What’s the Difference Really?
Posted by Brad Stiegler in Uncategorized, tags: homeowner, investments, Miscellaneous, mortgages, other, real estate, UncategorizedYou need a place to live and are feeling a little overwhelmed. Should you get an apartment or a condo? Heck, you couldn’t even tell the difference between a condo and an apartment. Never fear for we are here to help you out.
Apartments and condos are in actuality, the same thing. Or rather, the differences are legal and not design wise. The same building plans can be condos in one area and apartments in another. The difference is in ownership.
With a condo you must take out a mortgage to purchase the property and if you pay it all off you own it just like you would a house. They are built and sold as individual units. Apartments are homes that are rented out individually, but are all owned by one person or company.
There do tend to be a few differences in condos and apartments, but they are largely cosmetic and intentional. Because they are usually made for individual purchases, condos tend to be built to a higher quality of standard then apartments. Condo’s also often built as multistoried buildings and exists with two or three floors or a loft, basement or similar features, but these could easily be apartments as well. For a great mortgage see jumbo loans today.
Condos are almost always part of a Homeowners Associations, or HOA, that usually operate in condo neighborhoods. You must pay a monthly or yearly fee to the HOA and they perform certain functions for your neighborhood. These functions can range anywhere from hiring help to do the landscaping, to fixing outdoor structures or cleaning and maintaining the public pool and hot tub. While these services also exist in apartments, they are usually factored into the rent and controlled by the owner, not the HOA.
Another key feature is that HOA’s often have rules and regulations about what you can do with your property. Some HOA’s are very strict while others are very loose. For instance, some have rules about what color you can paint your condo or how the outside should look. Some won’t allow you to install outboard AC units or carpet your garage. Others will let you do whatever you want.
If you need something a little bigger or nicer you could buy a townhouse. These are essentially houses that are built vertically. In many cities there is no room for expanding outward and so they built houses with narrow “footprints” meaning the actual area of land it uses is small. They are often found near downtown areas or in older U.S. cities. If you are looking for a home in California check out New Home for Sales San Diego for a house you will love.
Just because the take up smaller areas of land does not mean they are small by any means. Many townhomes are six or seven stories tall with very elegant designs. Only the rich can afford to live in many of them. Other townhomes are more reasonable, consisting of only three or four stories. Cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago are famous for their rows of townhomes.
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