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Urban living is an enjoyable lifestyle for many. Many people prefer to live in a perfectly sized space inside a greater building and community of other homes. The shared building means there are always people to say hello to in the hall and trade neighborly favors over time. While most people achieve this by living in a luxury apartment, this strategy has a few inherent downsides. An apartment does not belong to the resident, and there are some things you just can't do.
Most apartments limit the allowed activities inside the unit. Apartment-dwellers are often banned from running a home business, or hosting pets inside the apartment. Tenants cannot freely renovate or repair the unit without consulting with the landlord or supervisor. There are many limitations placed on apartment tenants. But the owner of a condo is another story.
Let's take a look at the top benefits of living in a condo vs apartment living.
Control Over the Unit
The first significant benefit of condo ownership is control over your actual living space. In a condo, you can hang paintings on the wall, have shelves installed, or even renovate the kitchen. You can reinstall the floor, you can add insulation for better sound and temperature transference between rooms.
In a good condo community, you have almost complete control over the interior of your condo. You can change it to suit your preferences and lifestyle in any way you want.
Living With Pets
Most apartment buildings flat-out ban pets and can fight pretty hard even against support animals. But inside your condo, you can have all the pets you can care for.
While your condo association may have a few practical limitations on pet ownership and neighbor safety, you will finally be able to choose. By purchasing a condo, you can give yourself permission for all of your beloved pets.
Freedom of Activities at Home
You also gain greater freedom in what you do at home. Condo owners and their community tend to seek stability over fleeting control. As a condo owner, you can build yourself an indoor garden, run a business, or exercise inside your home. You can do anything that doesn't significantly bother the neighbors. And even then, conflicts are settled through the community association.
Equity, Credit Score, and Capital Gains
Not to mention the financial benefits. When you buy a condo with a mortgage, paying that mortgage builds up your equity. Equity is the amount of real-world value that you have paid off and own fully to yourself. It is a part of your personal wealth, your estate, and what can be passed on to others by you.
Paying off your mortgage responsibly and on-time will also lift up your credit score. Any responsible handling of loans is good for your long-term credit score. Lastly, capital gains are almost guaranteed when you own real estate. Buying a condo to later sell is a very normal experience and, just as normally, most people eventually sell that condo to someone else. The goal is to sell the condo for more than you bought it for. If you have made improvements and real estate prices are rising, this is almost a shoe-in with a skilled agent.
Long-Term Invested Neighbors
One of the great things about living in a condo is that your neighbors are long-term. Apartments tend to attract people who need short-term leases and tend to float between jobs and career choices. With condos, on the other hand, all of your neighbors have likely also bought into the dream. Each one has invested financially and is personally invested in serving their purpose.
You are far more likely to have the same neighbors year after year. This means that the neighbor relationships you build will be strong and worth investing your time in.
Influence Over Community Decisions
Finally, owning a condo gives you a way to influence all building-wide policies that might be in your way. By joining the condo owner association, you will be able to influence the actions taken by that association. You can get involved in debates, introduce proposals, and cast your vote. Influence over the condo association is influence over the last set of rules for living in a shared building. Not only that, you can also influence what improvements the condo association decides to spend on. If you're ready to take the next step from a savvy apartment dweller to a proud condo owner, contact us today. The first step is building a relationship with a lender so that your mortgage is ready to go when you find the perfect condo. We look forward to working with you.