News   Apr 03, 2020
From the Editor: A Message to Our Readers
 9.7K     3 
News   Apr 02, 2020
Topping Off March 2020: What's Hot on SkyriseEdmonton
 11K     0 
News   Apr 02, 2020
News Roundup for April 2, 2020
 3.7K     0 

Miscellaneous

_urbanite said:
My SO is unfortunately an owner in these buildings. Multiple special assessments since 2008 (when she bought in). I'm very curious to see how these buildings hold up over the next 10-20 years
Click to expand...
Ouch. Saw that a 900 soft unit had condo fees at over $1200/mo in that building.
 
bodsbods9090 said:
No it's not.

I never wanted to own a condo for the exact reason of special assessments. Not everyone has your way of thinking Ian.
Click to expand...

'my way of thinking'?

Maintenance and budgeting on a property, any property occurs, and is part of home ownership. The idea that folks that own homes don't have 'special assessments' is bad logic and a poor argument.

People defer maintenance or are unaware of needed work all the time and often get caught off guard or do not budget for all things.

You may have more control, but don't be fooled that you don't have 'common area fees'.
 
Last edited:
IanO said:
'my way of thinking'?

Maintenance and budgeting on a property, any property occurs and is part of home ownership. The idea that folks that own homes don't have 'special assessments' is bad logic and a poor argument.

People defer maintenance or are unaware of needed work all the time and often get caught off guard or do not budget for all things.

You may have more control, but don't be fooled that you don't have 'common area fees'.I don't have an elevator in my house, as an example, or have to redo my roof because of poor
Click to expand...
I'd rather have control of things then have a condo board go get an assessment that comes back at $30k because the elevators were poorly designed and are failing or the roof of the whole condo complex needs be re-done.

It's an to each their own kind of thing but don't tell people who don't want to own a condo that their logic is poor. They have their reasons.
 
IanO said:
You are missing the point though. All properties have degradation, risk of failure or replacement needs, have lifecycles and associated budgeting.
Click to expand...
I'm aware.

But I'd rather not have to pay $30k out of pocket right away for a bigger building. I know my house will have to have work done on it but if my roof needs to be re-done, it's not going to cost me as much.
 
bodsbods9090 said:
I'm aware.

But I'd rather not have to pay $30k out of pocket right away for a bigger building. I know my house will have to have work done on it but if my roof needs to be re-done, it's not going to cost me as much.
Click to expand...
Won't cost you as much if you're into DIY.
These days, just getting the exterior of a typical SFH costs between 15-20k, redoing roofing is going for at least that same amount, if it's a small house.

Not everyone is able, or willing, to do stuff like this themselves. I'd honestly sell my house and buy a new one rather than do ANY of this work myself. Build a deck? Finish a basement? Fix anything more than an electric outlet? No thanks. Painting or roofing? A snowball's chance in hell.

Not to mention more mundane inconveniences like snow shoveling, lawn mowing, etc, that honestly kill me a little bit on the inside every time I have to do one of these.

As both of you have pointed out, as long as you do the due diligence properly, you can find a good condo. But same goes for houses. I have a good amount of anecdotes from people who bought houses and had serious issues with electrical, plumbing, etc, and had to spend loads of money and time to fix these, or let it damage their houses to the point in which they had to spend way more money after to fix stuff.

While you have more control, claiming that it's flat our cheaper to own a house is definitely poor logic. Under the same set of circumstances (if both are poor builds or both are good builds) it can actually get way more expensive (again, unless you're willing to do a lot of the work yourself, and that's a personal choice, and involves a certain amount of additional risk, as well).
 
ChazYEG said:
Won't cost you as much if you're into DIY.
These days, just getting the exterior of a typical SFH costs between 15-20k, redoing roofing is going for at least that same amount, if it's a small house.

Not everyone is able, or willing, to do stuff like this themselves. I'd honestly sell my house and buy a new one rather than do ANY of this work myself. Build a deck? Finish a basement? Fix anything more than an electric outlet? No thanks. Painting or roofing? A snowball's chance in hell.

Not to mention more mundane inconveniences like snow shoveling, lawn mowing, etc, that honestly kill me a little bit on the inside every time I have to do one of these.

As both of you have pointed out, as long as you do the due diligence properly, you can find a good condo. But same goes for houses. I have a good amount of anecdotes from people who bought houses and had serious issues with electrical, plumbing, etc, and had to spend loads of money and time to fix these, or let it damage their houses to the point in which they had to spend way more money after to fix stuff.

While you have more control, claiming that it's flat our cheaper to own a house is definitely poor logic. Under the same set of circumstances (if both are poor builds or both are good builds) it can actually get way more expensive (again, unless you're willing to do a lot of the work yourself, and that's a personal choice, and involves a certain amount of additional risk, as well).
Click to expand...
Its not always just routine maintenance like roofing or replacing a furnace. I know two people who had houses that developed serious foundation issues. This was years ago, but even then the cost was way more than $20,000.

They certainly did not have control over this and if they sold the house instead the price would have been reduced significantly accordingly. I know of a third house where the foundation issues were so serious, the basement had ended up entirely being replaced. They ended up selling the old house (to someone who moved it) and building a new one with a new basement on the same lot. That must have ended up costing in the hundreds of thousands.

So, in comparison most condo assessments do not look so bad.
 
IMG_1788.png

If you follow the users on this it shows what looks like a waste water treatment plant under construction by PCL. 2 construction cranes in the video
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top