Where would you live? Part I: condos

I am a condo dweller because of the low maintenance on my part. I currently live in an apartment size complex of 36 units. The condo is professionally managed, landscaping done and interior halls cleaned weekly. I love living in a condo and prefer one that is professionally managed because you don't get someone's relative getting hired for a job and not doing a good job. I have also owned a townhouse style condo in an owner run complex of 12 units. The condo fee was lower in the townhouse but I was responsible for some landscaping and shoveling of snow. The townhouse ofered more privacy but the professionally managed complex offers less upkeep on my part. My friends ask why I don't buy a single family and I reply by asking if they are going to do the landscaping, snow shoveling and window cleaning for me.

I am a condo owner -- formerly dweller, but I moved out with future husband and bought a house. I own (and still rent out) a 3 bd room in a 3 person self-managed association, and at times it's been an absolute nightmare. Part of the reason future husband and I bought a house -- further out of the city than we would've liked -- was because I refused to be at the mercy of other people when it came to running my house.

It's true that maintenance is harder and generally more expensive b/c we have to pay attention and there's no sharing for major expenses, but WE choose when to paint, when to replace the water heater, etc. It's such a crap shoot with these affairs; you never know who you're going to have to work with.

I have lived in four different condos in Mass. and RI. I will never again buy a condo. The main problem is the noise factor. In one townhouse condo I owned, the first neighbor sharing a common wall was very quiet. He was replaced by a family of four adults who were very noisy. In another condo, this one in a converted apartment house, the walls were thin. I heard everything going on in the adjacent apartment and the upstairs neighbors walking around on uncarpeted wood floors. I still own that condo and am renting it out because of the currently poor real estate market. I have purchased a single family home in a 55-plus community. I am at last at peace.

I swore I would never live in a condo, and now I do.

I wasn't going to live in one because I can't stand the ludicrously invasive rules that characterize so many of them these days. I can't hang my laundry on a clothesline? Paint the color I want? Sheesh. If I'm going to own my place I'd like to *own* it, thanks.

Then I went in with a friend on a two-family (how else do you afford a starter home around here?) and we're condoizing it to keep the finances simple. So it's pretty much the same as a non-condo, just with a different financial arrangement.

I adore my place and hope to be here for a long, long time.

We were very high on the idea of condo living when we moved into a large, self-managed, garden-style complex a few years ago. Shared common space translated into low maintenance costs, and shared walls, into low heating bills. So it was all good, until a problem arose. Our unit starting getting frequently flooded with ground water. The condo trustees wouldn't take corrective action to install proper drainage, nor would they give us permission to do so. Eventually we sued, and finally, after a year and half, won, but it barely covered the cost of all of the water and mold damage, much less the legal fees. And no amount could have made up for the frustration and utter helplessness we experienced. Perhaps professionally managed condos tend to handle these things better, but we'll never take that chance again. We moved to a single family home last month.

Andromeda,

Do you realize that you will be paying A LOT more in taxes and insurance if you condoize? If you are not too far down the condo path, you may want to contact some insurance companies to determine the costs first. You'll need a masters insurance plan for the structure and then a standard homeowners policy for your unit. We condoized our two-family and I was floored when the insurance costs for THE SAME PROPERTY were more than double... probably tripple once you added in both homeowners policies for the two individual units (this was 2005).

You'll also be paying quite a bit more in property taxes because the units are valued more separately than they are as a multi-family.

I apologize if you've already done these numbers and decided that the extra costs are worth it to keep the "finances simple", but wanted to point it out in case you hadn't.

I'd live in a townhouse for the space and minimum shared walls.

I've been to apartment-style condos, and they give you all of the hassles of apartment living combined with the hassles of homeownership.

well, never say never, but it is unlikely I will ever buy a condo for myself again. I was in a small three condo unit building, and no one ever really cared about the maintenance, people were late with fees, one guy ran off with the condo money when his property was foreclosed upon, the upstairs neighbor didn't pay fees for a year, and my crazy downstairs neighbor self-medicated, depending on her mood. UGH. Then you here the horror stories about professionally managed buildings being unresponsive, or charging too much, or making crazy rules.

I just think after my experience, the cons outway the pros. It is just too much money for a mortgage to not have control over your property. Yes, you have to pay for everything, but that just means you need to budget. You get to decide when and how things get fixed, you don't have people insisting you live according to their crazy rules, etc.

I wouldn't tell someone to never buy a condo, especially since for a first time buyer it is the most cost-effective property for them (speaking in general terms here). However, I do tell them to become a trustee, or at least insist upon a quarterly review of the accounts. They should also try to talk to other neighbors and have their lawyer take a good luck at the condo docs to see what rules are in place, and what kind of leeway they have to impose new rules. Buyer beware!!