What should I know about buying a Coquitlam condo?

Start with the strata, not the suite. Ask what the monthly fee covers, what the contingency reserve fund holds, and whether any special levy has been approved or discussed. Read the last two years of council minutes — recurring items about the building envelope, roof, elevators, plumbing or parkade membrane are the ones that turn into levies later.

Then check the bylaws for the things that are easy to assume: pets, rentals, age restrictions, and what you are actually allowed to do with a balcony or a parking stall. Building age matters too. Wood-frame buildings from the late 1980s and 1990s are the ones to ask rainscreen and envelope-remediation questions about, and whether that work has already been done and paid for.