Just wondering....I was looking at some new condos just built, but the condo fees were over $400 a month and it didn't include electricity.

Anybody here see an advantage of having a condo versus a house? Seems like you will save a lot of money owning a house, and you get to remodel it without worrying about your neighbors.

Thanks.

Right now, if you can afford one, buy a house. Just try and avoid places with HOAs, they are usually a pain in the ass.

Condos suck. They need to stop tearing down trees and plopping condos everywhere. Buy a house or a townhouse.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being vague is almost as fun as that other thing.

cardboard boxes are way cheaper.

bloody blisters Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cardboard boxes are way cheaper.


I know, really?

A good subway grate in the winter beats all sorts of fancy houses and condos.

fuck heaters when you can stuff newspapers down your shirt, pee in a bottle and stuff that in your clothes, or just camp out by a buildings exhaust vent. and in the summer you can always cut the top off and have a sun roof. WAY better than a condo

From my own personal experience, condo's are fine if you only plan to stay
there for a short period of time. Over time, they develop problems such as
the building settling, cheap building materials, managerial squabbles,
whatever. Dont buy an older condo as they have more problems in the long
haul. Anticipate noisey and nosey neighbors, renters who live like pigs, and
owners who skip out at midnight owing a bundle that the Condo Owners Association
will have to pay for. I bought one many years ago and managed to make $20,000.00
profit which made a very nice down payment for my current house. Buyer Beware!
If the VA doesnt approve any loans for them, stay away as its a good gauge.

bloody blisters Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fuck heaters when you can stuff newspapers down
> your shirt, pee in a bottle and stuff that in your
> clothes, or just camp out by a buildings exhaust
> vent. and in the summer you can always cut the top
> off and have a sun roof. WAY better than a condo


You know with some of the fancier cardboard boxes, the ones with the thicker walls and such, you almost have a better place to live than some of the cheaply built condos. If you put a few of the refrigerator or washing machine cardboard boxes together, you can build a three bedroom condo in just about any alley.

Plus, every sucker in a suit walking around downtown DC will hand you money just for looking pathetic.

Condomania Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From my own personal experience, condo's are fine
> if you only plan to stay
> there for a short period of time. Over time, they
> develop problems such as
> the building settling, cheap building materials,
> managerial squabbles,
> whatever. Dont buy an older condo as they have
> more problems in the long
> haul. Anticipate noisey and nosey neighbors,
> renters who live like pigs, and
> owners who skip out at midnight owing a bundle
> that the Condo Owners Association
> will have to pay for. I bought one many years ago
> and managed to make $20,000.00
> profit which made a very nice down payment for my
> current house. Buyer Beware!
> If the VA doesnt approve any loans for them, stay
> away as its a good gauge.


Sounds like River Place.

Condo living is a lifestyle that is not conducive to everyone. If you are an "always on the go" person, downsizing and slowing down (retirement), or don't want to spend your weekends making repairs around the house and tending to the grounds, then a condo may be ideal for you.

In this area, we have a glut of condos that has driven down the prices to make them most affordable, even with high condo fees. They are a good investment if you plan to live in them for the long haul, but as a short term investment, I seriously doubt you'll see any return on your investment for quite some time.

I know I've been doing a lot of work in the old condos in Reston and I wouldn't want my cats to live there.
I like the box idea better

---------------------------------------------------
W.W.S.D. what would Scooby Doo

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wondering....I was looking at some new condos
> just built, but the condo fees were over $400 a
> month and it didn't include electricity.
>
> Anybody here see an advantage of having a condo
> versus a house? Seems like you will save a lot of
> money owning a house, and you get to remodel it
> without worrying about your neighbors.
>
> Thanks.


If you get to choose between the two, clearly a house is the better option. I could not afford a single family detached home, so I bought in a condo. Condo fees suck (Im at $270), but at least I don’t have to do yard work all weekend. Plus, I get all the speed bumps I could ever dream of! Not all condos are like mine, but my walls are thin! I can hear people sneezing and kids playing. And when I was in my drinking daze/days throwing parties and all, the complaints were incessant and neighbors were always up in my shit.
As my grandmother always said; “there are rich people problems and poor people problems, Id rather have rich people problems.” If you can afford it, buy a house.


Melissa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Condos suck. They need to stop tearing down trees
> and plopping condos everywhere. Buy a house or a
> townhouse.


