The sequence

Nine verifications, in the order that matters.

1. Which exemption the community actually claims

   There are two. Housing intended for and solely occupied by persons sixty-two or older sits under § 3607(b)(2)(B). Housing intended and operated for occupancy by at least one person fifty-five or older per unit sits under § 3607(b)(2)(C). They are not interchangeable and the second one carries obligations the first does not.

   Ask the association: which subsection do you operate under?

2. Where the eighty percent number stands today

   The fifty-five exemption requires that at least eighty percent of occupied units have at least one occupant who is fifty-five or over. That is a live figure, not a founding promise. A community that has drifted has a problem, and a buyer who is relying on the restriction has inherited it.

   Ask for: the current percentage of occupied units meeting the requirement.

3. The published policies that demonstrate intent

   The exemption also requires the community to publish and adhere to policies and procedures showing an intent to operate as housing for older persons. Ask to see them. If nobody can produce them, that is the answer.

   Ask for: the written age policies, as adopted.

4. The date of the last age verification

   HUD rules require the community’s verification procedures to be updated at least every two years. Ask when the last survey was completed. A verification file that is four years stale is a compliance exposure, and it is the kind of thing that only surfaces when somebody sues.

   Ask: when was the age verification last updated?

5. Whether the restriction is recorded, or only advertised

   This is the one that decides enforceability. An age restriction that lives in the recorded declaration of covenants runs with the land. An age restriction that lives in a sales brochure and a website does not. Get the recorded instrument, with its book and page, and read the actual language.

   Get: the recorded declaration and every recorded amendment.

6. Who else is allowed to live there

   Communities differ enormously on this and the differences are all in the documents. A younger spouse. An adult child. A grandchild for the summer. A live-in caregiver. A surviving under-age spouse. Each of those is a separate provision and none of them should be settled by what the sales office says.

   Read: the occupancy and permitted-resident provisions, in full.

7. What happens on inheritance

   If the home passes to somebody who does not qualify, the documents govern what they may do with it. Occupy it, rent it, or sell it within a stated window are three very different outcomes, and families discover which one applies at the worst possible moment.

   Read: the inheritance and transfer provisions.

8. The money: reserves, transfer fees and assessments

   Age-restricted communities usually carry amenities, and amenities carry reserve obligations. Get the current budget, the most recent reserve study, the reserve funding position, every special assessment passed in the last three years and every one under discussion, and the exact transfer fee charged at closing.

   Get: budget, reserve study, three years of assessments, transfer fee schedule.

9. Resale reality, in writing

   Your future buyer pool is limited by the same restriction that attracted you. Ask how many homes are on the market inside the community right now and how long the last several took. Ask your lender, before you are under contract, whether an age-restricted resale changes anything about the loan or the appraisal.

   Ask your lender: does this project type affect the loan or the appraisal?