Hellobee Boards

It totally depends on the condo association. There have been many many real estate articles about condo owners getting totally screwed by assessments that they are required to pay (i.e. building needs a new roof, so even if you are on floor 2 of 10, you have to pay tens of thousands of dollars!) There was a huge new condo building on the waterfront here in Boston that got a crazy assessment because there was something wrong with the building, and some of the assessments were MORE than the actual unit was worth, so the people were forced to foreclose. Almost no way to tell that this kind of thing could happen.

There have also been horror stories of 2 or 3 unit buildings where the condo association is made of the owners, and someone will decide to re-pave the driveway or fix the patio without telling anyone or getting agreement. Then the other condo owners are REQUIRED to pay their share. Usually this happens with buildings where an owner has a larger unit and therefore has the majority of the power in the association.

We own a 1 bedroom condo in a large luxury building with a great association, but our condo fees are extremely high and always climbing every year. THankfully the rental markets here are going up and we can raise the rent to cover for the rising condo fees. Right now our condo fee for our 620 sq ft 1 bedroom unit is $433! That's almost half our mortgage!

Then again, when you have a condo you have SO much less work to do. Most associations cover snow plowing, landscaping, water, insurance, etc. Ours covers a ton, pretty much everything except for electricity, so that's why the fee is so high.

Because of all these nightmare stories and the lack of control you have over your own property, Rob Sr. refuses to purchase another condo in the future. He'd rather pay more money, have more work to do, and live further out to own our own house.

@hunni: I could write a book, honestly!!

I can help there-- we have 2 small dogs (pom, 6 lbs and chi mix, 13 lbs) and we were in the small 1 bedroom for 3 years. Now we're in a much bigger townhouse style apt with 1 toddler and a baby on the way.

The 2 bedroom condo will be big enough for all of you, but won't have room for guests. If your guests don't mind sleeping in the living room (while you go back and forth since you'll need the bathroom and the kitchen for baby and dog stuff) or in a hotel nearby, honestly a 2 bedroom would be fine. Our 3 bedroom place is perfect since the grandparents are all far away so they get their own room when they visit for long periods, plus they "share" a bathroom with RJ so that' kind of their own space too. With the second baby coming we'll have to move the guests to the finished basement which sucks, but will have to do.

@mrs. wagon: Thanks! We are moving to DC to be closer to my parents and they have a 5BR house for the 2 of them, and I don't think they'd mind when DH's parents and sister come to visit once a year letting them stay. The in-laws are always telling us to make sure we get a place with enough room to accommodate them *eye roll* I tell them we get what we can pay for, not for the once or twice a year visitors.....

@mrs. wagon: Ah, I left out a key piece of information. And totally not trying to thread jack btw!! I'm 25 and want to have both children by 30/ will stop ttc when I turn 29 so whatever we're blessed with at 29 is it, due to a heart condition that runs in the family. All the women in our family who've had children at 30 and up died or the child died. Weak hearts, and stress from law school has me already showing signs. So, that being said we're trying for first next year (just got married 3.10.12 so want a little time to ourselves and to graduate law school this May) and then like wait 8-9 months and trying for second. So, a 2BR condo wouldn't get us through the next 5yrs with a baby and toddler ya think?

If buying a home was too out of reach then yes, I would definitely buy a condo over renting. Although, when we were house hunting, we wanted to stay away from HOA fees and sometimes the HOA fees on condos made buying a house without HOA about the same price. Some HOA fees I saw in my area were from $100 to $300 a month. For us, it better to buy a house than a condo.

We own a 3 bed (plus large office)/2 full bath condo, and for us it’s been perfect. I agree with others who have said that a great HOA makes all the difference. Also, having a condo that’s somehow set apart makes a difference too, especially when you go to sell it. Our condo is just 2 units in a completely remodeled big Victorian type house, so it has original hardwood, stained glass windows, original mouldings, upgraded appliances/granite/etc. which sets it apart a bit from some of the real cookie cutter condo developments in our city that were just thrown in during the middle of the real estate boom.

I would definitely read all the association covenants and bylaws before purchasing a place, and make sure you know what your monthly HOA fee covers. Ours covers City water/sewer, snow plowing, cost of landscaping the little yard in front and then the rest goes into a savings account for large repairs to the building (roof, repaving driveway, etc.). Our fee is $185/month, which seems pretty standard for my area, and for what it covers.

