I may move soon and would like to hear you views on living in a single family home vs a condo.
Right now I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath house on a small lot with lovely trees. My dog has a fenced yard. I have room to park 3 or 4 cars. The house gets lots of light and I like it very much.
Because my husband died I now have to do all the maintenance which I am not skilled at nor do I enjoy it. He was an excellent mechanic and handy man. I will have to pay for some jobs to be done. I can mow the grass. But the deck needs repair and staining and there is some work to be done on the front door. I have much less money without his income but I think the house will sell for a good price. I can do with less square footage and since I don’t repair cars, I can do with less outdoor space as well. (The dog may disagree.)
Do I look for a condo? Do they give you a list of what the HOA fees cover and do not? Will I be truly maintenance free in a condo? I have lived in apartments in the past, are condos any different?
I have only lived in cheap apartments and this nice home. What are you experiences with condos?
I’ve never lived in a condo, but when we retire and move in a few years we are almost certainly going to get one. We’ll need less space, but more importantly when we travel we won’t have to worry about maintenance, snow removal, stuff like that.
I’m glad I own a house now, I’m even glad I have a big house now - great when the kids were still here. But it is time to move on.
Ask to see the association’s rules before making an offer. And what the monthly fees are, and if there’s an additional annual assessment. And if the association covers things like roofs, when they’re due for replacement - and how much $ the association has set aside for such expenses. If you have an agent, they should be able to get all that for you. Not every association covers the same things, and they can vary quite a bit.
When I was looking, I told my agent “I don’t want to do any yardwork at all.” So, my condo association takes care of the lawn and landscaping and snow removal, as well as roof, windows, and exteriors (not including extras, like decks). The initial low fee got upped after a few years, as the roofs were coming due for replacement. There’s really no other amenities, aside from trash pickup for me.
My parents’ condo has much higher fees, and they have amenities (pool, clubhouse, small private lake). Their roof and exteriors and some landscaping is covered - they’re on the hook for everything within 6ft of the building. And for windows. They get snow removal and trash, too. But their condo is larger than mine, so even with equal services the fees would be higher.
Both my parents and I are liable for interior repairs. I’ve replaced the HVAC, and will soon need a new water heater; the condo association doesn’t pay for anything like that.
Condo associations can be just as nutty as any HOA. If you get a chance to meet some neighbors before buying, ask for gossip.
Thanks Lightray. I will be sure to ask about all that.
Do you hear your neighbors through the walls as I did in many apartments? How best to tell how well constructed it is?
I very much enjoy condo living but admit it’s not for everyone. I despise yard work and don’t require any parking space, although we do have a parking garage if we ever got a car.
Buying from a reputable company is one key. Here in Thailand, there are lots of shady projects, but we trust LPN Development, the outfit that built our place. And there’s no noise coming through the walls.
I would not want to live here with a dog though. Maybe a tiny one, but even then I’d feel guilty the poor thing didn’t have his own yard to run around in. And condo rules forbid other pets. I so feel we’re missing out on something like that.
I am sorry to hear about your husband , if you can afford to pay for someone help with the repairs around your house try to see how more it would than paying for condo fees. Your house sound lovely and I personally don’t feel
any condo will be as nice as what you have now. I live in a condo and hate it.
I don’t like having to live with rules and condos are only as good as the trustees and management running them . It might be good now but people move or get tried of being a trustee and are replace with someone that is no good or on a power trip. We had a guy that was trustee and no one liked him not even my hearing dog. You should also find out if people are allowed to rent out their condos to tenants , this can be a nightmare ! Someone rented a condo over mine to a mother and her 30 yo drunken son. He stayed home all day getting drunk and throwing his butts onto my wooden deck and mulch . The owner got rid of the two and they moved into another building . UGH! You don’t want to buy a condo that has more than tenants than are owner occupied this being down the value of your condo . My condo is going to have a meeting about this b/c we’re getting too many tenants and it becoming more like a housing project than a condo . This is b/c of the poor management we have .
I don’t think the issue of whether you’ll hear the neighbors has anything to do with “apartment” vs “condo” (after all, the former are often converted to the latter) but simply the quality of construction of the building in question…I’d suggest giving a good deal of thought to whether or not you really want to go back to living with shared walls and floors/ceilings.
Best way is to test it. See if the agent or association will arrange for you to be near a shared wall. Two different friends had condos; one had less noise from his neighbors than I do in my free-standing house. The other could tell you which TV station his neighbor was watching. Both places were built as condos but of greatly differing quality.
One thing to remember; in a manner of speaking a condo is never totally yours - you can’t always do as you want to. That is the reason for really going over the association agreement with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure its something you can live with before you buy.
