If You Are Buying A Condo

People, who are planning to buy a condo, need to know that buying a condo is different than buying any other real estate. Here, in this article we will have a look at all the points which make a condo different than other property types and also the points which should be known to the people who are going to engage their money in it.

You Own The Air Space Not The Land

Unlike a single family home, if you buy a condo you get a space within the limits of the walls, that space can be divided into rooms and other useful spaces. There are balconies and storage units also available but you don’t have it built on a land but in an air space. Even being in the air space, it’s called real estate due to its own kind of value. So here, you just get a living space with many people living around, next to the walls of your space.

Shared Space

You have many facilities in a condo but some space is shared. For example parking, halls, elevators, roof, floors etc will be owned and used commonly. Other basics requirements like water, electricity, heating, gas etc will be commonly arranged though there will a separate billing system as per the uses.

Ownership Of The Unit And Interest

The Unit owner gets a recorded deed of the particular unit. Every owner has his own interest recorded in the deed and if the person wants can sell his interest also.

Tax Payments

Condo unit owners also have to pay some taxes as decided by the law, like how it is paid by other property type owners. Usually in a package, which includes the interest in common areas and the unit’s taxes are deemed and then calculated and taxed individually. Common area taxes are not calculated separately and it’s the owner’s responsibility to pay the taxes for their own area.

Management By Associations

As a condominium is formed by various people and units, maintaining the property becomes a challenge. Hence to make sure every owner’s contribution and to maintain it as a team, unit owners associations are created at the time of the condos get into existence. To make the work easy for everyone and get all the management and development activities done, a professional called property manager from outside is hired. Condo associations and home owners associations have their own responsibilities related to maintenance and development of the condominium. In order to decide the responsibilities of home owners associations, few documents also prepared which govern these associations to work properly.

These documents are also meant for the guest coming in the condo, people living there and the owners and they need to follow the rules mentioned in these. There are rules for everything related to living in the condominium like what kind of pets can be kept and how the vehicles should be kept and how any functions can be organised in the area. There are also the consequences mentioned on paper if someone living in the condo breaks those rules in order to maintain discipline and to make it possible for many people live in a campus together. Legal action also can be taken against people in severe cases. There is a possibility even of a lawsuit. There are fines for breaking many rules and people can be made to compliance with few rules forcefully as well.

Monthly Dues

Many maintenance and development activities are required in the huge campus on daily basis. People need to take care of their living part but there is a big common area which needs to be cleaned, repaired, maintained etc. Different types of maintenance like pool maintenance, garbage management, insurance, tax payments etc are the expenses which are a part of the maintenance charges. Sometimes some special requirements also occur and in those cases the owners need to be ready to pay some extra amount.

How Living In Condo Is Different Than A House

Freedom Of Improvements

Condo does not provide you the freedom of improvement. It just done with in a system and you need to pay for it.

Time In Maintenance Saved

One may not have time to maintain the lawns, handle plumbing and electricity related issues. There are old people who don’t have even the energy to manage all that and there are people which are very busy that they don’t have a single minute to look in to all these issues. Condos are boons for such people. A lot of energy and time is saved when you live in a condo and many things just get maintained by making just a phone call.

Additional Expenses Are Saved

Many additional expenses are saved as maintenance is done in for a big area. Property managers have their regular cycles and also people to do those things on contact basis which becomes very less in compare to when it is done separately for a single family house. Hence, this way additional expense is saved.

Various Amenities

The condo members have an option to enjoy many amenities like pool, gym, parking, common area etc which are made available in a condo. Anyone who plans to live in a house with all these amenities will come up to very costly. If you live in a single family house then you need to take membership of pool or any other places, which you get a chance to enjoy just by paying the HOA or condo fee.

Safety

It also gives you an option to live safely due to enough arrangement are made for safety. You can easily leave your children to play in the campus. The security guards are there at the main gate. At the same time people are also approachable easily as they live in the same campus.

Investment Option

At the end, it’s worth mentioning that investment wise, condos are considered to be less efficient options for returns than the single family homes, multifamily homes or other commercial real estate. There are also limitations with the rent but they are still in demand.