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Condo or House?

Chloegirl Posted:

Condo or House?

DH and I cant decide what we want to do....Condos are the same price if not more than some houses we are looking at but there are advantages to both.

Option 1:
A condo in Woodbury 500K+, but it is fairly new and modern. Nice community, pool etc. No real maintenance worry.

Option 2:
A house in the surrounding area...450K+ but smaller and not as updated and needs work. But it's a house....our own and detached.

We just don't know what to do...what do you all think?
nov04LIbride Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Well, we were kind of in the same boat and doing a condo. Our $ this way is more predictable--if the roof needs redone, the whole complex absorbs the costs. We don't need to worry about the mowing, shoveling, etc. for a while. And our complex is great--pool, clubhouse, gym, etc. Eventually we want to get a house, but for now I don't want to have to worry about redoing an older house, which is what we could afford. If I had the $$ to buy a brand new or recently completely redone house, I would, but we don't...Good luck!

Kriss2c Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

If the interest rates go up anytime soon you might lose a little bit of money on a condo... just my two cents.

Jenny5150 Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

I'd invest my money in a house/property.

luvsun27 Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Posted by Chloegirl

DH and I cant decide what we want to do....Condos are the same price if not more than some houses we are looking at but there are advantages to both.

Option 1:
A condo in Woodbury 500K+, but it is fairly new and modern. Nice community, pool etc. No real maintenance worry.

Option 2:
A house in the surrounding area...450K+ but smaller and not as updated and needs work. But it's a house....our own and detached.

We just don't know what to do...what do you all think?


How big is the condo?

I ask because I bought a condo before I met DH for all the reasons you listed above...and then, when I met him and he moved in, we began to out grow it. It's 2BR/2BA. Do you plan on children right away? In our condo, there is little storage..althought it has bigger rooms than some of the houses out there. So...we are now selling the condo and moving into a house. Only you can decide what will fit your lifestyle, etc. Good luck!!
nov04LIbride Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Why would the interest rates affect condos and houses? I don't know too much about this...

Posted by Kriss2c

If the interest rates go up anytime soon you might lose a little bit of money on a condo... just my two cents.
Kriss2c Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Usually when the interest rate goes up the values of the homes (be it a condo or house) will decrease to compensate. You would loose more money on a condo than you would a house.

However, if you are buying the condo to rent it out, you would actually do better in a higher interest market.
nov04LIbride Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Why lose more money on a condo? Our RE agent said the condos are actually going more quickly than older houses around here--I think there is a definite market for them as older residents sell their homes and retire to condos to have less maintenance. Do you mean mortgage rates, not interest rates? I know Greenspan was talking about raising interest rates, but that shouldn't affect housing prices too much, if anything raise, not lower...I think the mortgage rate change will just cause prices to level off, not decrease as there is enough demand to keep them where they are. I know in our development people were offering more than the asking prices to be competitive bidders. Anyhoo, only time will tell...

Posted by Kriss2c

Usually when the interest rate goes up the values of the homes (be it a condo or house) will decrease to compensate. You would loose more money on a condo than you would a house.

However, if you are buying the condo to rent it out, you would actually do better in a higher interest market.
soon2bMrs Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

JMHO - I would invest in the house vs. the condo.

sept20yay Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

we are looking to buy a condo and are expecting the contract any minute. I think the market is getting more and more excited for them! I think a condo is absloutely the wa to go and I would live there my whole life if I could. You dont need to worry about pipes freezing, snow maintainance, indoor pests and termites, you can meet people easily, you could have room for parties in the clubhouse and enjoy amenities. I think it is a great middle ground from an apartment to a freestanding house. Money could be spent on a gorgeous outside! JMO.

Chloegirl Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Posted by luvsun27

How big is the condo?



The condo would be 3 bedrooms 2 bath...so we could stay when we have a baby. We wouldnt buy anything smaller than that. Plus we would be in a great school district so we would probably stay in it a while.

There is just something about having your own house though. I feel like spending that amount of money on an attached house with a tiny yard if any is ridiculous.

