Do condos depreciate in value or rise like houses?

[ryan840]

It depends on the condo association. Mine is $156, which is cheap for the area. It includes water, sewage and garbage removal.

Then you have property taxes, which usually aren't too bad for condos.

that's per month, right? Are there any other fees I should plan on before deciding our price limit?

 

[vacanut]

Your best bet is to contact a local realtor, they should be able to give you a price range in your area. Our maintenance fee was $100 but was going up to $150 when we left. It didn't include water or sewer that was a bill we got seperately. We did also get additional assessments when things came up like the roof, etc. The only reason we left was lack of privacy. We really wanted a home/yard of our own.

 

[barbeml]

My fees are $220 per month to the condo association and another $101 per quarter to the property owners association. Covered are exterior maintenance, landscaping, trash, snow removal & street lighting, and "recreation." We are not permitted to opt out of the pool fee, which I resent.

I pay about $3500 annually in property taxes, so in a way we are "double taxed" because we have to pay for some services (snow, trash, lighting) that the township provides to non-condo owners at the same tax rate. The upside is that we only need to buy contents insurance (much cheaper than homeowners) and we don't have to clean the gutters or mow the lawn.

This was a good investment for us, but I would not choose to live under a homeowner association again, since it is really another level of government.

 

[LoraJ]

that's per month, right? Are there any other fees I should plan on before deciding our price limit?

Yup, per month.
Keep in mind, if your maint. fee doesn't include those, you'll have to pay them on your own.

The more amenities your condo building has, the higher the maint. fee. I know on realtor.com, they usually list what the condo fee and taxes are.

 

[Parkhopper]

Many posters have made many good points already. I would like to add one. Look into how many people Rent versus Own in the condominium that you are interested in. Traditionally, condominiums with more owners living there (at least 80%) sell at higher rates. I work for Chase Manhattan Mortgage and this is one of the things that the underwriters look for. The thought process behind it is that owners care more about the upkeep of the condo than renters.

Also, I think someone else mentioned it but it bears repeating, make sure that the condo association has enough money in reserve to handle any repairs and maintenance of the condo.

Suzi

 

[chrissyk]

Traditionally, condominiums with more owners living there (at least 80%) sell at higher rates. I work for Chase Manhattan Mortgage and this is one of the things that the underwriters look for. The thought process behind it is that owners care more about the upkeep of the condo than renters.

Great point! Also, when you go to sell, the 80% owner-occupied issue is a BIG deal if you have an FHA buyer. My sister was very worried about this when she sold a townhouse to an FHA buyer a few years back.

 

[CarolA]

Just another note.
My condo fees are $207 a month which covers exterior and building liablitly, maintenance, LIMITED landscaping, pool, and water. (Water is our big issue and I am going to start pushing for us to move to individual meters. Folks have NO incentive to conserve and/or fix leaks etc....)

 

[ryan840]

Phew- now you all got me scared! Sounds like a house would be cheaper- and I'd only be paying for what I use... What to do...

 

[Chicago526]

I would think it depends on where you live and the condition of the condo development you're specificly looking at.

I bought my condo (it's actually what is called a coach home or a manor home, think of a cross between an apartment and a town home, and you'll have a good idea) for $108,000 in '01 and just sold it over the weekend for $157,000. Other units in my area sold for $159,900. So mine sure went up!

 

[CarolA]

Well, keep in mind that since the condo fee covers some of the insurance your homeowners is lower. Also, you don't have to mow the grass or pay for mowing etc.. Plus water can be high. (I think the minimum here is something like $20 a month and I never got the minimum bill) So... not paying the $200 fee is not an automatic savings. Plus where I lived most of the subdivsions had homeowners fees also. Mine was about $50 a month.

 

[bicker]

Living in a condo is neither more expensive nor less expensive than living in a single family home, all told. It is, specifically, a life-style choice.

