Home to Condo (San Antonio, Clarksville, Anton: apartment, foreclosure, rentals)

[Thelimeusa]

Want to move to South Congress area. Have 2200 sq. home in San Antonio and thinking of buying 1 bed condo. Recent widower so just need space for one. Budget 300k. Anyone else here downsized to condo in this area? How do you guys like Condo living?

[IC_deLight]

A condo is not simply an apartment that you own. There are significant liabilities associated with them and you can be forced to pay large assessments at inconvenient times under threat of foreclosure.

[Austin97]

dont listen to ic_delight he/she is a crusader against HOAs of any sort.

300K can get you a nice condo, even downtown if it is small enough. It might be helpful to know what level of fees you can afford, what kinds of amenities you want, etc. 1BR square footage will be 600-800 or so.

As you move further out (about 5 miles out) you can double the size

[Thelimeusa]

There is one near Zilker that only charges $300 a month HOA. Which direction 5 miles out? I would consider w/sw to get a 2 bedroom.

[scot892]

Originally Posted by Thelimeusa

Want to move to South Congress area. Have 2200 sq. home in San Antonio and thinking of buying 1 bed condo. Recent widower so just need space for one. Budget 300k. Anyone else here downsized to condo in this area? How do you guys like Condo living?

Obviously, you do what you're going to do but going from a house to a condo? Hmmm...

I live in an apartment and I can hear my upstairs neighbors constantly stomping. I've told my property manager and she said she would talk to my neighbor and maybe she did but it hasn't stopped. Also, when people go down the staircase, it shakes the whole building and it wakes me up in the morning when they go to work, walls are thin like paper, you can hear the toilet flushing/running/being used along with any running water that is being used. Needless to say, it sucks.

Granted if you move to a actual condo and not a apartment converted into condos, the build might be a little bit better but not much more. I would imagine you'll still have bad and noisy neighbors as well. Which brings in the issue of having less privacy and lack of freedom to do as you wish compared to having a SFH. Finally the cost, don't see how anyone can pay the prices of these ridiculously overpriced condos with HOA fees to go with it.

Not worth it for me and I would never go from a SFH to a condo but YMMV and just sharing my thoughts about it.

[m1a1mg]

I've done it as part of a move and change of life. It was a culture shock, but I survived.

[10scoachrick]

And not all condos are created equal. Our townhouse style condo shares only the garage wall with one adjacent unit...have never heard a noise from the other unit(in 5.5 years).


IC Delight makes many good points about condos and HOAs...certainly not everyone's cup o' tea; but condos have their place.

[centralaustinite]

Since you are looking at affordable condos in a highly desirable neighborhood, make sure you ask about short-term rentals It can SUCK if end up buying a home inside what is really a hotel with people coming and going all the time. It is bad enough living in a house on a block full of short-term rentals, a condo complex is even worse!

[m1a1mg]

Great point about the short term rentals.

[eirenecat]

I second the "not all condos are created equal" thing. One of my good friends, who now lives in a SFH in Clarksville, bought a condo along South Lamar when her son was an infant about 8 years ago. It was a very nice, brand new, very expen$ive condo. She was assured that all units were built to top quality specs and had lots of insulation, sound deadening, etc.

Her upstairs neighbor had such outrageously loud sex (both by himself and with a parade of different women) that she and her husband couldn't sleep, and neither could their baby. She complained to their condo board. Raunchy neighbor was cited, but continued to scream and groan while masturbating and having sex with dates, escorts, etc. so much so that she sold the condo within the year and moved. It was an unexpected learning experience for her.