maintenance

You want to buy your next home, but you’re not sure if you should buy a single family home or a condo. Both have plusses and minuses, but in the big picture condo living is a great way to save time and money.

Let’s start with time

How much time do you spend on the maintenance of your home? Yard work, mowing the grass, cleaning the exterior of your home, maintenance of the pool or spa, maintenance of the walkways and driveway all takes time from your day.

If you live in a condo, the association has the responsibility of maintenance of the grounds and exterior of the building. Of course saving money happens here too. If you pay a company to care for your yard, another to care for your pool or spa and another to clean the roof and exterior, those costs aren’t a factor in a condo.

Saving money on purchase

A condo is cheaper to purchase than a comparable single family home. There could be a lot of reasons for this. When you buy a single family home, you’re buying the home and the land that it’s sitting on.

When you buy a condo you are purchasing the unit, not the land or building. It makes a difference in pricing. So that means that a 1500 square foot, three bedroom condo is much less than a 1500 square foot three bedroom home. Yes there are things like condo association dues and assessments, but it’s still generally the costs of ownership are lower.

Another time and money saver

The amenities. How much do you pay now for things like a gym membership, a community or private pool membership or golf club membership? Well, if your condo has one or more of these amenities, you can stop paying those extra membership fees. Oh, and the travel time is a thing of the past too! Walk out your door and to your destination. No driving or parking.

You’ve decided to buy your own home. Your Realtor has asked you if you’d be interested in looking at condos. So, is a condo the right choice for you?

Can be a great choice

A condominium, or condo for short, can be a great choice for certain people. If you are single, newly married, or retired, a condo may be a good choice. The reasons are many. A condo is a form of home ownership in which the individual owns their unit, everything from the four walls and in, but not the outside parts or the ground the unit sits on. Those areas, known as common areas, are owned by all of the individual unit owners collectively. These are things like hallways, walkways, pools, and so on.

Association of owners

The maintenance of these areas is the responsibility of an association which includes every unit owner. That membership includes an obligation to pay monthly dues and any special assessment fees for larger maintenance issues, like a new roof or painting all the buildings. Typically, the association hires contractors to do the actual maintenance, so individual owners don’t have to do the grass cutting, pool cleaning and so on.

So, is it for you?

Maybe so. Condos can be more cost effective for people buying their first home or for people who are retiring and downsizing. Condos tend to cost less to purchase, so a mortgage payment is lower. You aren’t paying for what it costs to have a pool. You aren’t paying extra for a gym membership. With fewer maintenance requirements, that helps costs as well. There is no need to buy lawn equipment, no need for pool supplies, no need for whatever things usually purchased by homeowners to care for their homes. There is also the time savings. No lawns to mow, no gardens to weed, no pools to vacuum.