House or Condo?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m 32 years old, single, same job for nearly five years, making approximately $62K (plus freelance income, which so far this year is $8000) and I’ve rented an apartment ever since my college days.

I’d like to leave my renting days behind. One big reason is, of course, that paying rent isn’t exactly an investment the way that owning a house or condo is. Another reason is that I need more space; right now my one-bedroom apartment is crammed with bookcases and exercise equipment and furniture and there isn’t a whole lot of things that I want to get rid of anytime soon. For little more than the $500 per month rent that I’m paying now, I could have a house or condo, right? And also I’m just tired of apartment living; I don’t like being jolted awake at 2:00 A.M. when my upstairs neighbor gets home and starts doing step aerobics until 3:00 (or whatever the hell she’s doing up there…hmmm…nevermind…)

So I’m asking for opinions, hopefully from people who have tried both options (condo and home); what have you found to be the positive and negative aspects of each option?

2

Hey, I’m not an owner but I think I can offer a bit of perspective, which will differ according you local strata laws. I work in home insurance, and I’ve had to help a lot of condo owners fight for claims against their strata/condo board. As a result, I always offer the following advice to potential condo owners.

When you own a condo, you are buying a percentage of the building. Thus, damage to common areas is paid for by all. You will hold two different insurance policies, one for the interior (contents, improvements, liability etc) and one for the buildling. Condo owners can get burned if they buy into a shitty condo with a poor policy. Things to consider that you don’t have to worry so much about in a home.

  1. What’s the water damage deductible?
  2. What’s the earthquake deductible?
  3. What is the loss assessment aggrement?
  4. Do the pipes need to be replaced or fixed any time soon?
  5. Ask for copies of past assessments
  6. Review two years of strata meeting notes
  7. Read the condo bylaws
  8. Talk to other owners

Condo ownership can be great in the right place and an absolute nightmare in the wrong place. Good luck.

3

Well, I own a condo, and have lived in a house.

The pluses of condo living, as I see it:

  • No maitenence (except in my unit). This is good for me, as I’m not crazy about mowing a lawn and whatnot. I can put flower pots on my balconey, and I’m good to go.

  • More security - I’m in a secure building - there’s 24 hour patrols, cameras, etc, etc. As a single woman in a big city, I like this.

The negatives are:

  • You’re limited in how wacky you can get with your property - if I decided to paint the outside of my unit purple, I would be in trouble. Fortunatly, this is not a huge issue for me.

-You’re close to your neighbours. If you’re a hermit, condo living is not the way to go - you will meet and interact with your neighbours a lot more than in a house. Today I bumped into about 10 people and dogs on my doggie walking route (from my complex) had a neighbour knock on the door to borrow curry powder, and had a 10 minute conversation about cheese with someone in the parkade. I don’t mind this, but I think it would drive some people nuts.

My suggestions are:

-If you’re going to go condo, make sure you a) go for new construction and b) opt for an owner run board. Never go for one of those appartment building revamps - the board won’t have sufficient capital built up in case of a major problem, and in an older building, major problems are right around the corner. Owners can get hit with huge bills.

-Secondly, and owner run board has your best interests at heart - no one wants to pay $1500 a month in condo fees if they can help it - by being owner run, you know that everyone is going to try to keep costs down and no one will be getting rich off of your fees.

I know that boat loads of people are going to come in here and talk about the evils of condo living - however, I just don’t see it - I think houses and condos both have up and down sides.

Finally, just to nip one arguement in the bud - my condo has appreciated in value at a faster rate than similarly priced houses in my area. YMMV.

4

My cousin and I are the same age, both single. He bought a condo/townhouse I bought a house about the same time. We had the same conversation that you are going over.

He want’s nothing to do with cutting grass. I planted 300 tulips all over my front lawn.

He decorates like a monks’ cell with little furnature. I have a lot of family odds and ends.

I have pets, he doesn’t. (Depends on the condo.)

I can have a bonfire at the back of my property and play loud music. He hardly entertains.

I have a view of woods, he looks at other buildings you can hit tossing a baseball.

