A condo or a condominium is a commercial property and is a individually owned unit in a multi-unit building. In this type of property, the owner owns the individual unit but all other units share the common use areas. They can be attached to other units in the main buildings one or two sides or can be independent also. Such commercial condos are owned by law firms, doctors, chartered accountants (CAs) etc.
Condos are becoming popular more than ever before and almost all the real estate developers have this type of property in their portfolio. These properties are considered easy to maintain and many people buy it for that reason. Here are the pros and cons of owning a condominium:
Pros
1 Lower Maintenance: One of the main advantages of owing a condominium is that there is far lower maintenance involved. Others do the maintenance for the owner. The common areas like lawns, staircases and even exterior are taken care of by experienced maintenance staff. These common areas are not owned by the owner of a condominium individually but by all the owners jointly.
2 Higher Security: Since lot of owners have their units close to each other in a multi unit building, there is greater security. Some of the developers even provide gated community, CCTV cameras in the project and even security guards, the security aspect is fairly well covered.
3 More Amenities: A condominium building usually has a lot of amnesties like a conference room, clubhouse, a swimming pool, etc. These amenities make condominium buildings more attractive for a buyer.
Cons
1 Association Fees: There are maintenance costs for the amenities and the shared spaces like lawns, staircases and even clubhouses. The condominium model runs on the fact that all the owners jointly maintain the common facilities through trained staff and there is a association fee that goes towards maintenance of all that. The fee is on the higher side and as inflation keeps going up, the fee also increases over time.
2 Same Exterior: The exterior repaired, painted and maintained by the association of owners in the building so there is little individuality in the exterior. They are also painted with the same paint have the same look. This can be a limiting factor for many who want their properties to stand out from others. The law firms want to have a different exterior than CAs and the CAs want o have a different look to their exterior than doctors’ clinic.
3 Mismanagement: Since the common areas are maintained by the association of the owners, the association has to be efficient and well organised. If the association is weak, there can be delays in urgent repairs of facilities like elevators, power back up etc which can be really upsetting. Many owners in a condominium set up leave their units because of this reason. Mismanagement can really take away the main advantage of owning a unit in a condo, that is, less maintenance headache. Many Condos have failed due to mismanagement and cheating within the association of the owners.
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