Home vs. condo ownership costs?

 I have just bought my first condo and people always think I am dumb for
paying a 100 dollar/month condo fee. This fee covers all exterior
maintenance and insurance. I figure this is a good deal since a condo
has purchasing power and can negotiate cheaper deals than an
individual. For the same size lot, does not one end up paying the same
(if not more) to mantain and insure the exterior of a home? I know
there are many other differences between condo and home, but I just
want to know if it a lot cheaper to mantain/insure exterior oneself
instead of paying a flat fee?

 

$100/month is very cheap. What I dislike about condos is that the maintenance
is on someone else's schedule. You might suddenly have to cough up money in
addition to the monthly fee if there's not enough money to cover costs. Along
with that, your fees can rise at any time. I have seen condos with $500
monthly fees and at that point I'm not sure it's worth it. With a house you
can always defer less critical maintenance and address it on your terms.


Dimitri

 el_roachmeister@yahoo.com writes:


If you believe that, you'll probably be surprized when a special
assessment for $500 or $1,000 comes along.

It is extremely unlikely that $100/month condo fee will cover *all*
exterior maintenance in the long run.


Possibly. Or they could negociate a worse deal. It all depends on who
is on the board, how much time/effort they are willing to spend, etc.


Since you didn't say how big your lot is, or where it is located,
it's hard to say :-)


When you maintain the house yourself, you could do the work yourself;
saving some money, and you could take care of the problems sooner.

The fact that the fee is "flat" has nothing to do with this; it's
the amount that matters. A homeowner could easily put aside a "flat"
fee or $100/month as a repairs reserve fund. I doubt it will cover
major expenses, such as roof, though.

Cheers,
--
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 el_roachmeister@yahoo.com wrote:


                          No question, in my case anyway: I'm also
buying a new condominium not far from here, and the monthly charge
will be 200 dollars.
But - I've worked out what this place (about 20 years old, much the
same square footage) costs me annually in garden maintenance by  a
local firm and various things having to be repaired or replaced,
from a complete shower , 2 complete toilets, a/c exterior unit and
electric motor inside, trench and pump to carry away underground
buildup of water on south side, fans in  shower, etc, etc, you name
it!  I reckon I'll  save a packet annually.  
--
Ian

 sum1@flash.net (Ian) writes:


I wonder how you figure that out: none of the things you listed
above, except for possibly the underground water, would *normally*
be the association responsibility. *You* still would have to spend
your money fixing things *inside* your condo.

Cheers,
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