Should I Purchase a Condo?

Are you thinking of buying that nice condominium? Think about it first. Owning a condominium is completely different from owning a single family home and comes with its own particularities. Before you jump into the condo market with both feet, you should make sure that the condominium lifestyle is right for you.

The benefits and drawbacks of condo living need to be weighed against your own criteria. Is security more important to you than distance from your neighbors? Are you comfortable with community living? Review the following pluses and minuses of condo living before you make that purchasing decision.

Advantages:
Location
There is often a high concentration of condominiums in downtown locations where land is at a premium. If you like this lifestyle where you are in the center of the city as soon as you walk out of your door, then getting a condo is an excellent choice.

Security
With neighbors around your condo complex, it is always nice to be able to just pick up and go on those long vacations without worrying too much. Also, condominium buildings often have security features, be they buzzers or a guard service. If the condo is your vacation home, this is a great advantage.

Low Maintenance
No more backaches from mowing the lawn or shoveling snow! Condo living means someone else takes care of the plumbing problems or roof maintenance for you. There may be some cases, if it’s your fault, where you will have to pay.

Cost
Condos come in a wide price range, and the lower priced units are usually very affordable if you are a first time buyer, hence, a good choice compared to higher priced single family homes.

Amenities
Most condominium developments offer a range of amenities in the common areas. These may include swimming pools, tennis courts, workout gyms and other features that might not even be affordable if you had to get it on your own.

Disadvantages:
'Box of Air'
If it's a condo, you don't really own the land it is sitting on, you just own a 'share'. Realistically, you just own the space between the walls of your unit, and the rest of the common areas you share the ownership with the other tenants.

Community Living
Shared walls and common areas mean that you are more likely to hear your neighbors or run into them more often. In addition, since you will be all part of a homeowner's association, you will need to get involved in making day to day decisions on the usage of common areas.

Fees
These fees go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the common areas. Sometimes, you may be assessed additional fees to cover the occasional large repairs. Your fees may also be paying for amenities, such as a swimming pool, that you may not use.

Resale
Condominiums are more sensitive to trends in the real estate market than single-family homes. If the market goes down the tubes, as what has been happening recently, it's almost sure that the condo values will be the most affected and worse, the last segment to recover.

Rules
Condos are regulated by rules called Covenants,Conditions and Restrictions(CCandR's). This can include restrictions on noise levels, pet ownership, renovations, and even what kind of curtains you can put in your windows.

The Association
Because the condo association is made up of homeowners rather than property-management professionals, the association may be weak and inefficient. Note that if you want to make changes to your unit or if you want to rent it out, these are the folks you will need to get approvals from.

At the end of the day, always remember that owning a condo is quite different from owning a house. Make sure the condo lifestyle is for you before buying.

Article Source: http://gamblingarticlessite.com

Mario is a retiree living in the middle of the Las Vegas desert. In an effort to relieve his boredom, while at the same time make some money on the side, he has started promoting a varied collection of sites, so if you are looking for any add-ons for your ipads or if you are interested in discounted weber gas grills, check out his sites.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated