3 Things To Look For When Buying A Condo
When looking for a place to live, you likely have a lot of option available to you. From a traditional house to an apartment or condo, each one has its own distinct pros and cons. For some people, the qualities and perks of living in a condo fit more with the lifestyle you’re interested in. But even if you’ve found a unit that you love, there are still other things you need to check out before you make the final decision to purchase a specific condo. To help you with this, here are three things to look for when you’re considering buying a condo for yourself to live in.
A Well Run Condo Association
Living in a condo means that you’ll potentially be a part of or answer to a condo association. Usually, a condo association is made up of the other people who own units in your building and maybe a few outside people like a property management company. According to Polyana Da Costa, a contributor to Bankrate.com, when the condo association runs well, the building will be well taken care of and will help to increase the value of the property that you own within your unit. But when the condo association isn’t well run, the whole building can suffer, both physically and financially. So before you make an offer on a condo unit, make sure you’ve done your due diligence to see if the condo association for that building is run to your standards.
Rules That You Can Follow
Every condo community or homeowners association is going to have some type of rules that they require everyone to follow. With some, the rules of very basic and general and relatively easy for most people to follow. In other circumstances, the rules they ask of you might be extreme and nit-picky to the point where it would be difficult for you to live within them. So before you move into a particular condo, Heather Levin, a contributor to MoneyCrashers.com, recommends that you go over every community rule and ensure that you’ll be able to follow them if you do decide to live there.
Something That Will Resale Relatively Easily
When buying a condo, it might seem weird to already be thinking about when you might sell it in the future. But in order to ensure that you don’t wind up trapped with your unit once you’re ready to move on, Jessika Toothman, a contributor to How Stuff Works, advises that you do some research into how resalable your condo will be in the future. Things like how many other units are vacant and if the occupied units are rented or owned can have a big impact on what you’ll be able to ask for your condo should you ever decide to move.
If you’re thinking about purchasing a condo, consider using the tips mentioned above to ensure you get a unit in a community that you’ll love.