While many people assume that a house is what they should buy, here’s why I think you should take a look at condos over houses.
About a decade ago, I bought my first home. (You can read about that process here.)
Most of you reading that probably envision that what I bought was a house, a detached property with a yard. And that’s because, at least in the United States, when most people think of buying a place to live, they think of houses.
The numbers back this up. 82 million of the 129 million occupied units in the United States (as of 2021) are single-family houses. That’s about two-thirds. So you can be forgiven for going with the majority option.
Nonetheless, a single-family house is not what I bought. I bought a condo (condominium).
I’m not sure what you think of when you think of a condo, but it’s surely less clear, and maybe even negative.
Well, I’m here to tell you that, in my opinion, condos are much better than houses, and if you’re in the market to buy, you may want to look at condos.
Table of Contents
1. One price for all outside upkeep
If you own a house, you have do a lot of maintenance. There are the usual things like plumbing and redoing the flooring, but outside lurk the larger projects.
Every 20 or so years, you’re going to have to replace the roof. On top of that, you might have to paint or redo the exterior.
All of those things still need to be done in a condo complex, but they’re only indirectly paid for by you.
This is because condo maintenance is usually paid for through an HOA fee, a monthly charge additional to your mortgage that goes to maintenance and capital projects.
When these projects come up, you don’t have to fork out for the projects, because you’ve already done so over time.
2. Benefit from shared ownership
More to the point, your fellow owners have also paid up too. When you need to replace your roof, it’s not just yours; it’s everyone’s, or at least some portion of everyone’s.
Think of not only how much money that saves, but also time. Instead of dozens of owners getting their own bids and signing their own contracts, it’s just one big project.
You get the benefits of scale and shared ownership with a condo that you don’t with a house.
That’s what happened a few years ago when my complex underwent a painting project. It was one contract and one project. And that made it much simpler.
3. You can make a difference
“But what about the HOA itself? I’ve heard they’re terrible.”
Well, they certainly can be, for sure. But you can also join them and make them slightly better, and be able to effect the kind of changes to your shared domicile that you’d like to see.
You’re not purely at the whims of the HOA board, at least not if you’re willing to put in the work and the time to join the board yourself.
I joined my HOA board for a few years as Secretary, and I very much appreciated getting to have even more of a voice than I would have if I just went to the meetings.
But that’s another thing: board membership or no, you still have to go to the HOA meetings. It astounds me that people would complain about their HOA and then devote zero time to taking part.
4. You’ll have fewer decisions
When you control fewer things, you have fewer options, and I love that.
Have you ever been to a paint store, and had your eyes glaze at the sight of 35,000 shades of blue? How in the world do you choose??
Now compare that to my complex’s painting project. I was not part of the paint selection process, and so was given three or four color combinations to choose from. I voted for one, and was very happy not to give it any more thought than that.
Same thing with the landscaping. I can’t tell you just how little I care about the kinds of plants and bushes that are outside my door in the courtyard. All I know is that they exist, and on Friday afternoons, someone comes and cleans it all up. Great.
5. Condos are more affordable
I’ve saved possibly the most important one for last. Condos are generally less-expensive than houses. Even with the HOA fee added on, this can still save you thousands, if not tens of thousands, over the course of owning a home.
I just looked up home prices for Portland, where I live, on Zillow, and the current median sale price of a single family home is $549,630.
A condo? It’s $333,395, which turns out to be 60% of the cost of the median single-family home.
Sure, condos often are smaller than houses, and might not include a yard of your own. But don’t forget that you’re paying extra for those amenities, and that might push you out of the realm of affordability.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with being a renter.)
If you, like me, don’t need a large yard, and don’t care about the color of your home’s exterior, or the collection of plants outside, but you very much do care about purchase price, well, you may want to consider a condo.
The choice is yours
Buying a home, especially for the first-time, is definitely challenging these days. And even as interest rates may be coming down, the price of homes is higher than ever.
So why make it even harder on yourself if you don’t need to?
When I was looking to buy, I couldn’t have afforded a house. So if I had only thought about houses, I probably wouldn’t be an owner today.
But now I own a home, and making some serious progress toward paying off my mortgage entirely. And it’s all because I chose to live in a condo.
It’s certainly an option for you too.
