Condos are great! When I retired, I kept my LA house and bought a small 1 bedroom condo in Palm Springs for $76,500 in 2003. I constantly meet people who sold their homes elseware and bought new homes in the desert. Now they've learned that they can't afford to heat their swimming pools at $800 a month between October and May. And they still have to pay a pool service to maintain the pool year-round at $200 a month. Then there is the cost or airconditioning those large homes with the high ceilings when the temperatures stay over 100 degrees for 3 months. My condo fee goes, in part, to keeping the pool at 84 degrees year and the spa at 104 degrees year round. When it gets too hot here, forget the air conditioning bills. I escape to my house on the coast in LA.

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Hey Bob
I'm glad that you like your condo but your home owner costs are way exaggerrated! I have a 1500 sq ft home in Orange County California and I pay $80 a month for a terriffic pool service. I have planned the landscaping for low maintainence & water - cost about $200 a year to trim trees & bushes.
My utilites are not that expensive and the trash collection is the lowest at $13 per month - I'd rather pay that than pay the ever rising condo association dues and smell what everyone else is cooking and hear what everyone else is doing and be short on parking spaces!
Maybe when I'm old, I'll settle for a 1 bedroom condo but there's nothing as nice as a single family home!
Sandy

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I'm a 37 yr old single woman living in Northern NJ and don't make a high salary. Real estate prices are out of control here. I was living with my father in a 3 bedroom condo for a long time because I really couldn't afford a place on my own. Eventually I bought a condo 5 years ago as it was the best choice for me to own rather than rent. No lawn to cut, no landscaping to trim, no outside handyman to-do lists. Our HOA fees are the lowest in the area at $152 a month and our complex looks well kept and is one of the most favored complexes for buyers because of such. In this day and age where it's next to impossible to own a small home on a single income, I got lucky and managed to buy a 1 bedroom condo through the affordable housing program. I just barely made the salary cap for it and after factoring in the monthly utilities, I budget my money to still enjoy life a bit. I feel extremely lucky in my choice these days as I have not found myself in the economic pinch of many people in regards to having bought a home at a price beyond what they can afford and are now facing foreclosures. Downside with FHA is that A) I can only sell it now for an FHA value and B) it has to be my primary residence (i.e. I can't rent it out). Upside with FHA is that I can turn around and sell my unit at FULL fair market value after the unit itself is 30 yrs old (about another 10 years), so if I hold on to it I'll have a nice little nest egg since it will be worth much more money then. Not a bad investment. Yes, condos have their downside but over all it's been a positive experience so long as you have decent neighbors and a pro-active HOA that keeps those that feel neighborly considerations and rules 'don't apply to them' on a short leash to be fair to all residents.

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I love my condos! So much I bought two. I'm selling one now and settling into the other. I'm a single woman who travels a lot, and I love the convenience of a condo. I'm not a DIY type, and it drove me nuts trying to find good workers to do the myriad jobs home upkeep requires. Let alone paying them, just finding them is nearly impossible. I'm more than happy to pay an association to do all the coordinating and oversight and just send me a bill. I walk out, close the door behind me, and don't have to worry about it.

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my husband and i retired 4 yrs ago to fla.. we bought a condo and love it, especially my husband. he goes golfing 3-4 times a week and the pool every day. doesn't have to worry about anything. we have an outstanding club house with movies, dances and shows always something to do if you want. all kinds of clubs and woodworking shop, beautiful gym, indoor pool and so much ,to much to list. card rooms, beauty shop and cafe on premises. would never go back to owning a home. at my age, to much work. we are in a beautiful section in delray bch, next to boca.

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I live in a condo on the ocean in Highland beach small only 1100 sq ft---(boca Raton)-i am 38 years old man and sold my house up north in new england and cant tell u what a weight off my shoulders- i come and go- now-- no issues- and being that i am single its great and not feel alone in the complex with 320 apts--- i am in with a god mix of older and younger- great pools, nice little gym with everything u need- and eteranl summers with a view of a lifetime!!!!! at atound 400k- they are a steal!! 2 bedrooms to------i had a 3600sqt house- woa what a job-- yard, pool, the taxes! ouch!- painting , maintance, et et-- i am so glad i made this move- yes you do have condo fees- mine are 500.00 a month- but includes pools -satellite tv- gym- pool tables rooms-- movies--- and all the up keep of a really nice visual place--

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Condos may look great on the surface till you realize that after the huge down payment, the rent disguised as maintenence fees paid every month you live there, well you don't really own anything. This mortgage crisis has really illustrated this. Condo owners who have dropped a chunk of cash to buy into them, and dutifully paid their rent for years are suddenly finding themselves being evicted because the real estate management company (the real owners by the way) are in foreclosure. Most of the time the first hint these people have that there is a problem is when the sheriff comes knocking at the door to remove them. The problem has become so bad lately that some sheriff's departments are refusing to serve eviction notices on condos.

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I love my condo. I live just outside of downtown Atlanta (in th burbs). I'm 20-30 minutes from everything in this vibrant city.

As a single woman, I hate yardwork and fare average at maintenance. I have learned to do the inside work, and love paying someone else to deal with outside. We pay around $265/month for trash, water, maintenance, pool, tennis, and are within walking distance to a National Forest and trails. Our units are near a very nice country club neighborhood (which only helps property values), and taxes are low. The units stay fairly full and sell quickly for reasonable prices.

If you want a yard, then don't consider a condo. But the price was right and the location was perfect for me.

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I don't see any reason to own a condo, its just an apartment bundled up for fancy sale with nifty marketing materials. You have to pay the condo fees, often one unit is so close to another that you can hear your neighbors snore, and to top it off prices of condos are often falling even in the most upscale developments. Who wants depreciation anyway?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKlMl4II3_0

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