With so many housing options, buyers are challenged with the decision of whether to purchase a Condo or a Single Family Home. Frequently, an issue with Condominiums (paying a monthly Condo fee) is perceived as a waste of money or as having little or no value. In large part, this may because there is a lack of understanding of what the Condo fee covers. Usually a Condo owner does not have to pay for monthly water or sewage costs since this is often paid for by the Condo Association.
Additionally, the Condo Association maintains a Homeowners Issurance Policy that covers the exterior structure of the Condo building(s) in the community or complex. The Condo owner is ONLY responsible to insure the interior of their Condo unit, and of course their personal property. This type of insurance policy alone will save the Condo owner up to 50% or more in comparison to the cost of the usual Homeowners Insurance Policy a homeowner must purchase for a house.
Condominium Association fees usually include the following:
The ongoing maintenance, repair, and re-paving of sidewalks, driveways and curbs.
The maintenance and repair of the roof (and replacement when necessary).
Maintence, painting and repair of the exterior siding, rainsprouts and gutters.
Landscaping maintenance, mowing of the lawn, trimming, raking of leaves, etc.
EXAMPLE SCENARIO
Let's take for example a Condominium that costs $200,000 and includes a $150 per month Condo fee.
If you owned a house, your average monthly cost for the water/sewage bill would be at least $30 per month and the cost of your Homeowners Insurance (for a house) would be more, as much as $20 or more per month.
In comparison of a House to a Condominium, a Condo would net a monthly savings of $50 per month or more (just including water/sewage and Homeowners Insurance alone). Now factor into the equation the monthly cost of maintaining the exterior (of a house vs. a Condo) such as painting the siding, replacing the siding or replacing the roof which can easily cost $5,000. Then factor into the cost to handle the landscaping which includes mowing the lawn, trimming the lawn along the driveway, sidewalk, around the fence and trees, weed prevention, fertilizing, the cost of landscaping equipment such as a lawnmower, weed trimmer, fuel, maintenance, and of course your time. A household could easily average $100 per month or more in landscaping costs alone.
As you can see in the example, the costs noted above are LESS for a Condo and MORE for a house when factoring in the monthly Condo fees and reaping the benefits of the services included with the Condo fees.
Living in a Condominium offers a person / family a care-free, low maintenance lifestyle which is a considerable value all in itself. Thus, the perception by some buyers that a Condo fee is a lost value or waste of money is not simply not true if you work through the numbers and compare.
Diane Kelly -- Keller Williams Realty -
North Atlanta Direct: 678.907.9155 --
5780 Windward Parkway - Suite 100 - Alpharetta, GA 30005-2021
Copyright 2012 - Diane E. Kelly - All Rights Reserved
All text, images, logos and information contained on Diane E. Kelly Web sites are the intellectual property of Diane E. Kelly and are protected under the U.S. Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 101-810. The US copyright act provides protection for such works, and they may not be used or reproduced without permission. The design, pictures, content and logos used on Diane E. Kelly Web sites may not be copied and used or posted by any other person or entity. This includes but is not limited to the home page, all secondary web pages, neighborhood search pages and maps. Links may be directed to these pages, but images, logos, maps, may not be copied and/or posted on another website for any reason.
