Current Events > Anybody here own a condo?

(+) Yeah! (+)

There is a good chance I will be a high COLA/dense area when I get out of school for at least a while (5+ years maybe, has to do with job opportunities and career ambitions). Would it make sense to try to save up for a down payment on a condo , and buy one for however long I plan to stay? I figure at least I'll be able to sell off the place when I leave rather than have tons of money dumped into a hole via renting.

Or to put another way: if I can get the capital together in a reasonable amount of time, is it simply better to buy a condo than rent? Or am I overlooking something here?

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I was thinking about getting one, but the lack of modification and the HOA fees you have to pay...ugh. Good starter homes I suppose though.

I don't think you are overlooking anything, if you are planning on staying in an area for an extended amount of time, it makes more sense to invest in property rather than rent. Especially if you can afford it easily.

The only thing with condos is you will have to deal with the HOA, they might have some guidelines around selling the property that you'll want to read through carefully when you buy.

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onedarksoul posted...

I was thinking about getting one, but the lack of modification and the HOA fees you have to pay...ugh. Good starter homes I suppose though.

Yeah, I just hate so much value being lost. And it may be the case the market screws me when I think I'm well on my way to having a proper down payment. At least with a condo staying longer doesn't mean just throwing money away (unless the property value tanks).

opopopza posted...

I don't think you are overlooking anything, if you are planning on staying in an area for an extended amount of time, it makes more sense to invest in property rather than rent. Especially if you can afford it easily.

The only thing with condos is you will have to deal with the HOA, they might have some guidelines around selling the property that you'll want to read through carefully when you buy.

That's good to know. I'll be in school another year, so right now I'm just considering my options.

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I say buy it and then ideally you could save enough to buy a house in the future and rent out the condo.

Normally yes, but current US housing market is weird right now.

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Cleo_II posted...

I say buy it and then ideally you could save enough to buy a house in the future and rent out the condo.

Yeah, renting would be nice. A friend of mine in high school actually lived in a condo his parents owned during undergrad, which they rented out before and after he lived there. Lucky bastard. Another friend of mine is CURRENTLY living in a condo his girlfriend's dad owns. He uses that savings for meme investing smh.

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Normally yes, but current US housing market is weird right now.

This is fair. I'm hoping by the time I put together some capital things will normalize a bit (but the delta variant...). I know these days in high demand areas you're dealing with people paying higher than asking price in cash for property.

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I live in a condo now, I was able to put down 20% and my mortgage+HOA is a lot cheaper than rent would be for a similar place.

I love it because I am lazy, and it is really easy to take care of. No yard work, shoveling snow, outdoor repairs, etc. Pool area is maintained well, big grill/party area, gym, etc.

Negatives are the HOA, make sure you pay attention to what is going on. If they do a big upgrade to the building, they will issue a special assessment. Last year we upgraded our elevators and I had a $5,000 assessment due out of nowhere that year.

Also if you keep it when you buy another house, condos are super easy to rent out and manage usually because they are low maintenance.

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Uh... Im guessing current condo sells aint what they use to be.

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5 years, buy

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Do it TC. Rent it when you're done.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

Negatives are the HOA, make sure you pay attention to what is going on. If they do a big upgrade to the building, they will issue a special assessment. Last year we upgraded our elevators and I had a $5,000 assessment due out of nowhere that year.

Are you fucking serious with this in light of recent events?

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Probably depends on your market but basically everywhere is going up right now. I bought my condo townhouse for 190k in July 2018 and its now worth 300k and I couldnt afford to live in it now at that price.

Personally I dont have much issue with my HOA. They gave me a warning once about the tree in my backyard growing too close to the building and to trim it down but I didnt get any sort of fine. I break a few other rules but they havent come down on me for it since I dont take it too far.

I only had to request from them once when a woodpecker made a hole in the exterior stucco wall of my unit and they had someone out to repair it within the week.

So, theyre not always the Satans Little Helpers that folks here like to paint them as.


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BeyondWalls posted...

Are you fucking serious with this in light of recent events?

Our elevators were the original ones from the 1960's so they needed to be replaced, and this was January (before COVID), but yeah I was definitely not expecting it and was not happy.

They give an option to pay it off in one check (you get a slight discount) or just have it added to your dues for the next year at least.

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Check the complex to see the ratio of rented condo units.

Because you'd be risking living in an apartment complex experience, and you're paying HOAs on top of that.

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Im sure the condo board knows what its doing. Why would I ever want to live in a house?

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To those mentioning rising costs: this is definitely true, but rents are rising along with it. An anecdote: a friend here in Austin secured a lease two years ago for a place with a rent of ~$1000. The same unit was listed for over $1200 when she decided not to renew. She managed to get a renewal offer for the same price when she realized she would be paying $200-$300 more for essentially the same quality. Now this is in the Hyde Park area of Austin, and there's a particularly bad property craze here.

