Condominium
Definition of "Condominium"
So, you’re out and about your homebuying dream and then you stumble upon this question: what is a condominium? Like, you think you know what is a condo home, but it's so hard to explain...
It's ok; it happens to the best of us.
It's not easy defining what is a condominium; condos are one weird body. Keeping up with its weirdness, we could say that condominium is a form of home ownership in which the owner exclusively owns the airspace within the walls but doesn’t own the actual walls, ceilings or floors of the home and anything beyond those.
But enough with the weird. Let’s make this easy and fun. What is a condo home? Let’s put it in a way that anyone can understand. The best way to describe what is a condominium is by defining it as a place within a place. And, while the interest is different from one to the other, you have ownership over both.
Example: an apartment within a condominium building, or a single-family house within a gated community. You accrue ownership of both, but the smaller unit – the apartment or the house - is 100% yours, while the rest – the common areas like gym, pool, lobby, laundry room, elevators…- are collectively owned by all other residents within the condominium and managed by associations such as a Homeowners Association.
Because the ownership is influenced by the neighbors – as you and they share common areas and, sometimes, services – it will vary from condo home to condo home if you can rent your condo to someone else, or if it’s a “owner’s only” type of property.
So, as you can see, it's hard to define what is a condo home. In the end, a condominium is not so much a place, but a form of ownership.
Popular Real Estate Terms
Number of small holes in a wall allowing water to drain from it. This makes the walls able to withstand water pressure. ...
What does contribute mean in everyday scenarios? The official “contribute definition” goes as follows: providing a thing of great value, regularly money, to help accomplish a ...
Property that is unoccupied and thus not being used. It is usually raw land with no structure or improvements theron. ...
Amount still unpaid at a particular date on a loan or other financing agreement. ...
Burdens one parcel of land (the servient estate) for the benefit of another parcel (the dominant estate). ...
Taxes owed due to nonpayment, underreporting, or omission (unknowingly or intentionally) from a prior year. The taxing authority will demand the back taxes, including possible fines, ...
Optional feature included in some homeowners insurance policies that pays the replacement cost of any personal property. ...
"Same as term bridge loan: Short-term loan that is made in anticipation of permanent longer term loans. The interest rate on such a loan is usually higher than on longer term loans. An ...
Lack of supply of real property. When demand exceeds supply, price of the property goes up. For example, if there are only a few homes in a town that everyone desires to reside in, the ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.