Our condo has been very low maintenance overall (and it’s nice to not worry about snowplowing and things like that), but the downside is we don’t have a real yard. We have a large balcony which is nice, but that’s part of the reason we want to move into a stand alone home. Our association is awesome, too – couldn’t ask for nicer downstairs neighbors, so we’ve been able to avoid nasty fights or issues.

@Mrsbells: I live in a 3 bed, 3 floor condo and I wouldn't suggest it. Unless you find an awesome 3-4 bedroom condo with a floor plan that makes sense and you can see yourself settling down in the area and school district for a few years. Our floor plan is wack.

unless you plan to stay there a long time, or it's got good rental potential, i'd stay away from condos.

my company audits a lot of the HOA (homeowners association) and condo associations. these board members are made up of owners who get voted on. who may not even know what's going on financially. and many who run uncontested. it's really scary how they can make big decisions like how much assessments to charge each year. where to allocate funds each year. hopefully, the association gets audited each year. some don't even require an audit or review and that's really scary because you don't know how they're spending the money (and they can have hundreds of thousands of dollars.

i personally like single family homes so there's no other home attached to mine. i don't like hearing loud neighbors.

back a few years ago, when we were buying our home, they said that resale for condos weren't good but then, everyone said it was smarter to buy a place than rent. nowadays, they're saying renting is better. i personally wouldn't want to buy a house unless i know i'll be there awhile. just because i've been kicked in the butt by the market - we still have a house we can't sell. sucks boodie. and so now, we're not jumping into buying a home.

good luck in your decision!

@hellobeeboston: omg you have GOT to be kidding me... I grew up in Reading!!!!!!! My parents chose Reading when I was in 3rd grade for exactly the same reason-- the cross of 93 and 95 and my dad worked in the city. The funny thing is that now I live at the cross of 93 and 95, just SOUTH instead of north! I cannot believe you live in Reading!!! I went to the public schools there and I've heard they have just gone up and up, especially since the high school renovation (which happened right after I graduated... grr!).

Whether to buy a condo is a personal decision and it all depends on your circumstances and your market, and a lot of important factors have already been discussed above -- the price difference between renting a 2-bed apartment and owning a condo (including tax benefits of owning), how long you intend to live there, the HOA dues (and what's included with that cost), the strength of the HOA and its finances, history of assessments, potential for future assessments, potential as a future rental property (and your desire and experience to be a landlord), the condo market in your area generally, etc.

We bought a one-bedroom condo in Seattle 7 years ago and are still living in it (and soooo sick of it). We've had tons of problems. It was newly converted when we purchased it, but over time we realized there were tons of construction defects -- everything from moldy windows to water coming in from the patio (ruining the drywall and carpet) to water backing up into the sink and bathtub because the contractor put the unused grout down the drain instead of disposing it properly! We've actually had mushrooms grow out of the wall. The water intrusion issues are requiring expensive construction to repair and restore the problems/damage, most of which will be paid for via a special assessment -- costing each owner $20k - $30k. Between all of the problems, the impending assessment, the multiple foreclosures in our building and the real estate market problems generally, the value has dropped at least 1/3 since we bought it seven years ago (and even more than that since the height of the market in 2007-ish). We owe more than the place is now worth and no one would buy it anyway at this point until the construction is done and the assessment is settled up, so when we move out and buy a house some time this year, we're going to have to rent it out.

Not everyone has had as bad of an experience with condo ownership as we have (although some have had worse, I am sure), but I would definitely encourage you to research the history of the building and the HOA and have a really thorough and experienced inspector. If it's a newly converted/constructed building, research the heck out of the builder, its insurance policy(ies) and the construction warranty laws in your state (in Washington, I believe there is a 4-year warranty for new construction condos, generally speaking... in our condo's situation, the HOA sued the developer but only got $900k from the developer's insurance (max policy $1M)... and the developer had no other money, so that's about as good as we could get -- after attorneys' fees and costs, we netted less than $600k, but the construction will cost more than $2M).

On the flip side, we love the location of our building and the fact that our landscaping always looks relatively nice, but we don't have to take care of it! I also feel safer in a condo, since there are so many people around us to keep an eye out for possible criminal activity.

I am sure most people have had a much more positive experience than we have, and if you decide to purchase a condo, best of luck! The real estate market is different now than it was when we purchased ours, and if you do a lot of research and find a great place, it could be a really great home for you guys for a few years and a good investment property later on.