Condo Living 101

There are a lot of things to keep in mind when you are planning to buy a condo. You cannot just shop around and start calling all the numbers you see on ads (assuming the price fits your budget) without having knowledge about condo/property concerns.

Before you check out a condo, make sure it is located in an area where the real estate market value is high. The price might give your pocket a little pinch but believe me, buying a condo, say, in Manhattan, is better than buying a condo unit in some isolated place in Arizona (Arizona is by far the leading candidate for plummeting real estate values). After a couple of years maybe, when you get tired of your condo (or you can’t afford it anymore), you will be pleased that you bought a house in the city since you can sell it double the price.

Photo taken from http://internationalpropertyinvestment.com

They say condo living is very much convenient. True! There are some things in your old house that you won’t do anymore when you get to relocate to your new condo unit. One is that of lawn mowing.

Are you tired of mowing your lawn and pestered by the fact that they grow too fast (faster than your flowering plants!)? Or maybe, come the season of fall, are you tired of sweeping your front yard everyday just to get rid of those leaves falling endlessly from the trees? If you plan to eradicate all these time consuming activities, better move in to a condo.

Photo taken from http://www.freyinnovations.com

Ok, so you live in a house and you plan to relocate to a condominium. No problem, you can relocate anytime.

But what if you have a dog? Oh no. That’s going to be a big problem. Most condominiums don’t let you bring one. You have to sign a memorandum that you can’t bring any pet inside your unit for noise control purposes. The units in a condo are only separated by a think wall, but that doesn’t mean the other person next to you can’t hear the dog’s bark. The truth is, they can. And considering the fact that most hallways are empty, the bark of the dog tends to echo—and the person living at the corner can and will hear it.

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If you are having problems where to put your books and other important documents (I’m not referring to money! You can put that in a bank or a safe.), and it seems like all your vacant spaces are occupied, then why don’t you try those mountable high cabinets? You can put those on top of a middle rise cabinet and stuff your books and other folders there. It’s actually better if your choose something that has a lot of segregators so that you could actually put lots of different documents (portion 1 is for cook books, 2nd is for work folders etc.).

Photo taken from http://www.dawginc.com

If you are really having space issues in your homes and are plenty in the family (maybe you are having financial issues that’s why you settled for a small condominium unit for the mean time), then why don’t you try employing this space saver technique?

Buy sofa beds. Yes, those extended sofas wherein you could pull out the mattress and lie on it. Those sofas have soft mattresses like the ordinary bed and you can just cover it with a blanket before you sleep on it. Or maybe, what you can do too is buy those Cleopatra sofas so you can have elegance and functionality rolled in one.

Photo taken from http://www.dianfurniture.com

If you live in a condo and have dark rooms, might as well switch those dark colors into something light. Dark colors tend to make your already small rooms look smaller (you wouldn’t want people to think that Tom Thumb lives there, don’t you?). This is due to the fact that dark colors collect more light and trap the light inside, so it doesn’t bounce back (less light bouncing, less “room” the eyes see). What you can do is change the colors of your walls into something lighter. Hey, having a powder blur bedroom is not so bad at all!

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Perhaps the most advantageous part of living in a condo is that of the garbage chute. Though people may not see the wonder these chutes give them, it actually is more sanitary compared to the usual trash bins found in some homes. Yes, although garbage collectors get the trash everyday, you cannot avoid the fact that stray dogs and cats lurk around villages. They sometimes scavenge for food and these animals might find your plastic trash before the garbage collectors find it. But with garbage chutes, you don’t have to worry about those pests since you throw your garbage into the hole located at the sides of the building.

Photo taken from http://www.freshlook.com.sg

When you speak about the word “condo”, buyers have a vision of what that looks and feels like predominantly the lifestyle. It’s a residence in an apartment-type building where the buyer have possession of the walls in the unit, as well as individual assts within it and pays taxes on that bit of tenure. As far as ownership is concerned, the condo owner has a deed to the individual unit similar to the title in a house. The owner in reality is purchasing into a share of a corporation. Whereas, the corporation is the one who owns the whole project.

New York City is the largest city in the United States. It is referred to as “melting pot” of all races. It is a hub of global business, tourism and luxury living. What makes it unique is the weekly runway shows, non-stop attractions, and nightlife. When owning a condo unit in New York City, one thing for sure is that, you’ll never get bored.

When most people think of Macau, the first thing that comes to mind is gambling. Work hard, and play hard! With new casinos being built and old ones being remodeled, no wonder why condo units are everywhere. So after a long workweek, what other place to stay than at your luxury condo.