Condo Ownership Article

Here's an article about condo and townhome ownership. I'll write about various parts of this article in future posts.

What You Need To Know To Sell Condos by Blanche Evans of Realty Times

Community Amenitities

The variety of amenities in the communities is large. While most will have a community pool, some will have several with hot tubs, lots of cool decking, covered areas, turf areas and clubhouses.

All community pools are gated and fenced. Most are in the center of the community, but some are along busy streets and are therefore noisier. Many home owners want a pool that has bathrooms for all to use.

Some communities will have a lake. A community dock is rear, but not unheard of. This dock is in The Lakes in Tempe.

Some communities have tennis or sports courts, racquetball, BBQ areas and clubhouses for community activities.

Shuffleboard? Retirement communities have these, but I haven't seen any in all age communities.

Condo Conversions

Over the past few years, investors have been buying apartment complexes and converting them over to condos. In a nutshell, here's how it works. The investor buys an entire apartment complex and applies to the city to convert it to condos. They then give notice to the tenants, who usually get the option to buy their home or move out within a set time period. The new developer then will redue landscaping, pools and community areas. They'll start to redue units in blocks. They might break up the community in sections and keep renting to most of them and redue one section at a time. Therefore, when you want to buy a unit, you'll have to buy in the section that they currently are working on or wait.

Eventually, all the sections will be redone and the community will be completely turned over to home owners or investors.

Here's some things to think about when buying a Condo Conversion.

1. Is it a new project? Or is it close to being sold out? You take the risk that a new project will convert back to apartments. If they have to sell 300 units and have only sold 5 in 6 months, some investors have chosen to revert back. Will you have to worry about this.
2. Are there fire walls or noise reduction between the units? Buildings built as townhomes or condos usually have these features. Not all apartment complexes do. Is your condo conversion built well or on the cheap?
3. Is it mostly owner occupied or investor? If you buy in a community with mostly investors, arne't you really buying into an apartment community? Will you have trouble securing a loan when it's mostly investor owned and will you have trouble selling down the road for the very same reason?

What other unique things do we need to think about when buying a condo conversion? Please leave a comment and we'll update this post as needed.

Thanks, Pat