Edmontonians are practical people, and that’s no better expressed than in our condo buildings, with their reused designs and finishing’s. Condo shopping can become repetitive fast. So how do sort the good units from the bad?
I’ve attached a list below you can reference in order to save yourself from owning a depreciating asset, or worse, getting stuck in a condo building you’re forced to rent when it comes time to move.
Condo UNIT Location
Building location is important but UNIT Location is life or death. I highly recommend only purchasing main floor corner units, top floo units, or corner units on any floor. If you can find a corner unit with a wrap around balcony on the main or top floor you’ll never have to worry about resale!
It’s also important to not face the parking lot a busy road, or the parkade entrance.
Of course, the view from your balcony is also important, as well as having a South or West facing windows, but those factors are surprisingly less likely to drive a sale than your proximity to above ground parking, and unit location.
Parking
Underground parking is so important for resale I cannot emphasize this enough. It’s very difficult for older buildings in the suburbs to compete with newer buildings as some older buildings do not have underground parking while all new buildings do. I doubt developers will ever stop building underground parking, so the competition will just grow over time! If I had to place a value on underground parking, I think people see it as about a 20k bonus.
Size to Condo Fee Ratio
For the first 1-3 years of a condo buildings life their fees are unnaturally low. As the condo board learns more about their building and what it will truly cost to keep operations running at their desired level this monthly fee will increase. This is one of the reasons it is slightly risky to buy in a new building. In an older building (5 years +) you should try to find a condo fee ratio of about $0.60 -0.70 / Sq ft. So a small 2 bedroom should be around $500 / month including exterior maintenance, all utilities except electricity etc.
A higher condo fee can be a major detriment to resale, especially if the fee ratio was significantly less when you first purchased the unit. In my opinion it’s better to buy a condo that’s a few years older, so you’re able to get a solid grip of any potential problems with the buildings structure, and operations through the condo document review.
Amenities
Amenities can often times make or break a buyer’s decision to purchase. Pools, media rooms, party rooms, and guest suites are often underutilized and costly to the condo buildings budget. I find amenities that generate the most excitement are well endowed gyms, a private greenspace, and wash bays.
