5 questions every buyer near Notre Dame should ask before making an offer
Most buyers ask about price, square footage, and distance to campus. Those are the obvious questions. These are the five that actually determine whether a property is the right one — and most people never think to ask them.
After years of helping buyers in the Notre Dame market, I've noticed a pattern. The buyers who feel great about their purchase three years later almost always asked a different set of questions than the ones who have regrets. It's not about being smarter or more experienced. It's about knowing which questions this specific market demands — and the ND-adjacent market has some genuinely unique wrinkles that most generic real estate advice doesn't cover.
I'm Tim Vicsik with Trueblood Real Estate. This post is a pullback-the-curtain moment — the five questions I walk every buyer through before we write an offer. Some of them will be obvious in hindsight. A few will surprise you. All five will change how you look at the next listing you tour.
Whether you're an ND parent buying housing for your student or an alumnus buying your permanent game-day headquarters, these questions apply equally. The answers you get will tell you more about a property's real value — and real risk — than anything on the listing sheet.
"What are the HOA's exact rental rules — and have they changed recently?"
They assume that because a condo is near Notre Dame — and Notre Dame is a major rental market — rentals must be permitted. That assumption is wrong often enough to matter. A lot.
This is the question I ask on behalf of every single buyer I work with, before they fall in love with a unit. The Notre Dame-adjacent market has a significant number of condo associations with rental restrictions that range from manageable to deal-breaking, depending on your strategy.
What you need to know specifically: Does the building allow short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO)? If so, is there a minimum stay requirement? Is there a cap on how many units in the building can be rented at once? Are there occupancy limits? Has the board amended the rental rules in the last two years — and is another amendment in discussion?
That last question matters because HOA rental policies change. A building that allowed STRs when the previous owner bought it may have since voted to restrict them. A building that currently allows them may be one contentious board meeting away from a prohibition. I read the current rules and the last two years of meeting minutes for every property a buyer is seriously considering. The meeting minutes often telegraph where the association is heading before the rules formally change.
"Short-term rentals are permitted with a 3-night minimum. The policy was last reviewed in 2023 and there are no pending amendments."
"I'm not sure — you'll need to check the HOA docs." Or: rental restrictions buried in an amendment from 18 months ago that the listing agent didn't mention.
"I've seen buyers make offers on units they believed were perfect for game-day rentals, only to discover the HOA banned STRs two years prior. Reading the docs yourself is table stakes — but reading the meeting minutes is where the real intelligence is. That's what I do before any offer goes in."
"What does the reserve fund study actually say — and when was it last done?"
Because the question doesn't appear anywhere on the listing sheet, and most buyer's agents don't know to ask for it. It's also not a fun topic. But it's arguably the most important financial question in a condo purchase.
A reserve fund study is a professional assessment of a condo building's long-term capital needs — roof replacement, parking structure repairs, elevator modernization, HVAC system overhauls — and whether the association is saving enough money each month to cover them when the time comes. A fully funded reserve means those costs are planned for. An underfunded reserve means one of two things is coming: a special assessment (a lump-sum bill to every owner, sometimes in the tens of thousands) or deferred maintenance that quietly erodes the building's value and lendability.
In the Notre Dame market specifically, several condo buildings are aging stock — constructed in the 1980s and 1990s — and their reserve fund health varies dramatically. A building with a $240,000 condo that looks identical to one next door may be carrying a reserve deficit that will produce a $15,000 special assessment in the next three years. The listing won't tell you that. The reserve study will.
Mortgage lenders increasingly scrutinize reserve fund health as well. Post-Surfside lending rules mean that buildings with underfunded reserves or deferred maintenance can become difficult to finance — which compresses your resale buyer pool significantly.
Reserve study completed within the last 3 years. Funding level at 70% or above. No pending special assessments. Monthly HOA fees reflect current reserve contribution targets.
Reserve study is more than 5 years old. Funding level below 50%. Recent special assessment, or rumors of one. HOA fees haven't been raised in years despite aging building systems.
