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
(1) Temporary and symbolic payment showing good faith and obligating two or more individuals until a final transaction takes place. The binder is typically returned if the final agreement ...
Opinion of a judge having no direct legal or binding effect on the outcome of a pending judicial decision. An obiter dictum is considered to be an incidental judicial remark about some ...
Metal or wood channel attached immediately below or along the eaves of a building for the purpose of channeling rainwater away from the structure. The gutter prevents rain runoff from ...
The time period a real estate investment is held. The return is tied to the time period of the investment. The period is used for income tax purpose to determine whether a profit earned or ...
Geographic area that is attractive to prospective tenants. Square footage in an office building or apartment house that may be rented by a tenant. ...
Fee charged by a mortgage lender to a buyer, seller or both for transferring a mortgage when the mortgage property is sold. ...
Rate of return of capital invested in building improvements. Is segregated from land investments and provides a method of separating property income streams between improvement and land ...
Money set aside to buy new assets when the older ones are no longer appropriate for the intended use. An example is when the landlord must replace a deteriorating and malfunctioning air ...
Contract containing provisions of the insurance policy specifying who the parties are, what amounts and due dates, deductibles, time period, ceilings, kind of property., location of ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.