Good Reasons to Invest in a Condo as Your First Home
Buying your first home is a massive investment that requires a lot of time, patience and research if you want to get the best deal. Most people would consider buying a regular home as their first property as it’s generally considered to be the most common route. You speak with lenders to see how much you can borrow, save up enough money for a deposit and then look for homes that are within your financial reach.
However, once you’ve decided on a home, you’re generally going to be locked into that choice for most of your life. Unless you’re making a lot of money and manage to pay it off sooner, it’s not uncommon to be stuck paying off the mortgage for several decades. This is especially true if you borrow the maximum amount that you’ve been offered.
As such, it’s often a good idea to look at other alternatives that can still offer you a wonderful living experience yet save you money. One such alternative is to consider investing in a condominium (also known as a condo) instead of a home. In this post, we’re going to describe some of the benefits of investing in a condo and offer some good reasons why you might want to consider it over a regular home.
Condos are much easier to maintain
One of the reasons why condos come with additional fees is because they have significantly lower maintenance requirements. For example, many condos will be maintained by a group that helps to clean the windows, sweep the halls and ensure that everything is working in top condition. They might also help you with general repairs, garbage collection, pest control and more.
Because they’re easier to maintain, you might also have fewer individual expenses. A condo will generally cover things such as the internet costs and certain utilities as well. This will depend on the condo itself and the group that manages it, but you can safely assume that the service costs of a condo will go towards the maintenance and general upkeep.
Condos are usually in desirable locations
Condos are often located in desirable areas such as downtown locations and vacation destinations. This makes them incredibly popular and is one of the main reasons why they can sell for a high price. As a first-home investment, you’ll have a much easier time selling your condo in the future if you ever decide to move away.
Another reason for their desirable location is because condos usually pack families vertically in tall buildings. This allows them to pack more people into a single location. This means developers can afford to bring in multiple families to their developments. It’s great value for both the developer and the buyer.
Condos are far less likely to depreciate
Because of many of the above factors, condos actually have a good chance of appreciating in value. When you invest in a home, there’s always a chance that it can depreciate due to its location, local transport links and general wear and tear of the entire area. Some areas are generally abandoned because they’re far away from the city centres and they don’t offer much locational advantage compared to a condo which is usually in the heart of the city or at least close to it.
Real estate developers put a lot of value on location and they generally charge a lot when it comes to buying an inner-city property. This is why condos can seem expensive for what you get. However, when you realize that condos are far less likely to depreciate, it makes sense from an investment standpoint.
Condos offer social connections
Much like living in a home, living in a condo means you have lots of neighbours that you’ll probably see on a regular basis if you commute to work and go outside a lot. Your condo unit will be surrounded by dozens of other units. There’s also a higher density of residents in your condo, meaning there are a lot more opportunities for you to create social connections. This can be important for certain people since it increases the likelihood of meeting new people.
Some condos actually have on-site services such as swimming pools and gyms that are only usable by residents. This means that anyone you see at these services is likely a neighbour of yours.
Condo life can offer you more career opportunities
Since you’re more likely to be living in a city environment, you could actually have a much easier time finding a job and growing your career. Urban areas are rife with opportunities for investment, businesses and jobs. If you’re concerned about your career, then living in a condo can offer you plenty of career opportunities that wouldn’t be available if you lived far away in a suburban area.
One of the reasons for this is that you have better transport links. You generally have bus and train stations within walking distance that can take you all the way to other cities, making it incredibly convenient to travel.
Condos offer lots of convenient amenities
One of the biggest pros of condo living is being able to access lots of local amenities. As mentioned briefly in the previous point, some condos have gyms, swimming pools and even some stores for convenience. This means you can just walk downstairs, go out of your building and you’ll be surrounded by stores and services that are usually restricted to residents only. This makes them safe to use and gives you a level of convenience that you won’t get with a suburban house.
However, do keep in mind that these services and stores are generally only available for larger condo neighbourhoods. You might also be charged a fee to use those services or you might be required to pay a membership to access the full range of services. However, the fees are usually much lower than what you’d expect to pay because they’re a part of the condo neighbourhood.
Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash
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