Here’s the situation folks: I’m interested in buying this condo (in downtown Los Altos, CA). It’s a typical structure for this area: the building is two stories high with 5 units, and this particular unit is on the corner of the top floor.
The problem is that immediately below this condo are the five garages for all the units in the complex. Typical of California construction, while inside the condo, one can hear the garage doors being opened and closed. This doesn’t bother me too much, I can live with it, especially since the condo shares only one wall with other units. But my relatives and the RE agent are saying that it may make the condo harder to sell in the future.
What do you all think? Do people (Americans especially) pay attention to this stuff when buying a condo? Are they turned off by it? Or would they just expect to pay less for something like this?
One question, how long do you expect to stay in the condo?
If it is a short time, then rapid turnover is not too important.
I have been in a condo for 18 years. It is not easy to sell, on the other hand, I am not planning to sell it.
Good question. I’ll probably stay there for at least a couple of years, then pass it on to my mom for a few years more. So I suppose it’ll be medium term.
Ooh, lucky I was walking by. (My day job - escrow and legal for one of the largest real estate developers in So. CA. My current project - buying a home. I have lots of resources, and boy, have I used them. Also, god help me, I was working in the real estate business back when the S&L industry tanked and took us with it. Many battle scars.)
Now that I got the bragging/qualifications out of the way - how many bedrooms and baths? What’s the square footage? How much equity will you be putting in up front, and what kind of price are you looking at? How old is the building?
See, the garage door thing aside, one of the things you MUST consider is: is the price worth it? What will happen to the local real estate market? If you’re checking on a one bedroom condo, you should run screaming into the night. They are the hardest of all resales. And condos, if the SoCA real estate market dips… well, they’re the first to drop in value and the last to bounce back. A single family residence (not a townhouse, just a nice normal house) is a safer investment bet.
Since I could get pretty darn specific here, probably to the thunderous yawning of the other posters, e-mail me if you want to talk specifics. And no matter what you decide… best of luck!
Also, consider what are your alternatives.
Is this condo less expensive?
It might not be a great investment but still a good value for living.
You need to define your own needs, goals and resources.
My condo has a been a poor investment, but a great place to live.
While I was in my realtor’s office after looking at some available condos, she told one of the other realtors of a forclosed property we had gone to see. The property we saw was cheap, at least $15K less that what I bought, but had some problems and overlooked a massive air exchanger. The other realtor mentioned a condo he recently took a client to see, it was priced right and the client loved it, until they heard a rumbling noise. Turns out the condo was right above the garage entrace and that rumbling noise was the door. The client & realtor hightailed out of there.
Being so close to a garage door is indeed a turnoff for some people, but if CA still has a housing shortage you might want to get it anyway before anyone else does.