What are the Condo Fees? What is the Rent?
I actually do friends and family Real Estate Practice.
I have never been happy to explain that Condo fees and Special Levies are the norm.
Most people THINK that all the maintenance is being done for the Condo Fees. the reality is that most Condo boards pay too much for the maintenance to contractors, because they use a "Management Company" to administer the day to day maintenance. If you can't understand what I am saying, imagine a "middle man" who charges a princely sum, and then finds Contractors who are charging as much as they can.
Normal cycle is that the old Board of Lay People / Owners gets ousted or quits, the new Board then fires the Management Company, because they are to blame, and finds a new Management Company that promises the moon and the stars, only to start the cycle over again.
Alberta's Condominium Property Act and Regulations have changed in the last 10 years that Boards now must do Studies to determine a proper reserve for Capital costs such as repairs, upgrades, etc. in the old days, a Condo Spin Doctor from Toronto would buy an Apartment, Condominiumize a 40 year old Apartment building, and put $10,000 in the Reserve Fund, while selling off the units over two years. And the buyers were lambs to the slaughter. A sewer main break in the common area in the Winter would occur, and each unit would get a $8,000 levy assessed as the 10 K did not cover the excavation.
Condo fees in the Edmonton area are commonly $500 a month for common area property taxes, maintenance, management, reserve fund, etc, and you get NOTHING for it. Now, what if you took that $500 / month, and simply applied it to Rent, and skipped the risk of a Special Levy, increased Condo fees, maintenance and insurance on Your Unit, Property Taxes on Your Unit, and avoided the risk of market fluctuations?
This is not 2004. Things are not going up $5 K a month. You are not being left out of the "boom".
And most important, if your Landlord or adjoining Tenant is a Jerk, you are free to leave!
Try that when you are stuck in a Condo with an out of control Management Company and Dysfunctional Board making decisions for you.
But if you want to know how I really feel, buy me a case of beer and watch me rage.
Drewski
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