By:  Shane Toews 

When people purchase a condo as their home or investment they must consider several factors.  A condominium will not suite everyone.  A condo involves not only individual ownership within the unit but also ownership of the unit’s shared property or “common property”.  I’m referring to condominiums and not townhouses, mobiles homes or houses.  Your unit should be individually owned in a freehold or leasehold format.  Freehold generally means you own the title to the property.  However, leasehold means that you don’t have any ownership rights to the land only the leasing rights.  The rest of the property includes common property.  Common property elements generally includes walkways, driveways, lawns and gardens, lobbies, elevators, parking areas, recreational facilities, storage areas, laundry rooms, stairways, plumbing, electrical systems to run the building.  You may encounter limited common property elements that only specific owners have access to.  For example:  Parking, storage lockers, roof gardens, balconies, patios and front/back yards.  This refers to all condo’s in the Greater Vancouver Area and Fraser Valley area including:  Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, New West, Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, White Rock and Surrey.  Condominiums could be in a high rise apartment building, a three to five story new mid rise building, or a converted older building that my have been used as rental apartments.

Whichever condo you choose, make sure your enjoying the maximum usage of the land while creating attractive selling features.  Some examples to look for in buying a condo are as follows:

(i)                  Does it have an attractive view?

(ii)                Do you have a private drive way?

(iii)               What kind of Common Recreational facilities are there?

Swimming pool?

Hot Tub?

Tennis Court

Saunas?
Playground?

The purpose for these amenities is to of course increase your overall standard of living.  However, be ware of the monthly maintenance fee.  More often then not you’ll be stuck with a larger bill to maintain the pool, hot tub or sauna.  It might be wise to stay clear from these types of condo’s.  This does not include recreational or vocational properties.  These properties thrive on having extra amenities to demand the higher rents.  Consider all angles before being committed.