Is Condominium Living Right For You

What's your idea of the good life? Do you relish the notion of jumping out of bed on a Saturday morning and grabbing the golf clubs with no thought of mowing the lawn? Or do you love nothing more than puttering about the yard, planting shrubs and planning where to erect the swing set you built with your own hands? If you are more like the former, then condominium living might be for you.

A condominium is an apartment house or a unit in an apartment house in which the units are individually owned.The condo unit may be in the form of a townhouse, apartment flat, or even a detached structure. Each owner receives a deed for their unit, enabling them to mortgage and sell it independently of the owners of the others. When you buy a condominium unit, you take title to your unit and have all the privileges and burdens of ownership, including the payment of taxes. You will also be required to pay a monthly fee representing your proportionate share of the cost of servicing, maintaining and repairing those areas you share in common with others. The word condominium comes from the two Latin words - con, meaning together and dominium, meaning property.

Hence, in a condominium there is always property owned in common with others - recreation areas, lawns, basement, garage --as well as the individual units which are owned outright. Condos make it possible to provide more living space on less land. Thus, as land prices rise and population increases, condos are becoming more and more popular. Whether or not to buy a condominium are both financial and social decisions.

Condo ownership is seen by some as a good intermediate housing choice -- a kind of graduation from apartment living, but not as heavy a financial and time commitment as a house would be. In a condo, you won't enjoy the same freedoms and privacy you would enjoy in a single-family dwelling. You will share a wall of your living space with a neighbour. You can modify or beautify the interior of your unit to your heart's content, but usually painting or planting outdoors by individuals is forbidden.

You can't just decide you need more space and tack on an addition. That would get you in big trouble with the condominium board of directors. A condominium corporation is run by a board of directors elected by the owners. The board's function is to manage the corporation. Major decisions are voted on at owners' meetings. Condominium associations may set restrictions on such things as owning pets, or having an outdoor barbecue. Many condo owners consider participation in community decision-making a benefit of condominium living. A condo owners' association is a fact of life when you choose condo living. A well-run association is an attractive convenience for residents. Association fees cover the maintenance of the exterior of your unit and your neighbours' as well as homeowners' insurance, trash pick-up and outdoor landscaping.Those fees might seem steep at first glance, but it's likely you would spend even more performing indoor and outdoor maintenance on a house. Assuming that your condo owners' association is operating as it should, your property will be well maintained. That means that the value of your unit should remain high over time. And remember, if you buy a condo, your weekends can be spent on the green -- golfing, not mowing.

One may find maintenance charges less in a condo townhomes in comparison to condo apartments. In most of the cases you are responsible to pay your own utilities; heat, hydro, water etc in the former. Condo fees seems to be higher in case of high rise condo apartments as most of the utilities except cable and telephone are mostly covered in the condo fee. Plus you get additional benefits like 24 hour security, club, gym, sauna, racket, tennis, party rooms, guest suites etc. depending upon the condo building that one would choose.

The Canadian demographics shows that approximately 1/3 of population is a baby boomer with 9.8 million individuals born born between 1946 and 1966 . The Canadian Baby Boom generation has driven the economy and shaped economic forces such as interest rates, the stock market, housing trends and corporate culture, to name a few. And the condo living is one of such trends.

Regards,

Amit Kalia Sales Rep
Royal Le Page Meadowtowne Realty
6555 Mississauga Rd
Mississauga ON L5N 1A6
Tel.No.: 905-821-3200
Fax No.: 905-821-8777
Email:
Website: http://www.realestate-ontario.com

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