The no maint. concern is huge since my DH is not handy. I dunno...I keep going back and forth.
Kriss2c Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Posted by nov04LIbride

Why lose more money on a condo? Our RE agent said the condos are actually going more quickly than older houses around here--I think there is a definite market for them as older residents sell their homes and retire to condos to have less maintenance. Do you mean mortgage rates, not interest rates? I know Greenspan was talking about raising interest rates, but that shouldn't affect housing prices too much, if anything raise, not lower...I think the mortgage rate change will just cause prices to level off, not decrease as there is enough demand to keep them where they are. I know in our development people were offering more than the asking prices to be competitive bidders. Anyhoo, only time will tell...

_____________

In most cases when interest rates were higher housing prices were lowered (however slightly) to compensate. Right now because of the interest rate, everyone is looking to buy. If the rate goes higher, the market may drop off and look to rent. In which case if you are looking at buying a condo it would be cheaper (monthly) to rent it in some cases.

If you already own a condo and the interest rates go up and housing prices go down, you could lose money on an appraisal. This is true for a house as well.

I'm not debating the demand for a condo over a house for certain types of people. I do realize their popularity and would like to add that I myself was recently looking into one.
KarenK122 Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

I think you need to decide what kind of place you want to live in. We will be definately getting a condo. Neither one of us is handy or like yard work. We don't want to spend out weekends weeding and mowing lawns or painting the outside of a house. For some that is pure bliss...for us a nightmare

The downsides to a condo of course is not having your own backyard and most likely sharing a wall or two with a neighbor.

You still get the same tax breaks with a condo as you do with a house and as someone said it the interest rates do go up a condo might not increase in value as fast as a house persay, but I don't think you would ever lose any money.

Do what you think you'd be most happy in!!

Good luck
nov04LIbride Posted:

Re: Condo or House?




The no maint. concern is huge since my DH is not handy. I dunno...I keep going back and forth.


This is exactly the reason why we got our condo. FH is not handy at all--if he was, it would pay to get a cheaper house that he could work on. Paying people to redo everything, or come in to fix stuff if the pipes burst or roof needs replacing would just get too $$$$ for us at this point. Good luck whatever you choose! It is still better to own, either way you go.
Chloegirl Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

I really appreciate all your responses.

I am so stressed out about this. It is such a big commitment and I dont want to in a year say 'oh I wish we____'
PlanningFromATL Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Does the condo have monthly maintence fees? When I was looking at houses vs. condos, the monthly fees were high, and I could get a lot more house when you considered the extra costs each month.

amy0405 Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Posted by PlanningFromATL

Does the condo have monthly maintence fees? When I was looking at houses vs. condos, the monthly fees were high, and I could get a lot more house when you considered the extra costs each month.


Thats exactly what Im struggling with right now. Mortgage on a condo PLUS a maintenence fee could equal the mortage on a house. Anyone else experience this or am I over-estimating??
sept20yay Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

I think that times are changing... My thoughts are that townhouse condos, (ones built recently) are getting more and more valuable, to me and my Dh, more valuable than a house. We could have bought a house and started out looking for one, but then we more and more became interesed in townhouses and that was all we wanted to see. Modern, bright, no mold or bad inspections, a lot of neighbors nearby. Our RE also told us that private schools are overcrowding in the city and getting more competitive than ever, and they are not opening new ones so more and more people are looking to get out of the city to give their children an excellent public school education but still maintain the simple life that they had here in the city. As a result, condos in unbelievable school districts are going to fly like hotcakes. We got ours before it went on the market.
To us, the common charge is the unknown variable that we had with a house. Yes, the common charge is high.
nov04LIbride Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

Our common charge is $280, but our complex has a pool, tennis, basketball, etc. The range we saw for condos was $180-$350. One thing to consider is what that includes--ours includes heat and hot water. I do think condos are becoming more valuable--when we were looking at homes, many older couples were selling their homes for condos that were just as expensive if not more so, to not have to worry about maintenance.

bridget&jimmy Posted:

Re: Condo or House?

We have a condo now that we are selling because My FMIL is going to be living with us so we need a house with an apt. But if it was up to use we would stay there. It is so nice not to worry about yard work and this and that. And our mant. fees are low only $190 a month and that includes heat and hotwater, pool, tennise, health club and such.

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