My Simple House

House Vs Condo

By Matt - Monday, October 26th, 2009

Depending on where you live to tell someone that you’re a homeowner brings images of a physical building and some property to mind. What this means to you will probably depend on where you live. In some parts of the country this translates to a house with a nice big yard, a driveway and a garage. This is a very nice image and there have been a couple times where I too wished I had a garage. But this isn’t the end of what home ownership can mean, if you live in a large city like New York or Miami then owning a Condominium maybe the first thing that pops to mind when you think about owning your own place.

Now for me, personally there is a physical building with property, what the details of that are will change over time. I am a home owner and the home I own is a small house with a bit of land but because I live in a large city its not the same as what it would be in the suburbs. I like my house but I have also lived in a condo and after living in both for a couple years I have to say that there are some tradeoffs and benefits to both. For example there is a lot less maintenance that needs to be done with a condo, I never once had to clean the gutters, shovel the snow or worry about the garbage when I lived in a condo. But I also had to live with hearing people in the hallway and not having as much space as I would like.

For me personally the stage I’m in, in my life a house is the way to go. I am fairly young and I can take care of the maintenance work without any problems. I’ve got more space and the privacy that I wanted. When I’m older then a condo might end up being the way to go because of the maintenance items (though we’ll see about that). When you’re looking to purchase a house keep in mind what it is exactly that you’re looking for. Condos have a lot of benefits if you really don’t want to bother with having to worry about the house or do anything about it. While houses take more effort they appreciate in value more, the property itself has value and you get more space and privacy.

If you’re really not sure which one is best for you come up with a list of things that you’d like in your home, sit down with your real estate agent and walk them through it between your budget and the list of things you’d like they’ll have an idea what is realistic. Then when you see the places you’ll have a better idea if you’re more of a house person or a condo person (or like me a bit of both).

Subscribe to this Feed

---