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The housing market needs more condos

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Re: The housing market needs more condos

#21

Post by goodluckchuck »

twalla wrote: post #5

A lot of people have a big chunk of their net worth tied up into home equity because it's sort of the "ordained" path to building wealth for the middle class - condos don't see similar appreciation, get hit harder in downturns and are one of the last types of properties to recover in value afterwards. Start incentivizing treating housing as, you know, a place to live rather than a financial instrument and you'll see…

Single family homes offer dominion over your housing, where condos come with a variety of complexities. Unless condo laws are improved, I wouldn’t want one. Condo regulations about noise, guests, pets, children. Some actually try to ban children. Buying and sells is complicated by the association’s finances, which depends on other people. This naturally leads to maintenance issues. Look as the surf side building collapse. Then there are problems when a small group owns a large share of the building. Eg corruption in the contracting process, not to mention forced buyouts. The quality of the construction can often be deficient (wood).

So, there are real differences aside from the lack of a yard.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#22

Post by ameminator »

In my country (with a birth rate approaching 1.00), we have allowed an excess of immigrants to make up for the difference. As a result, we have a deficit of an estimated 1.2 million homes. The price of housing ain't going anywhere, especially since most Western democracies seem to have lost total control of their economies, in terms of supply chains and inflation.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#23

Post by Rebelgecko »

sidlls wrote: post #14
thisrobot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. So that really only leaves single family homes if you don’t want an hoa. I don’t think it scales.

Plenty of single family homes are in HOA developments. It’s not impossible but it’s not exactly trivial to find non-HOA SFH in the Peninsula.

Which peninsula?

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#25

Post by massysett »

Victerius wrote: post #13
twalla wrote: post #5

A lot of people have a big chunk of their net worth tied up into home equity because it's sort of the "ordained" path to building wealth for the middle class - condos don't see similar appreciation, get hit harder in downturns and are one of the last types of properties to recover in value afterwards. Start incentivizing treating housing as, you know, a place to live rather than a financial instrument and you'll see…

> condos don't see similar appreciation, get hit harder in downturns and are one of the last types of properties to recover in value afterwards. This is fine. I don't buy a condo with the hope of recouping my money. I buy a condo to have a roof over my head. I couldn't care less if my condo loses 80% of its value. It would lower my property tax bill in fact. I don't expect a ROI > 0 for the furniture either. For my r…

If all you want is a roof over your head, why not rent? It's less risky. You may well find yourself caring if your condo loses 80% of its value if you need to sell it and you can't repay the loan.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#26

Post by sidlls »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #23
sidlls wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of single family homes are in HOA developments. It’s not impossible but it’s not exactly trivial to find non-HOA SFH in the Peninsula.

Which peninsula?

Sorry: the Peninsula in the Bay Area

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#27

Post by whiddershins »

Any housing you purchase but has a HOA is suboptimal, in my opinion.

Once you have an HOA you don’t own your home in the way you would otherwise.

At that point I would start doing the math carefully about buying versus rent + investing.

Renting has the huge luxury of being able to leave with minimal hassle, and not deal with any maintenance.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#29

Post by thisrobot »

MattGaiser wrote: post #17
thisrobot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

That’s why I will never buy into shared anything, not why I will warm up to homeowners associations. You are at the mercy of the average members of your group and the average person let’s things decay until it falls down around them.

As someone living in a condo with and hoa I completely disagree. I get yearly budgets, bi-yearly building inspection reports. The hoa has a fiduciary responsibility to the building and is required by law not to let things decay. Without the hoa communal living wouldn’t work, and not everyone can have a single family home, especially in urban centers.

Re: The housing market needs more condos

#30

Post by jokethrowaway »

thisrobot wrote: post #4
more_corn wrote: post #3

Because people don’t Like condos?

I think people think they don’t like condos. I currently live in a condo I own and while not without challenges overall I like it. I think people have unrealistic pessimism for hoas. In Seattle there are a ton for town homes being built, split lot and connected, most without any hoa. When they need work I bet you’ll see a lot of neighbors suing neighbors to fix and replace shared elements. I would never move into sha…

Trust me, I do - I have experience of living in a condo and it's subpar to a detached house. Don't get me wrong, I've been living in condos for the last 8 years in various places and it's doable - it can even be nice. But I'd never buy a condo: I'd just spend more or move to a cheaper location where I can afford a detached house with a large plot.

Having a private garden is great, not crossing people when getting home is great, not hearing people around you is great, not having to deal with the useless administration is great, not having to pay them fees is great.

The thing that bothers me the most about where I live is that even detached houses don't tend to have big plots (makes sense in a developer driven market: buy a ton of land and cram as many houses as you can in there), so you're still too close to other houses.

I understand it's a luxury but it's one I'm happy to put all my money in

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