My hope is that the craze will be somewhat tamed by the time I gather enough capital for a down payment. There is always uncertainty in the market, and it may be the case that I am priced out thanks to goobers paying above asking price in cash. But while I'm thinking options I want to consider that I can get my hands on one lol.

Will_VIIII posted...

Check the complex to see the ratio of rented condo units.

Because you'd be risking living in an apartment complex experience, and you're paying HOAs on top of that.

This is fair. It's more the equity I'm concerned about than the experience.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Im sure the condo board knows what its doing. Why would I ever want to live in a house?

Well my PhD happens to be in structural engineering lol. Maybe I can get a discount from the homies for structural assessments.

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problem with condo (at least over here in quebec) is that it's hard to resell, there are just way too many on the market, I'd suggest renting and my fairly wealthy investor friends are saying that too

so yeah anyway buy a house for quality of life when you can but don't buy a condo, just rent it in my opinion

also I do own a condo that I rent to someone and it's more annoying than anything, it may make a little bit of money on the long run but it's not worth the hassle, at least to me

I'll keep that in mind. I will have to rent an apartment, at least for a while, so I'll have time to investigate the market.

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Jabodie posted...

To those mentioning rising costs: this is definitely true, but rents are rising along with it. An anecdote: a friend here in Austin secured a lease two years ago for a place with a rent of ~$1000. The same unit was listed for over $1200 when she decided not to renew. She managed to get a renewal offer for the same price when she realized she would be paying $200-$300 more for essentially the same quality. Now this is in the Hyde Park area of Austin, and there's a particularly bad property craze here.

My hope is that the craze will be somewhat tamed by the time I gather enough capital for a down payment. There is always uncertainty in the market, and it may be the case that I am priced out thanks to goobers paying above asking price in cash. But while I'm thinking options I want to consider that I can get my hands on one lol.

This is fair. It's more the equity I'm concerned about than the experience.

Shared walls and etc to consider. If someone in the building is a slob and attracting pests

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Guess it depends on where you live but buying a condo in my area is not economically feasible - I would have wound up paying the same for a space one third the size of my house (without the yard), plus exorbitant condo owner association fees. Honestly cheaper to rent.

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Just bought a condo

If you're in college it depends

I would not break my back to come up with the down-payment. You're young and shouldn't focus on having that tight of a budget

If, say your parents gave you most of the money for a down payment then it's worth investing

At the same time, you're young and may switch jobs several times...or go months without working

I'm age 34 and just felt safe enough to commit to a condo

And that's with me knowing exactly what exact block I want to live in the for the next 10 years. You may not want to even commit to an area right now (let alone city)
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Hexenherz posted...

Guess it depends on where you live but buying a condo in my area is not economically feasible - I would have wound up paying the same for a space one third the size of my house (without the yard), plus exorbitant condo owner association fees. Honestly cheaper to rent.

Mind sharing the city/region?

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Will_VIIII posted...

Shared walls and etc to consider. If someone in the building is a slob and attracting pests

My condo has 3 feet of concrete on every side
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I had rented a condo for a few years.

My personal experience was that it was the same as renting an apartment, but this condo complex was worse because there was a unit where the tenants blasted bass all hours of the day and night.

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No_U_L7 posted...

Just bought a condo

If you're in college it depends

I would not break my back to come up with the down-payment. You're young and shouldn't focus on having that tight of a budget

If, say your parents gave you most of the money for a down payment then it's worth investing

At the same time, you're young and may switch jobs several times...or go months without working

I'm age 34 and just felt safe enough to commit to a condo

And that's with me knowing exactly what exact block I want to live in the for the next 10 years. You may not want to even commit to an area right now (let alone city)

This is all true. As mentioned before, I'm just thinking through options. As an aside, this is also partly assuming I marry my current girlfriend (also an engineer) and we bring in dual income. There may also be the option of a family gift as well, as you mentioned (big maybe).

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Jabodie posted...

Mind sharing the city/region?

Outside of DC and outside of Baltimore.

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Jabodie posted...

This is all true. As mentioned before, I'm just thinking through options. As an aside, this is also partly assuming I marry my current girlfriend (also an engineer) and we bring in dual income. There may also be the option of a family gift as well, as you mentioned (big maybe).

I also wouldn't count on marriage right now...
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No_U_L7 posted...

I also wouldn't count on marriage right now...

Yeah, options. Post breakup I have a pretty good idea of my financial plan if that happens, don't worry. But it won't involve buying a condo.

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I didnt mind living in a condo for a few years. In 3 years of ownership the market dropped and then returned to where it was when I bought so I basically broke even where townhouses and detached homes both had bigger increases. You wont see the big price jumps in the condo market.

I was lucky that during my ownership there were no assessments and I didnt have any repairs. I know the guy 2 floors down from me had multiple insurance claims because anytime the drains plugged up it flooded his place.

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