Sorry, Melissa but that doesn’t make sense to me. The area that a condo takes up is much smaller than the area a couple of single family homes takes. More people can live on a smaller plot of land with a condo. That’s the problem with urban sprawl; everyone wants a single family home (me included) then we are left with a vast suburbia. An area like this is better suited for high density housing.

I wouldn't necessarily compare a condo to a townhouse. If you can afford a townhouse in a decent area and have the time to maintain it, then it is the obvious choice.

Instead, I would compare a condo to an apartment. Our condo costs less than renting (even with condo fee). And while condo living still has issues, we have more freedom than we would in an apartment. Plus we've got lots of parking and old, deaf neighbors that never complain about our parties.

Get a house, just be sure it has an HOA to keep your idiot neighbor from storing his broken down car up on blocks in his driveway, or parking his dump truck in front of your house.

I've owned both.

1) Owning a house you have to enjoy yard work because in this area you'll be doing it every week unless you hire someone. Having your own driveway and deck is nice. I'd have the place inspected REAL good.

2) In a condo you have rules of the condo assoc and parking issues. In a condo noise might annoy the neighbors; In my case I was a bacholor and every one around me was young so our stairwell was party central and fun. On the weekends it was musical condos. There were some other stairwells where neighbors would fight and argue all the time.

Condos are first to take the hit on recessions and one of the last to recover owing to larger supply and an ability to constantly increase supply. Condo fees can be absurd and the condo can be as good or as bad as the building manager wants to be.

The wifey and I lived in a condo when I was in grad school. It was fine until a new condo president was elected and had visions of grandeur well above what anybody had ever expected. Two years of mayhem, hand wringing, and a lot of move-outs.

Thanks for answering my questions. I was already turned off from buying a condo when I was told I would have to pay 40k for an additional parking spot.

40K to park?!?! Are you fucking kidding me? I would have laughed in their face and walked out.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

It was a one bedroom condo that came with a parking spot. Additional parking was 40k each and another place I looked at was 5k for each spot. I think they pull these prices out of their ass.

Ouch. My condo association technically only allows two cars per condo, but we don't pay for them. And our building always has enough parking for guests. We just have a lot of terrible speed bumps.

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wondering....I was looking at some new condos
> just built, but the condo fees were over $400 a
> month and it didn't include electricity.
>
> Anybody here see an advantage of having a condo
> versus a house? Seems like you will save a lot of
> money owning a house, and you get to remodel it
> without worrying about your neighbors.
>
> Thanks.

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for answering my questions. I was already
> turned off from buying a condo when I was told I
> am too much of a poor bankrupt ass jobless loser

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was a one bedroom condo that came with a
> parking spot. Additional parking was 40k each and
> another place I looked at was 5k for each spot. I
> think they pull these prices out of their ass.


And where are you, now?

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wondering....I was looking at some new condos
> just built, but the condo fees were over $400 a
> month and it didn't include electricity.
>
> Anybody here see an advantage of having a condo
> versus a house? Seems like you will save a lot of
> money owning a house, and you get to remodel it
> without worrying about your neighbors.
>
> Thanks.

you couldn't afford a condo then and you never will now with that bankruptcy hindering your life

Hahaha. Thanks to Miz he will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever be able to move out of his dead mommy's shack.

He will die alone and undiscovered in that house.

someone mentioned his cat eating him but it's doubtful an animal would eat such trash

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for answering my questions. I was already
> turned off from buying a condo when I was told I
> would have to pay 40k for an additional parking
> spot.

You'll never be able to afford anything other than your bankruptcy budget.
Attachments:

#567

Michael Josef Basl Richmond
Attachments:

My first home was a condo - I loved it. You have to live with the well-meaning often foolish condo board, and you have to live with shoddy maintenance sometimes but overall it was much less work than later when I purchased a house. Its the perfect choice for a young professional or starting family. Once you own a big house its hard to imagine going back to not having a lot of storage though.

Bought mine in Arlington for 105k with 5k down. My PITI and condo fees were under 1k per month! It was awesome. Sold it for 225k about 10 years later in a bidding war. Of course I was buying equally inflated housing prices. I wouldnt move back there for what they want now. Arlington is for young rich people and hispanics living packed together.

https://www.rent.com/blog/difference-between-condo-and-apartment/