There are many benefits of buying a condo, including ease and affordability while building equity in the property.
If you’re in the market for a home but you love apartment life, consider the benefits of buying a condo.
Apartment living has a lot of advantages – less maintenance than a single-family home, social opportunities with so many neighborhoods, and depending on your complex, access to attractive amenities.
But if you’re torn between enjoying apartment life and wanting to own a home, a condo might be a fitting solution.
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Renting an apartment can give you access to a comfortable space without all of the maintenance and responsibilities that come with owning a single-family home. Traditional houses require a lot of upkeep, especially if they come with a yard. Apartment life helps you avoid that extra effort and expense so you can focus on other priorities.
Buying a condo gives you many of the same perks – with the added bonus of building equity in something you own. Consider the following benefits of buying a condo if you’re enjoying apartment life but want to level up to homeownership.
If you plan on living in a major city, home prices inside city limits and nearby suburbs can be daunting, even prohibitively so. Purchasing a condo in the same area is often vastly cheaper than a single-family home.
But you may be surprised to learn that owning a condo can also be cheaper than paying rent on an apartment. Rent prices have soared throughout the country in recent years. Although home prices have skyrocketed as well, mortgage payments often end up being lower than monthly rental rates.
Importantly, if you take out a fixed-rate mortgage, you stabilize your housing payment – meaning it won’t increase over time. Rent, on the other hand, can continue to increase and you could eventually be priced out of the city or area you’ve come to call home.
When you buy a condo, you only own the unit in which you will live. You don’t own any other part of the building or the land on which your condo sits. That can benefit you when it comes to taking out a homeowners insurance policy (which is required for all homebuyers).
Your homeowners insurance policy must be sufficient to cover the property you own. If you buy a single-family house with an acre of land plus a couple of workshops or out buildings, your homeowners insurance policy will likely cost more than what you would pay for insurance on a condo.
With a condo, you’re buying a smaller property, likely with fewer liabilities to you. So you may be able to save on homeowners insurance, which means a lower monthly payment overall.
An advantage of apartment living is proximity to other people, which is especially attractive for extroverts or for folks who want plenty of opportunities to socialize. Condo living affords you the same benefit since your unit will share a wall with at least one other unit, if not more.
Condo associations may also host social events for residents, such as game and movie nights, cookouts, or recreational classes and activities. Certainly, you can get to know your neighbors in a more traditional neighborhood as well. But it’s a lot easier when everyone lives so close together, is participating in similar activities, and is using the same shared amenities.
Condo communities often include amenities that you won’t find in a traditional home – at least not without shelling out some serious money for them. These amenities can include pools, fitness centers, barbecue areas, community centers, trails, playgrounds and green spaces for residents to use.
Your condo’s homeowners association typically includes maintenance of these shared spaces, so you can enjoy them without worrying about the upkeep. The homeowners association or condo fees you pay each month cover the administrative and maintenance costs for these amenities.
A great benefit to buying a condo is that all the building and grounds upkeep is handled by the complex’s maintenance staff. You’re only responsible for maintaining your unit. That means you don’t have to worry about big-picture problems with the building or things like snow and ice removal.
Typically, the condo association handles lawn care and complex maintenance. You pay for these services through your condo or homeowners association fees.
Related reading: Townhouse vs Condo: What’s the Difference?
You can use any of the common loan types to purchase a condo:
Each loan program has its own property requirements, so you’ll want to work closely with your real estate agent and loan officer to make sure the condo you want to buy meets the relevant criteria. But all of these types of loans allow homebuyers the option to purchase a condo.
Buying a condo can be a great option for homebuyers, particularly if you like apartment living, prefer to live close to other people, and want the benefits of homeownership without the responsibility for a lot of maintenance.
Ready to buy a condo? Get started here.
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