4 Disadvantages of Owning a Condo Unit

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Living in condos is the new trend for the past years. More and more homeowners like the promise of affordable home ownership and carefree living that condos usually provide. Condos can be townhouses, low rise buildings, duplexes, and many other buildings.

However, what many owners often forget is that living in a condo implies sharing everything (floors, walls, ceilings) with your neighbors. Soon after they move to a condo, many owners face the hell and find the true meaning of life in a condo. There are several disadvantages of owning a condo, and here are some of them.

Mortgage and Other Fees. Fees for condos don’t diminish once you paid up the mortgage. On the contrary, they increase over time. Tenants in the condo share the costs, but what they usually find out is that there are far more expenses than they were anticipating. Dues are usually billed monthly, depending on the size of the area you own. Owners can also pay in advance, with some low discount as 5%. Furthermore, condo owners pay different taxes: for their condo unit, for the building, and additional one for the land where the building is located. And there are always additional hidden fees that lurk in the background waiting to be revealed in the worst possible moment.

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Everything is Sharing. Living in a condo requires sharing (the area, floor and everything in the building). But with so many tenants in a condo, you are bound to meet several that will annoy the hell out of you. Take smokers for example. Not everyone enjoys smoking, but sharing a condo with tenants, sometimes requires people to adjust. You can’t forbid your tenants to stop smoking; they have their rights as well. Because of smokers, the whole condo is doomed with risks from secondary smoking. And smoking is not the only problem. Some tenants own a pet, and with pet owners, there are two extreme types. The first group cleans everything their pet leaves, and the second, ignore the garbage done by their pet and its biological needs. With so many neighbors and tenants around you, there will never be a peaceful time for you to relax. Someone always plays or listens to music loudly, and walls in a condo don?t provide the necessary privacy. Noise is part of living in a condo, and owners must adjust to that.

The Problem with Parking Lot. Parking is as painful as possible. Once they examine advantages and disadvantages of paying for a parking spot, many condo owners tend to park their car outside, and leave at risk of vandals. And when owners have guests scheduled for a visit, first thing they warn them is parking. Condos never come with parking slots for the owners; they need to buy a separate one.

Fraudulent Deposit. Probably the biggest risk when purchasing a condo is lost deposit. There are lots of hidden risks lurking, and owners must be careful to follow up deposit on time, be careful with agents, and more often than not, owners are placing a deposit for a condo that is already sold. Filipinos working overseas are usually targets for this kind of scams.

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