I have a 2 1/2 car garage for all my toys, he has a designated parking space (to be fair, he doesn’t own any toys with engines.)

I have property taxes, he has association fees.

I had to put on a new roof and pay the full cost, his new roof was a shared bill.

I have to do all my own repairs, he can call maintenence for some things.

He can go on an extended vacation and not worry much, I have to beg my neighbor to keep and eye out for strange comings and goings.

Almost a wash either way. Depends on your lifestyle.

5

We looked at some condos a few months ago, and this could have been a problem - the condos were like apartments rather than like townhouses. But I assume that you’d be keeping this in mind when shopping.

We opted for a house over a condo for a number of reasons - we wanted a garage and a workshop - the condos we considered offered neither. The fees were somewhat high to my way of thinking ($450/month - no guarantee how long they’d stay at that level.) But the biggie was the $5600 assessment to all condo owners for replacement of roofing and exterior paneling. Apparently the original construction was not all that great. I couldn’t see paying a $225,000-$250,000 mortgage, plus the fees and assessment for 1300-1500 square feet and a view of a parking lot. We looked at about a dozen units and they ranged from OK to disgusting.

We wound up buying a 1700 sq ft house over a basement with a 2-car garage and 3 acres for just a little bit more than the priciest condo - and there’s no association here, so we pay no fees. Nor is anyone sharing a wall with us. We have to shovel our own walks and mow our own lawn, and when the roof needs to be replaced, it’s all on us. On the other hand, when it’s time to sell, I expect it’ll sell lots faster than a condo.

6

They both have their ups and downs. It really depends on how you want to live. We lived in a condo for several years after owning a huge house with 5 acres. We then realized we’d overreacted and got a huge house on a city lot. :slight_smile: In a condo, your neighbors will be very close. You may have to keep it down in the evenings, like an apartment, depending on construction. You may be limited in your pets or not be allowed to do things like fence your back yard for a pet. You may have a billion widows with nothing better to do than report you to the board for the stupidest things. (Trust me, you may.)

Of course, houses do come with similar drawbacks sometimes - check out the oldish Pit thread on homeowner’s associations. But I think, hey, you can get a lawn service for the same as you’d pay in regime fees at your condo. Sure, you may have to pay for your roof, but it’s your roof.

You should also consider that condos sometimes come with other amenities, like a pool or tennis court, that would be prohibitively expensive for you to put in your own yard.

But really, I think the pros and cons even out to the question; do you want to live in a house, or do you want to live in a condo? Personally, I’d always rather live in a house, but YMMV.

7

Our first venture into home ownership was a new condo. Unfortunately, it was a “leaky condo” (a West Coast of BC long story) and we ended up leaving it in a very negative way.

Buy carefully. Definitely have your realtor obtain strata council meeting minutes for the last couple of years, and you read over them, not your realtor. (And hopefully, it will all be deadly dull stuff about what to plant out front and who’s parking where.) But if there are big building issues coming up, you’ll know about it.

If you realistically don’t like to garden, mow the lawn, care about repainting the exterior, and all that, condo living will relieve you of those burdens. Keep in mind that the lifestyle can be more restrictive–you may want to get a pet and not be allowed to, and you may not be able to put up coloured blinds on your windows. (Ours had to be white or cream, for example.) If the strata council is filled with lots of people with time on their hands (some retirees can be obsessive about things that the rest of us think are small stuff) it can be a bit frustrating.

Condos can be more affordable than a detached house. Big maintenance projects are pooled and paid for by all owners. But you may end up contributing toward a project you don’t think is necessary, if you’re outvoted at the AGM.

Like apartment living, you’re going to have neighbours whose television you may hear, whose odd cooking you may smell. If the building has a lot of absent owners who rent their suites out, it may be more like an apartment building than you’d like.

Townhouses are also an option–a bit more “house-like” but with shared maintenance, not so much gardening to do, and less of an apartment feel.

