Why do people buy condos?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because we couldn't afford a house without moving far out and having to spend hours in our car every day.

But our condo building's fees are pretty reasonable. It's basically what we would spend on water, trash, landscaping, and other external maintenance anyway. Our condo board is responsible and has never imposed onerous special assessments either.

I would consider living in a high fee building with a lot of amenities in my old age because I think the extra money on fees is worth for things like a doorman, a mail room, a gym or pool, elevator, etc., when you are in your 70s. I think it can be a good bridge between living in a SFH on your own to assisted living as long as you're healthy.

If your condo doesn't have a lot of reserves,.the fees are going to go up if they haven't already.

PP here. We've lived her for 12 years. Of course our fees have gone up in that time. Everything costs twice what it used to. Maintenance costs on SFHs have also gone way up in that time.

One of the good things about a condo building is that you have to assess your costs every year as a rule. There is a budget meeting every January to look at prior year costs, reserve levels, anticipated costs for the next year, and decide whether we need to increase fees. Some years there is no hike. Some years it's really minor (we've had condo increases of $15/mo before, which you don't even feel). More recently we've had to increase them more dramatically but its still under $400 a month and the building is super transparent -- I know exactly where the money goes and it's all stuff that would actually cost me MORE if I owned a SFH in the same neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even with incredibly high condo fees? Help me understand why…

I am considering downsizing from a single-family home (with no HOA) to a condo. I'm not interested in condos with high HOA fees (> $1k), which often come with amenities such as gyms and pools that I rarely use. An HOA fee of up to $700 per month would be acceptable to me if the condo is newer and well maintained. For a single-family home, property taxes alone can easily exceed what I would pay in HOA fees, and homeowner's insurance can also be quite expensive.

The single biggest expense of our condo HOA is insurance. And one thing about a small condo building like ours is that the maintenance costs are pretty similar to a SFH but a lot of it gets split 5 ways because we share costs. So when we had to get a major roof repair, the building did a special assessment and each unit paid 3.5k. The same repair on a SFH in our same neighborhood would have cost 15k.

Same with more standard maintenance like landscaping. On the one hand we have to share the exterior outdoor space. On the other hand we have a landscaper who comes monthly and keeps it looking gorgeous, and the per-unit cost is less than $100 a month. Go see if you can find a landscaper who will keep your front yard in mint condition for less than $100 a month, I dare you.

With the really large buildings and buildings over a certain age, the math doesn't work as well. But a building with 10 or fewer units that is less than 30 years old? It has really worked in our favor IMO.

I really didn’t realize condo insurance could cost so much.

You are insuring the whole building, so yes, it is expensive. We live in a neighborhood where the average SFH costs around 900k (these are all row homes, there are not freestanding homes here). But our condo building is worth about 2.5m. So yes, insurance on the building is going to cost more than insurance on a 900k house. However, it's also split 5 ways. Also owners insure the interior of their individual unit (and our insurance on our unit is very low, it's tacked onto our auto policy and is very small since it only has to cover internal damage) so the building insurance is still lower per unit than a SFH would be. I think it's a wash compared to insuring a SFH.

But yes, it's annoying how expensive insurance is right now. Costs have gone up a lot in the last few years.

[Anonymous]

For those who are happy in condos, is your HOA board competent?

I had an experience with an incompetent board. Retirees without real estate knowledge and difficult personalities with nothing better to do.

Other than that aspect, a condo might be a good fit for someone who wants a lower maintenance home.

[Anonymous]

I like condos at times when the math is right. If you bought a well-managed DC condo in 2020 at 3% rates, or before that and refinanced at low rates, the math might work.

I just don’t understand the math if you buy a condo here in 2026. You could rent an identical unit in a DC condo building for often $1-2k less than buying per month. You rent and invest the difference that’s a massive return in favor of renting. Plus appreciation has completely stalled out with many DC condos selling for barely more than they were bought a decade ago, so you’re not counting on appreciation.

I get the perks of condo living, but right now the math says rent a condo from an individual owner, not buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like condos at times when the math is right. If you bought a well-managed DC condo in 2020 at 3% rates, or before that and refinanced at low rates, the math might work.

I just don’t understand the math if you buy a condo here in 2026. You could rent an identical unit in a DC condo building for often $1-2k less than buying per month. You rent and invest the difference that’s a massive return in favor of renting. Plus appreciation has completely stalled out with many DC condos selling for barely more than they were bought a decade ago, so you’re not counting on appreciation.

