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
Failure or refusal to perform a specified action. The failure to fulfill contractually agreed upon terms or actions. Nonperformance creates a liability which can enable a judicial damage ...
Legal instrument permitting one to grant others general or specific powers for administering their finances. ...
The meaning of a development impact fee or impact fee defines a one-time cost the local government imposes on a brand new or planned development project (regularly on a property developer.) ...
Warm air heating system where ducts are located in the concrete slab of a building constructed without a basement. As the name implies, a perimeter heating system is located around the ...
Everyone is aware of the perplexing complexities of a real estate transaction. Enter Opendoor, a company that aims to simplify this experience. If you're a house hunter, seller, real estate ...
House that can be bought at a low price because it is in poor condition. A buyer who is handy may find it attractive because he can personally make the needed repairs without hiring others. ...
(1) Methods that involve discounting the future cash flows generated by an income property. These techniques are used primarily for valuation. (2) Methods of selecting and ranking ...
A method widely used for evaluating real estate projects. Under the net present value method, the present value (PV) of all cash inflows from the project is compared against the initial ...
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 ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.