For example, we don't have to spend time to cut our lawn, prune our bushes, etc. Nor do we have to spend the money necessarily to have our landscaping done for us, nor do we even have to spend the time and energy necessary to pick a good landscaper, monitor their performance, interact with their bookkeepers, etc. All this convenience we get, in terms of the service our condo association provides us as it regards landscaping, are of great value to us, and therefore we yield a lot of profit from the relationship.

By the same token, if you want to pick your own housepaint color, or decide which flowers get planted, or if you want to hang random signs on your property, etc., then you really don't want to live in a condo.

 

[Chicago526]

Also, if you have a dog, some codo's have pet restrictions, so ask about that when you're house hunting. I was lucky, I bought right before they imposed a 40 pound weight limit on dogs, so Missy was "grandfathered" in under the old 65 pound limit.

 

[vacanut]

Well I've been on both sides, owning a condo and a home and I found it less expensive to own a condo. The intial price is a lot less than what an average house is going for in my area and then if we add up all our monthly bills it sure adds up. Not to mention when we moved we had to buy a lot of things like a lawn mower, etc little things you wouldn't think of. Maintenance alone on a house is expensive.

 

[ryan840]

You're all making great points, thanks! All I know is I want to get out of here, and we really want to make our move asap(it is about a half hour or so away, not a big deal, but it puts us even further from the majority of our family) so our son won't have to get resettled later on. Not to mention that we've been living together for six years and still don't have a house to show for it...

 

[ChibiJones]

We expect our condo to stay the same or increase. The complex is about 30 years old. We are across the street from a commuter rail station into Boston, plus close to the Pike and the mall. We saw alot of dumpy looking places when we were looking, considering their location and lack of maintenance, I would expect their value to decrease if this bubble ever bursts.

One of the things that we liked was that our association has a professional management company handling everything. No individual homeowners on power trips. It's also fairly large, over 800 units.

 

[Doctor P]

My first home was a condo. Bought it in 1988 for $91,000. Sold it in 1996 for $32,000 with a mortgage balance of about $60,000. And that was doing good. So, things do not always go up.

 

[Hillbeans]

First just wanted to say the picture in your signature of your son holding "Tink" is just adorable!

We've owned both a Townhome and a single family house...there are definitely pro's and con's to both as many posters have stated. The townhome is a good choice if you both work FT and don't have the time to care for a yard, etc....the bad is that you have less privacy than if you were in a home.

Best of luck to you with whatever you decide.

 

[ryan840]

First just wanted to say the picture in your signature of your son holding "Tink" is just adorable!

We've owned both a Townhome and a single family house...there are definitely pro's and con's to both as many posters have stated. The townhome is a good choice if you both work FT and don't have the time to care for a yard, etc....the bad is that you have less privacy than if you were in a home.

Best of luck to you with whatever you decide.

Thanks! He thought I was nuts holding his hand like that, kept wanting to see what I was doing!

I stay at home, so yard work isn't an issue (my husband would actually prefer a house) it's just a matter of price. I guess our first step is finding out if we can even get a mortgage with little or no down payment and not so good credit. We are secure now, but don't have much extra income, and we have had a lot of financial hardships in the past while my husband was in school. He now has a good job, and has actually been employed there for four years (fisrt as an intern) so that should help us I hope.

 

[caitycaity]

Living in a condo is neither more expensive nor less expensive than living in a single family home, all told. It is, specifically, a life-style choice.

that's definitely not true where i live. we couldn't even come close to affording a single family home, but at least condos are on the high end of our budget. there are obviously lifestyle differences with each, but where i live, condos are definitely cheaper.

 

[swilphil]

I've owned both a home and condo. I found the condo to be considerably less expensive than owning a home. The value of my condo almost doubled in 7 years, and the only thing I did was paint the interior and put in new carpet.

I was warned about how the resale value of a condo wasn't as good as a house when I bought the condo in 1991. I sold my condo in a week for the asking price and have noticed that there are more and more condo and townhome developments being built. This is largely due to the vast number of baby boomers who are reaching retirement age. They want to live in a maintenance provided community and often in a ranch style townhome.