Contemplating the choices of a house or a Apartment If you are purchasing for the first time you need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of both opportunities. To help you choose what’s best for you, we’ve prepared profiles of the ‘average’ happy condominium and happy house owner. These examples may not match your individual character exactly, but we hope that identifying with them it, it will help you figure out where to focus your quest for the perfect place!
Hari wants a condo.
Hari left the family home and sub let an apartment. He is a professional who is always on the go. Although some of his comrades have moved in dissimilar directions, some of his friends still lease. Now most of his comrades are moving ahead, his home is feeling restrictive and boring. He is now looking to the tomorrow. A more spacious place, one that he can call home. A place he can accommodate friends, decorate and buy some furniture for. Cutting back on driving for routine trips such as shopping, going out, visiting is important to Hari as he works drawn out hours. Hari’s pursuits do not depend upon a lot of space, so space is not something that he requires. He also doesn’t like the idea of the upkeep and money needed to maintain masses of space. Storage space and a massive flat wall for a TV is Hari’s requests. Modern, stylish and new are his favorites. A garden that needs caring for is a catergorical no-no. He wants a condo that has all inclusive services so if something goes faulty its fixed and at no extra charge. Hari has his own gang of friends so doesn’t want neighbours that are always calling. He acknowledges that racket now and again is part of life. High security with constant 24/7 security guards is a must. When it comes to taking care of himself, Hari cares about his shape, so it’s great that the building has state of the art training facilities and a nice pool – there’s a savings on his gym association right there, because the monthly condo fees cover all the amenities! Looking to the tomorrow, a parking space would increase investment value to the property. He needs to consider the tomorrow as there is always a period when someone moves on. The future has not happened yet, so who knows how circumstances will change. For now, though, the affordability and availability of a condo seem to make a lot of sense.
Susie wishes to live a house.
Having a personal space is one of the things Susie likes the most. When she was in college, she had enough of communal living and now she doesn’t miss having only thin walls separating her and her neighbours at all. Having privacy and enough space definitely outweigh the amount of time Susie spends travelling to work, and when it comes to shopping, she takes the SUV and fills it up at the supermarket once a week. Her two children are what Susie values the most, and she needs to have a safe yard for them to be able to run and play around, exactly the way she did during her own childhood. Plus, there are lots of other families in the neighbourhood who have school age children, and Susie likes knowing the other parents are on the same page (there’s always someone to compare notes with about school sports, the best babysitters and the new off-leash park). And although Susie and her husband Stuart haven’t really thought about growing their family, it’s just an option that in the future they might have another baby, or maybe Stuart’s mother might need to move in with them later in life. So they of course need enough room for the family to expand. Stuart likes to work on his vintage car in the garage and their daughter Jenny is already into playing the drums, which she wouldn’t be able to do in a condo – it gets loud enough in the basement as it is, so Susie’s planning to have it soundproofed and build in a bathroom to make a perfect teen asylum. On weekends, they enjoy having a garden – Susie likes to dig around and pick fresh vegetables as Stuart fires up the grill for a barbecue. Susie and Stuart also consider very important the fact that they legally own the land they live on. Well, if the roof leaks (as it did last year after all those storms), it’s still their own roof and they had some cash for such emergencies saved aside. Every house just needs some occasional repairs, that goes without doubts. Susie and Stuart have divided all the upkeeping jobs up and each of them knows what his/her responsibility is – for Susie, it’s mowing the grass, whereas Stuart has to take the recycling out to the curb. They just don’t mind this work, it’s a part of their life. As for security, Susie’s confident that the new system they just installed will keep the burglars out, plus there’s a residents’ association to keep an eye on things. She likes the safe neighbourhood and would like to put down ‘forever’ roots.
Final advice
So now which one of our two stories felt closer to you – Hari or Susie? Maybe you don’t completely match either one – in which case, you may enjoy the benefits of living in a condo town house, which can combine a lot of the advantages of both condos and houses.
If you determined that a condo could be a better fit, never let the monthly condo fees, combined with property taxes, mortgage and insurance, exceed 30% of your monthly income. Always look at the financial health of the Homeowners Association (HOA) to see if the monthly condo fees actually cover pricey repairs to the building, or whether residents have to pay an supplementary premium every so often (this depends on the health of the reserve fund, which your real estate lawyer can look at for you, as well as the condo by-laws; sometimes, for grave or unexpected repairs, arrangements are made for special assessments to cover these costs). What is contained in your fees? If there are extra amenities included do you really need them? Make sure your proposed building is pet-friendly if that is an issue for you, and find out the probable utility costs for anything not covered in the condo fees (i.e. heat, hydro). If your condo has many of windows there could be meaningful heat loss so your expenses could rocket if heating is not taken into account.
If you decide to go for a house, our recommendation is that you shouldn’t pay more than 25 per cent of your monthly income for the mortgage plus the property taxes. In any way, you will have to pay all for all the maintenance necessary at the house. Think about the cost of upkeeping and your own ability to keep up with the repairs – the fact that the responsibility for everything, from a leaky faucet to a flooded basement, will stay with you. Also the financial and physical costs of transportation is important to be considered, as it will probably rise, especially if your new home is in a suburb. If you don’t want to be surprised by any problems with the mechanical systems of your new home that would also surprise your budget, make sure to examine a recent home inspection. For example, a fixer-upper with an ancient furnace, old wiring and insufficient insulation will demand a more or less immediate cash infusion just to make the house liveable.