A single family detached home is a lot of peoples’ ideal, including mine. But be prepared for lawn/garden upkeep (you wouldn’t believe all the things we had to buy for our place, from a ladder, rakes, wheelbarrow, garden hose, garbage can… and we’re in a mobile home) and snow removal in winter if applicable. But having a yard and no shared walls with other folks is wonderful, too.

When we lived in a condo, we were on the fourth floor (own) and rented another suite on a third floor. We barely turned the heat on! Our units were insulated by surrounding units and we didn’t touch the electric baseboard heat at all. When we bought our current place (the dreaded doublewide) it was a bit of a shock to get that first bill for the oil heat.

Anyway, that’s just some of my experience. Either way, it’s a great feeling to be paying for something you have a stake in, instead of renting. (Although it’s nice to just call up the landlord when something goes wrong–assuming you’ve got a responsible landlord–and let them pay for the new hot water tank, etc.)

8

I’ve owned both a townhouse condo and a detached house, and at this stage of my life, I definitely prefer my detached house. My townhouse was terrible for noise - I could hear my neighbours sneezing. I also had a lot of rental units around me; I’m probably prejudiced, but if I have my druthers, I’d rather not live around renters. If you do decide to go condo (and there’s lots of benefits to condo living, too), make sure it’s a good complex, like others here have said. A bad complex will make it a bad experience.

We love living in our detached house, what with not hearing the neighbours, and being free to do what we want with our place (painting, gardening, etc.), but we may go back to a condo when we get older and retire, and are tired of mowing the lawn and shovelling the sidewalks.

Keep us informed of what you decide, please - I love real estate threads!

9

Thanks for the advice so far!

I’ve got to say, most of the responses so far have turned me off to condo living; one of the big reasons for getting out of the renting game that I mentioned initially, of course, was not worrying about noise (either from my neighbors, or from me bothering my neighbors). I have a friend who recently bought a condo and I remember thinking that it seemed like just a glorified apartment in so many ways; and he now tells me that sometimes he does hear his neighbor’s TV or stereo or even conversations…so I’m thinking that a house might very well be the way for me to go.

I don’t mind shoveling or mowing that much, and I wouldn’t mind learning more about home maintenence anyway.

10

I have found that home maintenance has turned into a hobby for me. I really enjoy fixing things up around the house, and doing some landscaping. I know some people would consider it a fate worse than death to have to look after a garden, but to each their own.

Soon you too can join the ranks of us wandering the aisles of Home Depot every Saturday afternoon! It’s almost time for the bedding plants to come out! Yay!

11

Ask a real estate pro with long experience in your area to compare the resale values of Condos vs Single Family Starter homes during slow markets.

I bet you’ll hear that Condo prices are more volatile.

12

If you:
Don’t mind home repairs
Don’t mind yard work
Want free reign on pets
Don’t like to be crowded by neighbors
Don’t like being told what you can do in your own home
Don’t like nosy neighbors reporting you for stupid things
Don’t like paying monthly fees to see next to nothing getting done
Don’t like paying special assessments because the board is a bunch of incompetent assholes…

Don’t buy a condo.

We are getting ready to sell our condo after 4 years. At this point, we may as well have rented a crappy apartment instead. I did enjoy some of it. I love my living room. It wasn’t all bad. However, I’m not very open to taking orders from complete strangers so it hasn’t been as pleasant as it could have been.

13

Well, maybe you need to hear something positive. Or at least, someone who hasn’t made up their mind yet but is reading this thread for ideas might need to hear it. I’ve lived in a condo for seven years.

We’re pretty happy with it–it helps that it’s a townhouse, and an end unit. The construction between units must be solid–I’ve never heard our neighbors, ever. When my son was a baby, our neighbors found it remarkable that they never heard him cry.

No one near me rents their unit out.

I do sometimes want to live in a house, but that’s mostly because I’d like to have a fenced yard for our dog (yes, we own a dog) and more space for my husband’s woodshop (yes, we have a woodshop in our garage). I don’t love our condo association–it seems to attract people with power complexes. But it’s not hard to stay out of their gunsights. We like the lack of maintenance. We live in Michigan–snow shoveling is NOT a small issue here. Our fees are nothing close to $450 (yowsah!), but we don’t have a pool or anything which helps.

