Buying A Home
dragossoul84
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Buying a condo?
My husband and I had bought a huge home 6 beds 3.5 baths, barn, pool house and 3 acres of land it was just way to much not money wise we bought it in cash but to keep up it was driving us crazy there is just 3 of us (myself, hubby, and our 2 month old) We are putting it on the market to downsize before I lose my mind and the thought of buying a condo. I like the idea of less maintenance without losing the amenities we had having such a big property. Neither of us has ever lived in a condo and I know we will be giving up a lot of space but is there anything we need to look at or be aware of that differs from a house?
Re: Buying a condo?
I live in a condo and love it. Here are a few things I would ask:
1. What is your responsibility versus the condo association. This can differ by condo association. For example, we are responsible for our windows and I know a lot of condos are not.
2. What is the maintanence fee. How often is this raised. What is its history? Figure out if you will be able to afford it, should it go up.
3. What are the financials of the condo association.
4. How many condos have tenants.
Are you okay with sharing walls/floors/ceilings with neighbors? I mean, you'll hear all of their buisness and they will hear all of yours. If that doesn't bother you, then condo living can be nice.
Just make sure you REALLY investigate the condo board. Look at their financials and stuff. Is the board sound, stable, and well run? Do they maintain enough money in the bank to handle major building repairs, or would they need to add a significant new fee in order to pay for a big repair? Do they make decisions in a reasonable timeframe, or is there infighting that delays progress? Is there frequent turnover of board members? Do the current board members have a monoply that does not allow for newcomers and new ideas?
I never hear my neighbors. I think this all depends on the construction of the building and who you live with. Condos may not be right for some people, but they are right for other people, or may be the only option for others. Tell me where I can buy a single family house in NYC.
You can buy a single family home in every borough but Manhttan. You may have a longer commute but plenty of people live in SFHs. Why so defensive?
It sounded like you were making negative assumptions about living in a condo. You won't necessarily hear all of their business and they won't necessarily hear yours. I never ever hear my neighbors and I'm assuming they probably don't hear me.
I think you are right that a lot does depend on the quality of the building's construction. My first home was a middle of group townhouse built in the early 50s, and I could hear my neighbor's morning alarm go off every day at 5am through our shared wall. If I could hear their alarm, i could also hear other things. And I am sure they heard the same from my house. When I was living there, it was par for the course. but now that I live in a single family home on several acres (similar to the OP), I could not possibly imagine going back to that noise and close proximity to the neighbors. I would be miserable. So my comment was based on my own personal experience of tight quarters vs. countryside and the perceived trade-offs.
And I do know people who own single family homes in the NYC area, just not in Manhattan proper. They moved to Queens in order to afford a home. just like Mr. LK and I cannot afford a single family home in DC proper. We moved far out and deal with the commute in order to be able to have a nice single family home with space to breathe. It was the right decision for us. If other people chose to stay close to the city and go the condo route, more power to them.
First of all, someone else was making "negative assumptions" above. I grew up in NYC and have lived in wonderful condos with wonderful neighbors, crappy apartments with crappy neighbors and even single family homes. Let's be honest, single family houses on Staten Island or in Queens or Bay Ridge are cheaper than most Manhattan one-bedrooms. So it's not about being rich; you have to be at least upper middle class to buy real estate in NYC, period.
So I wan't making any assumptions about anything, merely correcting (well, laughing at) your absurd statement that you couldn't live in a single-family home in "NYC."
We currently live in a TH. At the time we were buying that was all we were able to afford. Its not horrible, but I do hope we are able to get a single-family home sooner rather than later.
Our HOA fee went up 2x in the last 4 years. During bad winters, you might get an extra bill for the snow removal. Like OP said, theres alot to look into. Why not get a smaller single-family home with less land?