That strata report could save you from a $50,000 mistake. If you can understand it.

Your conveyancer sent you the strata report. You opened it. You saw 60 pages of meeting minutes, financial statements, insurance schedules, and maintenance logs written in language that seems specifically designed to obscure what's actually going on.

You're trying to figure out if this building is financially healthy or a money pit. But you're not an accountant. You're not a strata manager. You're someone trying to buy a home, and you have 5 days before the cooling-off period ends.

So you skim the first few pages, try to make sense of the balance sheet, maybe google "what is a capital works fund" — and then you give up and tell yourself it's probably fine.

Here's the problem: it might not be fine.

That building might have $200,000 in deferred maintenance and a capital works fund that's 40% underfunded. There might be active litigation against the builder. The owners corporation might be about to vote on a special levy that'll cost you $15,000 six months after settlement.

All of that information is in the strata report. But it's buried across dozens of pages, in tables and minutes and footnotes that take a professional hours to properly assess.