a homeowner purchased. Because change is always constant, you should contact your insurance agent and ask the following questions about your HO-6 policy:

1. Does my HO-6 policy include loss assessment coverage? If so, is the coverage limited to the standard $1,000 per claim?

2. How much loss assessment coverage should I carry on my HO-6 policy?

3. Does my loss assessment coverage only cover assessments made against all of the owners in my association for uninsured or under-insured property or liability claims? Will the loss assessment coverage apply if my unit is the only one damaged and I’m responsible for paying the deductible?

4. If I cause a loss and am responsible for the deductible on my unit and the other units damaged – will my loss assessment coverage pay for the deductibles? Do I need to purchase a separate endorsement to cover these types of deductibles?