Thinking of buying a condo?

With all the great prices on condo units right now, I found this article timely:

Things Condo Buyers Should Consider
Buyers who are considering the purchase of a condominium should inspect the health of the home owner’s association before they close.

The seller should provide the buyer all financial documents relating to the association in time for an attorney for the buyer to review them before closing.

Here’s some advice from Leonard Baron, professor of finance at San Diego State University, about the information that the seller should consider:

Does the association budget include money for operating expenses such as water, lights, elevator maintenance, and landscaping?
Is there extra money set aside in a reserve fund for long-term maintenance? If there is an outside reserve study, that should be provided. If not, there should be adequate money in the reserves right now to cover 50 percent of the estimated cost of repairs over the next 30 years.
Do the condo’s expenses exceed revenues due to a high foreclosure rate or other reasons that owners’ debts go unpaid?
If there is a shortfall, does the association have a plan besides cutting back on services for making it up?

Source: The Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher (10/17/2009)

Market Lofts

Okay, so I visited these lofts 4 times in the past 4 days! I think this development is fantastic. So urban and forward. The second floor, Podium Level, has terraces in some of the units with Zen-like rock gardens. They also have concrete floors which give a very industrial feel but not a cold feeling. The models show how they look glazed and stained with glaze looks very sexy.

The upper floors have varying views of Hope and 9th Streets. With two new developments going up on 9th, you can consider your view either blocked by the new buildings or enhanced by the beauty of them. It all depends on your perspective.

I appreciate the rentability (did I just make up a word?) factor of this development. They're priced right and being right across the street from FIDM doesn't hurt. The sales office gets so many rental inquiries that they've made up their own list of units for rent to help facilitate the process for potential renters and owners. That's a good sign.

It doesn't get any better than having the grocery store right downstairs. Their Ralphs is a very upscale market with wine tastings in the evenings. They have a great deli and loads of precooked food to purchase on the fly. The chicken artichoke sandwich was yummy. I got it grilled because there's nothing better than cheese...melted!

Coffee Bean is also downstairs as well as a UPS store. Roebeks and Quiznos are coming in too.

On a real estate agent note, there are some builder incentives that you can take advantage of and possibly more savings as well...if you have a saavy agent (ahem).

The Market Lofts website is www.Market-Lofts.com.