Housing Bubble 2: Return of the Ugly

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SeattleRain

Water leaks in condo garage leads to $70, 000 special assessment for every condo unit owner (m.youtube.com)

submitted 1 day ago by SeattleRain to c/housing_bubble_2

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[–] kitnaht 33 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I've had people on this very community argue with me that purchasing a condo was exactly the same as owning a house, and it was a great alternative...

This was literally my counter-argument. Not glad that it happened to these people, but glad to see my viewpoint vindicated so quickly.

[–] knexcar 4 points 20 hours ago

But what if I want to live somewhere dense and walkable, but still want to build equity?

[–] bitchkat 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe close if the house is in an HOA. I sold my house a few years ago and bought a condo. It's definitely not the same as owning a house. It's not better or worse, it's just different.

I'm not sure why their insurance isn't paying for it.

[–] butwhyishischinabook 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

In my state the sublimit on condo assessments is very low, maybe a couple thousand per year

[–] bitchkat 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

What is sublimit?

[–] butwhyishischinabook 2 points 6 hours ago

So there are limits on major areas (the property itself, other structures like fences and sheds, lost rental income, etc.) And other more specific things like condo assessments. Generally you can't get a lot of money for condo assessments, unless you pay a lot extra to lift that limit higher.

[–] The_v 19 points 1 day ago

It's a 7 year old building. Why are they not chasing after the builder to repair it?

[+] _bcron 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] SeattleRain 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The difference is is that if you're not responsible for screw ups that were caused by the HOA anywhere near the degree you are in a condo.

[–] maryjayjay 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you bought a property in an hoa, YOU are the hoa. Why do so many people have a hard time with that? YOU are the hoa and the hoa elects a board to represent you. If you aren't voting and aren't participating, YOU are the problem

[–] surewhynotlem -3 points 19 hours ago

May I please introduce you to children and spouses? You can still be liable for some other idiot's screw up.

[–] kitnaht 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

With a house, since its yours, it's pretty easy to get a home equity loan and deal with that cost over time.

Can you equity loan a condo?

[–] grue 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

With a single-family house, you can also choose to DIY (especially since the scale is typically smaller), or make cost/quality trade-offs without having liability to your neighbors or being beholden to their opinions on what to do.

[–] atempuser23 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Weird to say but yeah you can do unpermitted and subpar repairs with more ease on a property you are sole owner of. Harder to pull that off in a multi owner unit.

[–] Alexstarfire 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's not what they said at all. You can DIY stuff and still get it approved by the city/county.

[–] Cort -2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yes it is. Grue is talking about quality trade-offs. Literally sub-par work

[–] AA5B 1 points 13 hours ago

I own a single family home with a kitchen that needs work. I can choose laminate countertops to save money, even though that is lower quality than is common to the neighborhood.

[–] nomous 1 points 19 hours ago

Or cost trade offs, not necessarily sub-par.

I can do fantastic siding and tile work personally and would be exceptionally hesitant to pay someone to do it. My FIL has done concrete work for 30 years, why would I pay someone to do it?