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
A relatively unknown term, laches or the” doctrine of laches,” means failure to assert one’s rights or a claim in a given matter in time. Failing to take action on a ...
The US real estate market is filled with several confusing legal terms. One of those terms is "attorney-at-law." But who exactly are they? And how do they differ from real estate lawyers? ...
Largest form of owner ship giving the owner complete control including the development off an inheritable estate. ...
Construction of commercial property in a manner that enables each lessee or tenant to have access to the main strip or thoroughfare running through the property. For example, this mode of ...
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) is not only a commonly used term in the real estate industry, but it is also the largest trade association in the US. With over 1.4 million ...
The definition of obligee is the person to whom a debt or obligation is owed. An obligee is one party of a contract to who the other party, the obligor, is obligated. An obligee is also the ...
The concept of a release can define various meanings in the financial and real estate business. Typically, it establishes a discharge or literal escape from a loan borrower's economic ...
Regarding the definition of the term adjoining, we see a term used most often to describe a particular position that objects, items, or properties have regarding each other. In the case of ...
An activity by a property owner annoys or seriously disturbs other property owners making it discomforting to use their own property. A wide range of activities can be classified as ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.