"The reserve study is the document most buyers never see and most agents never mention. I request it on every condo purchase — and I know how to read it. A healthy reserve is part of what makes a condo near Notre Dame a sound long-term investment. An unhealthy one is a liability hiding behind a nice kitchen renovation."
"What has this specific unit actually rented for — not what the neighborhood averages?"
Because it requires unit-level data, not just neighborhood data — and neighborhood averages are much easier to find. But they can be meaningfully misleading in this market.
The Notre Dame rental market doesn't behave uniformly across neighborhoods or even within buildings. A 2BR on the third floor facing the courtyard in a building with a gym and covered parking commands a materially different rent than a 2BR on the ground floor of a building two blocks away with surface parking. Both might be described as "2BR condo near Notre Dame." Their actual rental histories are not the same number.
If the property has been a rental, ask for the actual lease history — not the landlord's estimate of what it could rent for, but what it did rent for, and whether there were vacancy gaps. If it hasn't been rented before, look at comparable units in the same building that have. Recent sales and rental data for specific buildings near Notre Dame tell a much more reliable story than general area comps.
For the roommate income strategy — where an ND parent rents individual bedrooms rather than the whole unit — the question shifts to what per-bedroom rates are currently commanding in that specific building. That rate varies by proximity to campus, building amenities, and what competing units in the same building are asking. I track this at the building level, not just the zip code level.
Actual signed leases showing consistent occupancy at or above current market rates. Low vacancy between tenants. Rent that aligns with — or exceeds — comparable active listings nearby.
"We estimate it would rent for X" — with no actual lease history. Multiple vacancy periods. Rent significantly below what comparable buildings are achieving. Owner occupied with no rental data at all.
"Neighborhood averages are a starting point. Unit-level history is the actual data. I pull both, and I cross-reference what sellers claim against what's actually leased in that building. The gap between those numbers sometimes changes the entire investment math."
"What is the actual walking time to Notre Dame Stadium — and does the route work on game day?"
They check the map. They see "0.8 miles." They assume that's the same as "walkable." It isn't always — especially on a fall Saturday with 80,000 people moving in the same direction.
Distance to Notre Dame Stadium is the single most differentiating factor in the ND-adjacent real estate market — both for personal enjoyment and for short-term rental pricing. But raw distance on a map doesn't tell the whole story. What matters is the actual game-day walking experience: the route, the terrain, the traffic flow, the pedestrian infrastructure between the property and the stadium gates.
A property that's technically 0.7 miles from the stadium but requires crossing a major arterial road clogged with game-day traffic is a meaningfully different experience — and a meaningfully lower STR premium — than a property that's 0.9 miles away with a clean, pedestrian-friendly path through campus-adjacent streets. I know these routes personally. I've walked them on game days. That ground-level knowledge matters more than Google Maps' straight-line measurement.
For alumni buyers, this question is about experience. For game-day rental income, it's about pricing power. STR platforms show clearly that properties within a clean 10-minute walk command 25–40% higher game-weekend nightly rates than those that are technically the same mileage but less walkable in practice. That premium compounds across an entire football season.
12 minutes or less on a pedestrian-friendly route. No major road crossings against heavy game-day traffic. On or adjacent to a standard tailgate/walk-in corridor alumni use regularly.
Map distance looks close, but the walking route crosses heavily trafficked intersections or goes through areas that become impassable on game day. "Walkable" as described by the listing agent, but not in practice.
"I tell every buyer: don't evaluate a property near Notre Dame Stadium without walking it on a game day — or asking someone who has. I've done those walks hundreds of times. The difference between a 10-minute walk and a 10-minute walk that's actually enjoyable on a packed fall Saturday is real, and it shows up in both your personal experience and your rental rates."
"Who will buy this property when I'm ready to sell — and what will they pay?"
Because they're focused on buying, not selling. But the best time to think about your exit is before you enter — and in the ND market, the buyer pool for resale is unusual in ways that matter.
Most real estate markets are bought and sold by local move-up buyers, downsizers, and job-driven relocators. The Notre Dame-adjacent market attracts a different buyer: ND parents, alumni from across the country, university faculty, and out-of-state investors who understand the market's unique demand drivers. That's a much more nationally distributed — and in many ways more durable — buyer pool than a typical local market.
