I just found this article in the Sunday Tribune a couple weeks back and thought it was good-


Top 10 Facts to Know When you Move into your First Condo-
Mark Pearlstein, Chicago Tribune, August 6, 2006

1.. Expect assessments to increase annually; years of no assessment increases will lead to a large special assessment for deferred expenses.
2. Be willing to accept decisions made by others, namely the board of directors, in exchange for the convenience of having someone maintain your common property.
3. The association maintains everything outside your unit. Everything inside the drywall is your responsibility.
4. You are responsible for any damage that arises from your unit, regardless of whether you were negligent.
5. You are buying a system where the rules can be changed by an amendment or board regulation. These changes include leasing and pets.
6. If you live in a multifamily building, do not expect the level of a silence of a single-family home. But consider that you have neighbors in proximity of whom you must think.
7. If you own a pet, control it. You don’t have a backyard.
8. Assessments include a forced savings account called reserves.
9. The board must maintain a building for the benefit of present and future owners. The attitude that, “I will not be here in 5 years, so why should I pay for it,” does not apply.
10. Respect the property manager who must fill the role of engineer, social worker, police officer, and financial manager, while attempting to please the board members and the unit owners.

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