There are also things called “detached condos” where each unit is completely separate, like a house would be. My in-laws live in one of those.

14

In Calgary? Do those bedding plants have down comforters?
A house involves a helluva lot of maintenance and upkeep and sometimes I wish I’d gone condo. But then, I have complete freedom to do anything I want – put in a gazebo, use power tools in the driveway at any and all hours of the day, and plant stuff wherever I want it. No noise from neighbors which is really nice after living in an apartment where the upstairs neighbors would put their toddler in a jolly jumper at 1:00 in the morning when she was being fractious.

No access to communal pool or tennis courts, alas.

15

I assume by “strata” you mean condominium association. Don’t be alarmed if they won’t release the meeting minutes. I would never authorize the release of minutes from our meetings because they contain personal financial data and other private information. It’s a little like asking the bank to open up all the safe deposit boxes so you can poke around in them before you open a checking account.

Also, there could be things in the minutes that a prospective buyer will blow way out of proportion. Associations would then start electing to keep certain things off the record for fear of potential buyers being turned-off.

I’ve been quite happy owning my condo, but that is mainly because it’s a small building and everybody knows everybody else and we’re all responsible adults who don’t trash the place. Also, because it’s a small building, all the resident owners get to spend time as an officer on the board and everybody feels like they have a say where the money gets spent.

I suspect I’d rather dislike owning a condo in a large building because it wouldn’t feel any different that renting an apartment.

So… if you find a nice small building (8 or 12 units) in a friendly neighborhood, consider it. If it’s a 300 unit highrise, you’ll probably be disappointed because it’ll still feel very much like apartment living.

16

Ha! Some years they should. We’re Zone 3 here, and our plants are tough. They’re so tough, they should have little brass knuckles and belong to gangs.

17

We rent a house and will buy a house when we are in a position to do so. We pay for a service to do the mowing and any yardwork that we don’t feel like doing. It is not a huge expense and I am still free to garden when I want to. Don’t let not liking yard chores stop you from buying a house.

I love that I can use noisy tools and not worry about annoying my neighbors. I like that I don’t have a neighbor just above me that vacuums at 10:00 pm, or has an active 3 year old who likes to wear heavy boots and run around at 5:00 am. One of the worst aspects of condos is that your neighbors might or might not change. That quiet older couple who live above you may sell their condo to a couple who parties. That creepy man that is always knocking on your door complaining about some nonsense may never move.

18

Just wanted to point out that condo owners pay property taxes just like single-family owners do. Just in case the OP was going to use that as a deciding factor!

19

I take issue with these statements. Our complex was built as apartment buildings in 1964 and converted to condos in the '70s. Our only major problem has been the replacement of the 35-year-old air conditioner.

The owner-run board handles finances very well. They maintain an emergency fund to cover problems such as the sharp rise in natural gas prices a few years back. They are currently in the process of roof replacement, covering a few buildings at a time; I think about half are finished. A handful of owners are participating in a pilot program for in-unit laundry faclilities. Our condo fees currently stand at $365/month for a ~1000’² two-bedroom.

Condos are just about the only viable option for a first-time buyer around here - homes start at around a half-mil; our condo was $85K 5½ years ago. That reminds me: Cuckoorex, check with your prospective mortgage lender(s) and local governments for first-time buyer programs. I only needed 3% down for my condo, the bulk of which was a gift from one of my sisters. The county would likely have paid my closing costs had I known beforehand.

20

I have seen some great condos, and I agree that the prices keep going up especially in the “good” neighborhoods.

But having lived in apartments for years, and then buying a house…well, the silence is absolute bliss. It is so quiet it is scary sometimes. I do not miss the well-meaning drunks coming home late at night with their friends trying to be quiet and yelling “shh” to their buddies, nor do I miss the (very good) opera singer who practiced every morning, nor do I miss a lot of things that come with apartment living - which is what a condo is, other than a good financial investment.

Granted, a house is a lot more work, but once you get the hang of upkeep, the effort is worth it.