Condos 101: The NewCondoHomes.com Real Estate Forum

Condos offer conveniences that townhomes and single family homes do not. A condominium is property individually owned and also shared within the condo community. As a condo owner you will own the "inside" of your property (everything inside your door) but share common areas with your neighbors. So you own your kitchen, but not your roof or the hallway leading to your door. Your condo association, collects monthly fees from you to manage and maintain the common areas. That means the condo association will repair the roof if there is a leak. If you had a townhome or single family home, your leaky roof is your problem.

Want more perks? You don't have to mow the lawn or shovel the snow because that is what your condo association provides. You don't have to trim the trees outside your condo.
But there is a cost for this. Sometimes the cost is hefty. It is not unusual to pay upwards of $500 a month in condo fees. Condo fees can include water, electricity waste disposal, management and a host of other benefits. And condo fees may only cover your water bill. You will have to check with your condo association to determine exactly what you get with your fees. So if you have the choice of buying a 3 bedroom townhouse with a $45 HOA fee (home owners association) or a 3 bedroom condo with a $300 condo fee, make sure that condo fee includes more than a friendly greeting from the condo association's receptionist.

So if you are busy and you don't have the time to plant flowers or breathe in the fresh smell of cut grass (grass that you cut), a condo provides convenience of not avoiding those chores. If you want to have something you own, but have a monthly payment that includes your water bill, electricity and repairs to the outside of your premises, a condo provides simplicity.

But it also provides RULES, RULES and MORE RULES.

If you write a contract for a condo, you will be given 15 days to read over the Condominium Rules to confirm that you really want to live under the condo associations' restrictions. If you purchase a townhome or single family home, you need to have a stipulation in the contract or provision that states how you can terminate the contract. Condos are different. If you decide after 14 days that you don't like the rules, the contract is terminated. Why 15 days? The Rule book is often over 100 pages long, and this is not Grisham or Koontz or DeMille. It is a BOOK OF RULES. A book of tedious rules and conditions that NOBODY ever reads. Not in 15 days. Not ever. Rules against pets. Rules against sattelite dishes. Rules about parking spaces. But those are the main rules. So if those rules don't bother you, you should be fine.

Weigh Convenience and Simplicity against Cost (fees) and Control and you will know if a condo is good for you.