Investing in Condos

Why are so many people choosing Condominiums as their investment property?

Condominiums provide a lower level of hassle than apartment buildings, duplexes or houses.

Time is important to everyone especially people working full time. Condominiums can reduce the amount of work required to maintain your investment as many of the maintenance issues are dealt with by the condominium corporation. In a condominium, the building insurance, all exterior building maintenance, landscaping and snow removal, are handled in a common fee paid by all owners called the condominium fee. Apartment style condominium buildings common expenses also include maintenance of elevators, boilers, water pipes and hallways. All these fees are shared throughout the units on a highly efficient economy of sale and you are not individually responsible for the time to repair these items.

Condominiums allow investors to start small and to diversify.

By purchasing a revenue condominium you can start with a very small down payment and you can diversify through area, style, or number of bedrooms. A typical condominium investor may have two or three bedroom townhouse units, and one bedroom apartment style units located in different areas of the city to minimize risk of changes in the community.

Condominiums are easier to sell than an apartment building.

The market for a $90,000 - $150,000 condominium is wider and more liquid than for a $1,000,000 apartment building.

Condominiums have strong potential for improvement of the complex.

Condominiums, by nature, tend to have a growing owner occupancy ratio. As the number of owner occupied units increase in a complex, the care and respect of the complex increases adding to the value of your revenue unit.

The tax implications for condominium investors are terrific.

Because you can buy a number of units individually you can also sell these units individually. This allows you to spread your capital gains and recapture over a number of years and forms an excellent retirement plan.

Over the years I have sold condominiums to a number of investors. Many started small and few became larger investors. This is an excellent way to participate in investment real estate. If you have any questions on how to start investing in condominiums feel free to page me now and we can set up a time to meet and discuss how this can become an excellent investment option.