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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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

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. [/quote]

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