Condos are either a Godsend for the busy and/or frail or they are Satan’s seed come to full fruition.
A new development is regulated by law - the builder is the HOA until X% of units are sold.
This can result in HOA dues (which the builder both sets and pays) being too low to maintain the property. No reserves, and as soon as the builder is off the hook, the real numbers are found.
Beware of new developments.
As stated, different HOAs will cover different expenses. Get an agent who specializes in condos in your area - they will know which ones are well managed, which ones will foreclose if you leve your curtains crooked, etc.
If there have been ‘Special Assessments’ every time a roof needed replacement, the place is poorly managed.
I was dating a woman who lived on the top floor of her condo building - and during a heavy rain, the water was pouring in. The handyman reported that the flashing had been installed backwards - from top to bottom, forming scoops to channel water under the roof.
I have no idea how that turned out - but the builder should have been sued to Kingdom Come.
I posted this thread earlier this year when I was early in the process of looking to buy.
I did end up buying a condo. Mine happens to be apartment-style, but I looked at a good number, including townhomes with yards and the like. My responsibilities are “studs-in” - so I have to deal with maintenance and repair for everything from the walls in. The association is responsible for “studs-out”, so everything exterior. Request and read the documentation to see what’s included.
So far, it’s working out well for me. The condo market still does fairly well in Atlanta, so should my life change, I would expect to be able to sell within a reasonable amount of time. I don’t want to do yardwork, so that works out for me well.
I’ve been trying to convince my husband that selling the house moving into a townhouse or condo would serve us well in the coming years. Unfortunately in our area associations tend not to allow dogs, and in a few instances our breed is on their restriction lists (HUSKIES?!? REALLY?!?)
It is really hard to say without knowing all the details of your financial situation and the costs of insurance and HOA fees of the prospective condo, but I would do whatever makes the dog happy.
I actually own a “villa”, which is local parlance for where I own the land underneath my unit. So it’s not an apartment-style condo, more like a townhome/duplex; I’ve a unit on either side.
I hear nothing at all from the guy on the left. But the rednecks on the right are my only complaint about condo-living - normally I hear nothing. BUT, they apparently have to do their laundry at 12-1 am, every other night some weeks, and have apparently jammed the washer & dryer up against the shared bedroom walls. Polite requests have been met with slackjawed blankness. I also suspect they’re the cause of mice in the not-supposed-to-be-connected attics last few years.
Neighbors are definitely something to consider beforehand. But that’s true in any situation, house, condo, or apartment.
When I was looking, the apartment-style condos obviously had more noise-bleedthrough, so I avoided those. My parents’ condo is set up so they don’t really share any walls with the adjacent unit, so no noise issues for them. (mind you, the entire development is post-retirement, so the only peep is an occasional barking dog.)
Both my and my parents’ condo associations allow dogs (limited breeds for my parents’, I believe), and have yards, but no fences possible.
Why are you shocked? Lots of huskies are destructive when they’re bored. My grandfather’s dug up all around her dog house in weird tunnels.
I could never live anywhere with a HOA. So its a house in the sticks for me.
So hard to decide and yet I know I will have to look around first to see what fits me best ( and the dog) of course. If dogs are restricted it is not a place to call home. And I knew a person who got notice from the board about not sitting flower pots on the rail of her deck. It was on the 1st floor. I feel that restrictions will rub me the wrong way. I will have to read them in detail as many of you suggest.
Do buyers normally hire a home inspector for a condo just as you would do when buying a house?
I hired a carpenter when checking out a condo the had 3 floors , I wanted to him to made sure the basement was OK and to check for any hidden water damage . I agree a house is not a home without a dog . When you do find condo that allows dog bring young dog with you . Dogs are very good at judging people , you want your dog to feel at home too. I knew some people that lived in a condo and they got chewed out b/c their trash can was the wrong color! The couple had just lost their baby he was born stillborn and their trash can was the last thing on their minds . If you like to wash your own car
made sure that is allowed , we can’t wash our cars at my condo.
Also find out if the same people been trustees for years , people can power hungry and abuse it if they been a trustee for along time.
I wish you luck in your move , do you like and trust the realtor you’re using?
Some people see huskies and think “wolves”. :eek:
And to be fair, some people see chihuahuas and think: “Cthulu”.
[ I wish you luck in your move , do you like and trust the realtor you’re using?
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I don’t have a realtor yet. But sure will take care to select one that I do trust. I am still trying to make the decision to move.
This morning has helped me with that as I pulled a muscle in my back just trimming bushes in the yard. Ugh! Condo sounds good right now.
How do people even have time for yard work? Assuming they’re working full-time. That one’s a complete mystery to me.