|
Oct
16
|
Posted by cameron
October 16, 2007 |
|
Many people in, or approaching, retirement come to a choice between Condo living or just a regular home. Most people think Condos are private apartments and in most cases that is true. Â Â But today you can buy ranch condominiums which offer a level of home that is a little more private than the apartment types. This started me thinking about the pros and cons of ranch style condos. Following is a list of the issues I put together from my own research:
Issues:
-
Price - Condos tend to be cheaper because the homeowner doesn’t own the land. The downside is that condo prices are first hit in a downturn and last to recover in an upturn. Therefore, the best time to buy a condo is now. The main question here may be “do you care about owning the land?â€.
-
Environmental maintenance is handled by the association. E.g. grass cutting and snow removal. I can’t see anything wrong with that if it is managed well. It will only work as well as the HOA management since they handle that. Track record of the association is an important question.
-
Condos often come with community amenities such as pool or community center. These “common areas†are managed by the HOA so the same questions arise.
-
The condo covenant is the part that really needs attention. These are the rules by which life in the community are governed. They can be quite restrictive so intense scrutiny of these “rules†is a requirement.
-
Your HOA fees are paid for all that maintenance. If you don’t use the “common areasâ€, such as the pool, you will be paying for maintenance with no return, although the fact that the community has these features will help sustain a good condo price. It is a benefit in an indirect way.
-
Community living may not be your cup of tea. It is not clear how much of a community condo life is. Home owners live in subdivisions which are communities. I’m not sure I can see the difference in that. It probably comes down the covenant rules more than everyday life.
-
If you like to work in the garden then condos may not be for you. The yard will almost certainly be smaller but that may be a good thing. A bigger question may be restrictions imposed by the HOA. How free are you? Back to that covenant again, the full title being “Covenants, Bylaws and Restrictionsâ€. I really must look into “Restrictionsâ€.
My take on this:
-
The ranch condo is a big improvement over the apartment style for those of us that have always owned our own homes.
-
The “Covenant, byelaws and restrictions†clearly need to be understood before any offer is made. To that end a conversation with others in the neighborhood can’t hurt.
-
The same goes for the HOA board effectiveness in managing the area and for dispute resolution.
Comments
[...] cameron wrote a fantastic post today on “Condominiums – love them or hate them”Here’s ONLY a quick extractMany people in, or approaching, retirement come to a choice between Condo living or just a regular home. Most people think Condos are private apartments and in most cases that is true. But today you can buy ranch condominiums which … [...]