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Condominiums Vs Buying Single-Family Homes
When you decide to purchase a home, there are many options for the types of homes you can buy. These options may include basic single-family homes or multi-family homes to condominiums and townhouses.
We think it is imperative that you decide what kind of house you require and then start your hunt for the property. Today we will discuss condominiums vs single-family homes with some pros and cons.
This post should help you make a well-informed decision depending on your living situation and your lifestyle.
About Condominiums
A condominium frequently shortened to “Condo” where it refers to residential buildings similar to an apartment divided into several units. Each unit is individually owned and therefore regarded as real estate.
It also has some common areas which are jointly owned. There are also some detached condos which are similar to single-family homes.
Still, in this, the common areas like yards, streets, and building exteriors are jointly maintained by a community association.
Condominiums Pros
1 – No Stress Lifestyle: When it comes to condos, you will enjoy a no-stress lifestyle. You don’t have to deal with any issues like laundry, lawn maintenance, snow shoveling, etc.
You don’t have to worry about the maintenance because the association contracts that out.
2 – Amenities: Another benefit of buying a condo is having access to different amenities like saunas, gyms, and pools. You don’t have access to these amenities when you buy a single-family home.
These amenities cost a lot if you buy a single-family home. If you buy a condo, the cost of these amenities is shared with other unit owners bringing the expense much lower, and you still get to enjoy these amenities.
3 – Security: The third advantage of buying a condo is getting advanced security features. At the end of the day, just having your neighbors close by adds another level of comfort to many people buying a condo.
4 – Fees: Condominium fees are pretty steady and predictable. These are the fees that are collected from all the unit owners and used to pay for amenities, utilities, security, insurance, and other maintenance.
These are collected monthly and paid accordingly.
Condominiums Cons
1 – Maintenance Schedule: Although the maintenance is taken care of by the association, sometimes it is not done on your schedule, and you might have to shell additional time for the same.
Although you have a vote on when maintenance is done, the bottom line is, whoever is contracting that out for the condo may not be lining it up with your schedule.
2 – Paying for Amenities: Yes, you do get to enjoy the amenities provided by the condo association. However, you still have to pay for the amenities that you don’t enjoy through the maintenance fees.
So if you are planning to buy a condo, you have to make sure that all the amenities are something that is going to be useful as they are going to add up as a cost to you.
3 – Less Privacy: Having close neighbors means having less privacy. Most likely, unless you have an end unit, you are going to have people living on both sides, above and below your unit.
Not to mention in some cases, the neighbor noise which is one of the downsides of buying a condo.
About Single-Family Homes
A single-family home is one of the most commonly purchased homes in the country. It is a real estate construction with a structure maintained and used as a single dwelling unit. Hence there are open spaces on all four sides.
The owner of a single-family home is liable to make the entire decision on the house and mostly is not bounded by any community association.
Single-Family Homes Pros
1 – Peace: If you like peace, if you like having your own space, if you wish to have your own parking spot, a single-family home is a good option for you.
You will have complete peace and privacy which a condo would be unable to offer. Since there are no neighbors close by, you would get absolute privacy and peace.
2 – Property Appreciation: A single-family home would get a much higher appreciation value over a period of time compared to a condo.
You are the sole decision-maker and have the freedom to make decisions regarding any renovation projects subjective to legal limits.
3 – More Space: Buying a single-family home would give you access to more space compared to a condo. This space could include a lawn, backyard, own parking space, and in some cases your own garage.
Single-Family Homes Cons
1 – High Maintenance: Since you are the sole owner of the property, the maintenance cost of the single-family home is comparatively higher than a condo.
A single-family home would require constant maintenance like lawn maintenance, HVAC maintenance, etc.
2 – Fewer Amenities: Compared to a condo, a single-family home would have fewer or no amenities like a gym, pool, sauna, etc. Hence you may have to spend a lot more on those amenities.
Conclusion
Buying a home is one of the most significant and most important decision you would ever have to make. Whether you are a first time home buyer or an investor, you would be inevitably faced with several questions.
Your answers to these questions would help you to make an informed decision as to know what kind of house is best for you.
Since there are pros and cons for both single-family homes and condos, only you can understand which is right for you.
It’s good to know that single-family homes offer you the potential to have more space since they can give you both a yard and a garage. My husband and I are trying to decide if we should buy a single-family home or not because we want to move out of our current apartment. I think having more space would be great because then we could stay there if we wanted to start a family, so we’ll have to look into it.
I like that you mentioned that value appreciation is one of the benefits of investing on single-family homes. I will keep that in mind once I have saved up enough money to buy real estate properties. I’d like to be able to start making big investments in my mid-thirties so that I can make sure that I will reap a lot of benefits later on.