Buying A Condo – 5 Tips to Get a Great Deal

This is a good time to buy a condo in Chicago. For the obvious reason: there are more sellers than buyers. However, that's not enough to get you a great deal. Because with condos, more than any other type of real estate, a low price isn't enough. Here are 5 tips to make sure you're getting a great deal.

Back in 1999, I was renting a nice one-bedroom apartment by Foster and Damen and working Downtown. I used to take the bus to Sheridan and Foster and from there I'd take one of the Express buses that ran on Lakeshore Drive. I got a great view of the Lake going to work and coming from work. On nice days, on my way home, I'd see people on the beaches along the way, young people like me on roller skates, young people like me playing volley ball, young people like me sunning or playing in the water. So, when I had enough money for a down payment on a condo, I said, it's got to be by the Lake.

The condo I bought was in a building on the Lake, one that owned part of the beach. The agent who was selling the condo pointed out the limits of the beach, told me the exact length and width. I, of course, divided those by the number of units in the complex to figure out how much of it was mine. Yes, I know, you own the whole thing together with the other condo owners. But that's not exciting. (By the way, I owned, exactly 1 foot by 1 foot and 3 inches, which in my first-time-condo-buyer exuberance I deemed sufficient.)

The agent also showed me the large decked that overlooked my beach. It was beauty incarnate.

And that made me let her go over the parking situation fast. She showed me the underground parking, told me there were 188 spaces there. I knew there were 188 units, that it was a first-come-first-served kind of parking arrangement. I was happy.

I bought, paid extra for the location, for the beach, for the deck. I lived there 4 years. In 4 years, I never used the deck. In 4 years, I ran on the path that goes from Ardmore all the way downtown during my 3rd year there, every evening for 3 weeks straight. I ran to Belmont and back. In 4 years, I went to the beach 4 or 5 times.

This brings me to my first tip: know yourself, what you need and want.

Now, to the second tip. For the first 2 years, parking was not relevant. Then I changed jobs and needed a car. Turned out, the 188 parking spaces in the garage under my building were shared with the condo building next door, turned into a large garage. The building next door had some 80 units.

First come, first served means you put your name on a list and wait till enough owners give up their parking space. In my case, the wait was 2 months. I found out later, that most people had to wait a year or more, that the manager liked me so she moved me up the list.

So, tip #2, be very clear on what the parking situation is. Don't just hear that you have a spot but go to your spot, see it. I've seen since then many condo garages. Many have a few spots that are smaller than the others, big enough for a small sedan, not big enough for a van. Speaking of vans, some of the garages don't have enough clearance to allow vans.

The parking became a problem when I wanted to sell. There's no street parking. I mean, you cannot park on Sheridan and there are many apartment and condo buildings on Sheridan, Kenmore, Winthrop, Thorndale, etc. that finding a spot usually meant parking 4 or 5 blocks away. Not good if you're a woman and come home at night, not good if you're human and it's winter. The block where you cross under the 'L' train tracks was always bad at night, no matter who you were.

Let's move on to tip #3: Understand the parking situation

Just before I bought the condo, my landlord had decided to raise my rent from $450 to $650 and I thought, rightly so, that if I was going to spend $650, I might as well own, build equity. The unit I bought cost me less than $650 a month (mortgage and association fees), for the first 2 years. So, I got that part right. One reasons I did so was that I did not own a car. Bought one at the beginning of my 3rd year in my fine condo.

However, when I got parking, I had to pay $80 more each month, which put me over $650 a month. By that time, the guy I used to rent from had raised his rents to $700. By that time, with the $80 for parking, I was spending more than $700 a month for my condo.

In the last year, my association fees went up again, this time not 7 or 8 dollars a month like before but 30. And there was a special assessment. The special assessment was for cleaning the front of building, all 9 floors of it. Then another one for the front door.

By now, you probably have figured out that I had not looked at the budget before I bought my condo or gotten involved with the association.

So, my next tip is to take a good look at the budget, and the one after is to get involved with the management of the condo association.

Had I looked at the budget, I'd had noticed that they were short on reserves. I was lucky and sold for a nice profit before the big problems the short-on-reserves causes. My buyer, I met her 3 or 4 times in the year after she bought my condo, had a lot of complaints. Lots of things did not get done or not done on time, dirty hallways, elevators not working, etc.

Why should you get involved in the association? Because most owners do not. Some, like me, don't even attend a meeting. Which means, a relatively small number of people make decisions that affect you. Which means, you might as well be one of the small number of people who makes decisions that affect you.

Not to mention that you get wind of bad things to come sooner, maybe soon enough to take preventive measures.