CondoCerts.com is a fucking ripoff — or at least, the whole process is, as instituted by the morons at Koger Management.

You see, the standard “condo resale package”, as instituted in condos and townhouses in Virginia, costs $100 to get printed, or to get a copy. Management companies charge this $100, for the 50 or so pages, simply because they can — it is the maximum allowable fee in Virginia for this service. Nevermind that it probably costs them about 10 bucks in paper and man-hours to copy everything. It’s a nice little racket they got going, but at this point, I know about it, am used to it, and pretty much deal with it.

This new issue, however, is stupid.

As it stands, Koger Management no longer does their own processing of these condo resale packages. No, you have to get everything online, via CondoCerts.com.

Only CondoCerts.com also charges an additional $29 service charge… and it sure as hell wouldn’t surprise me if the management companies get a kickback from CondoCerts.com, which I suspect is the case.

Oh, and what’s this? After I pay, I get the following message?

A Resale Disclosures has been created. You will be notified by email when the Property Manager responds.

The email you will receive after the management firm or Homeowners Association completes your Resale Disclosures request is a courtesy email only. You do not need to receive the email to retrieve your Resale Disclosures . Management firms and homeowner associations typically complete Resale Disclosures requests within 48 hours. By simply clicking the Resale Disclosures link in your control center you can identify Resale Disclosures that are completed and returned. If you have not received your Resale Disclosures within two business days from the submission date, please call CondoCerts and we will investigate the delay.

Okay, so rather than just being able to speak to the property manager for the community, I have to send this request through, which goes to the same person, who then (eventually) approves the request and makes them available. So I’m paying $30 dollars to send an email request!

That’s fucking stupid.