By Kamyar Shah
This market, at best, is unstable. Many people and families are deciding not to stay in their house any longer and start to rent again. They believe that by renting they can escape the pressures of adjustable rates and personal property tax. Even though most people think going to an apartment is the way to go, they are actually wasting their money. They are giving money to a property owner that is paying on the overall building, which the individual customer did when they had a home.
So why do people go condominium versus an apartment. Well the most common answer to this is you own everything within the four walls and you do not have to do any of the maintenance outside your walls. You are putting your money towards your facility and eventually you will own your space. Now, what is above is not always true at all facilities. With some condominium associations, they require more of you as a tenant. With your signature, you will be agreeing to what part of the property you will take care of.
When you are looking for a condominium, if that is your home of choice, you want to make sure that you have a good condominium property manager and homeowner's association managing your facility.
Most condominium property management companies are listed on the Internet and you can do a full background check on them, unfortunately association boards are not as easy to track.
When you sign the contract to own your condominium, remember it is just like owning your home but without having to do the maintenance on it. So let us talk about what you have to do in terms of living and maintaining the space and what the association will have to do.
The association is most likely in charge of maintaining the common elements and sometimes some elements that might be limited. Whereas you as the owner of the unit, are in charge of everything that is in the unit.
Common elements are all portions of the condominium other than the units. Portions of the walls, floor, and ceilings/attic are considered part of the common elements. Any portion serving more than one unit or any portion of the common elements is a part of the common elements for definitional purposes.
The unit means a portion of the condominium designated for separate ownership or occupancy, the boundaries of which are described in the declaration. The boundaries of each unit are defined as the interior unfinished surfaces of exterior perimeter walls, middle of interior demising walls, floor, ceiling/attic below nine feet above finished floor, doors and windows of unit, any wallboard, plaster, paint, tile, wallpaper, etc. All spaces, interior partitions, other fixtures and improvements, within the boundaries of a unit, are part of the unit.
Now some of the elements are limited that you might need to pay. Limited common elements could mean any air conditioning or heating units, chute, flue, duct, wire, conduit, bearing wall, bearing column, other fixture, whether located within or outside of the boundaries of a unit, which serve only that unit or are allocated solely to that unit. Any shutters, awnings, window boxes, doorsteps, stoops, porches, decks, balconies, entryways, patios, exterior doors and windows, other fixtures designed to serve a single unit, but located outside the units boundaries are limited common elements allocated exclusively to that unit.
So make sure, when you are looking to move into a condominium that you can still own but not have too much of the maintenance, make sure that you know what you and your condominium association are responsible for. You do not want to end up on the short end of the stick you believe that you do not have to pay for something that is the condominium association's responsibility.