I get the perks of condo living, but right now the math says rent a condo from an individual owner, not buy.

I live in a lovely condo building. I have owned here, bought in 2008 and sold in 2019. Right now, I'm renting a 3rd unit. Nobody has kicked me out. I have opted to move every time.
I cannot buy and won't buy for several reasons: math, got to move for schools in 6 years, and I don't want to be stuck with loud neighbors. Been able to get my rent down, because I'm willing to move. Ofcourse my money is invested. Wouldn't sell any stock for a condo.
Can't buy top floor, because roof leaks, but I do enjoy renting it.
Owning would have been fine if I had bought bigger unit in 2008.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even with incredibly high condo fees? Help me understand why…

I'm a single person. I'm not a house person. Where do you expect me to live? Had I bought a 1-bedroom 20 years ago, I would almost be done paying for it. Now I would only have the $900 HOA, $120 taxes, and $80 insurance. Still better than renting a 1-bedroom for
$2000-$2200.
The 20-year payment would have been same as rent almost. Locations and loving the building are so much more important than paying
$800 or even $1100 for HOA. That's how hard is to find a good fit.

[Anonymous]

One thing that SFH owners don't discuss very often is that sometimes you move in, and discover issues that cost $100K or more to fix -- structural problems, flooding, etc. In states like VA where the seller can basically disclaim everything, it's a big problem. Big-ticket items can happen in condos too, but when people talk about a special assessment that might happen every 15 or 20 years, or a big fee monthly fee increase, sure it's a lot of money, but it really pales in comparison to SFH maintenance.

[Anonymous]

We bought a condo because we couldn’t afford a SFH in the area we wanted to live. Our #1 priority when purchasing our home was being in the best school district. Our HOA is $525 a month so not crazy high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that SFH owners don't discuss very often is that sometimes you move in, and discover issues that cost $100K or more to fix -- structural problems, flooding, etc. In states like VA where the seller can basically disclaim everything, it's a big problem. Big-ticket items can happen in condos too, but when people talk about a special assessment that might happen every 15 or 20 years, or a big fee monthly fee increase, sure it's a lot of money, but it really pales in comparison to SFH maintenance.

This is very true. Though if you have the cash flow to cover for this, it can still be worth it because of the long term appreciation of SFHs especially in this area where SFH land inside the beltway is finite.

[Anonymous]

To folks complaining about the condo fee. Bear in mind it generally is meant to cover both:

- services / operating costs, like taxes maintenance, cleaning, utilities for common spaces, landscaping, elevator service contract, maybe a doorman or parking attendant, bookkeeping services (as applicable) and
- capital expenditures and improvements, like an elevator modernization in 20 years, roof replacement, rooftop units for common area HVAC, brick or exterior remediation after 30-50 years, etc

Some condo associations massively underestimated the latter and so are underwater. Some of those increase the annual dues to make up for it and others ‘roll the dice’ by issuing one time assessments to whomever lives there at the moment.

Just understand what you’re paying for before stating an arbitrary fee is too high or too low. $700 could be either, but hard to say without the other info.

If the building is in poor shape with a low fee your unit’s purchase price should be pretty cheap because you are going to get hit up for something soon….

[Anonymous]

My house my property tax is $5,500, property tax $17,000. Lawn service $2,500 a year.

Like $25,000 a year yet folks think $1,000 a month if crazy on a condo fee

[Anonymous]

I had a condo to the metro which saved me $5 in parking daily ($100 a month)
Nice gym that I used daily
Nice pool that I used weekly
Everything was well maintained.
Condos have cheap insurance. You only have to pay for walls in, so the price is similar to renters insurance. Nothing like homeowners insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a condo to the metro which saved me $5 in parking daily ($100 a month)
Nice gym that I used daily
Nice pool that I used weekly
Everything was well maintained.
Condos have cheap insurance. You only have to pay for walls in, so the price is similar to renters insurance. Nothing like homeowners insurance.

*condo shuttle to the metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My house my property tax is $5,500, property tax $17,000. Lawn service $2,500 a year.

Like $25,000 a year yet folks think $1,000 a month if crazy on a condo fee

Condo owners also pay property taxes…

[Anonymous]

I owned two DC condos in the early 2000s and doubled my money on both, while paying incredibly low borrowing rates. Easy money. There is a time and a market for everything.