What this means practically: when you're evaluating a property near campus, think about which of those buyer types would want it, and what they'd pay. A ground-floor studio that suits a single student may be a harder resale than a 2BR with parking that works for a parent, an alumnus, and a faculty member equally. The broadest possible resale audience is a meaningful part of long-term value.
Look at recent comparable sales in the same building — not citywide comps, and not comps from three years ago. Recent ND-area condo sales tell you what the market is actually paying right now for units like the one you're considering. That data should match the seller's asking price reasonably closely. If there's a significant gap, the burden is on the seller to explain it.
Also worth asking: how long do properties in this building typically stay on market, and how close to asking price do they sell? Buildings where units sit 60+ days and close at 5–8% below list are telling you something different than buildings where properties close in 14 days at or above list. The market snapshot for the ND area gives you the baseline; building-specific data comes from someone who's actually sold in those buildings.
Comparable units in the building have sold within 90 days of listing at or near asking price. Buyers came from multiple demographic groups (parents, alumni, faculty). No history of price reductions or withdrawn listings in the building.
Comparable units in the building have a history of extended days on market, significant price reductions, or difficulty with financing (often tied to reserve fund issues). Very narrow buyer appeal — suits only one specific use case.
"I pull building-specific sale history before any offer. How a building has traded in the last 24 months tells me more about future resale conditions than any broader market stat. If I see a pattern of stale listings or declining prices within a specific building while the surrounding market is healthy, that's a signal I take seriously — and share honestly with buyers."
"What does the seller actually know about this property that isn't in the disclosures?"
Indiana disclosure law covers what sellers are required to tell you. It doesn't cover everything they know. In my experience, a direct conversation — conducted through a buyer's agent who knows how to ask — surfaces things that never make it onto the disclosure form: the HOA dispute in progress, the neighbors who've complained about noise, the parking spot that's technically "deeded" but practically contested, the roof that was patched rather than replaced. None of those things are necessarily deal-breakers. All of them are worth knowing before you're under contract rather than after.
The complete pre-offer checklist — pull this out before every showing
Why most buyers skip these questions
It's not laziness. It's that nobody told them to ask. Most real estate transactions near Notre Dame are handled by agents who work across the entire South Bend market — they're generalists who know some things about a lot of neighborhoods. What they typically don't have is the building-specific institutional knowledge that makes these five questions answerable: which buildings have historically had reserve fund problems, which HOA boards are prone to changing rental policies, which buildings produce reliable STR income and which ones prohibit it entirely.
The ND-adjacent market is small enough and specific enough that deep local knowledge isn't a luxury — it's a genuine competitive advantage for buyers. Knowing the right questions is step one. Having a local expert who can answer them from direct experience is step two.
These are the exact questions I walk every buyer through before we write an offer. The answers have saved people from expensive mistakes more times than I can count — and confirmed great decisions just as often.
— Tim Vicsik, Trueblood Real Estate"These are the exact questions I walk every buyer through in our first conversation. I'm just curious — if you've been looking at properties near Notre Dame already, have you gotten solid answers to any of these? Because the ones that are hard to answer are usually the most important ones. Where should we go from here?"
If you're actively looking at properties near Notre Dame — or just starting to think about it — the most useful next step is a conversation about the specific buildings and neighborhoods on your list. Browse what's currently available at ND-Condos.com, bring your questions, and I'll bring the building-specific answers.
Want Tim to walk you through your specific situation?
Bring the address. I'll bring the HOA docs, the reserve fund data, the rental history, the comp analysis, and a direct answer to every question on the checklist above. 15 minutes. No obligation.
Call or text Tim: 574-329-9587 · Tim@TimVicsik.com · ND-Condos.com
Tim specializes in condos and homes near the University of Notre Dame, helping ND parents, alumni, and relocating buyers navigate one of the Midwest's most unique real estate markets. A South Bend area resident for over 50 years, Tim's market knowledge isn't Googleable — it's built from hundreds of transactions across the specific buildings, blocks, and HOA boards that define the ND-adjacent market.
