What is the difference in terms of benefits between a house or condo?
402698
How much time do you really want to spend on the weekends mowing the lawn, edging, weed eating, fertilizing, etc?\n\nI own a condo so that I can have more time to do what I want to do.  I own the building from the walls in.  Therefore, I can do whatever I want inside as long as I do not tear out a structural or load bearing wall.\n\nThere are many styles of condos and houses available.  Some look and feel like apartments and some look and feel like regular homes (patio homes).  Talk to a real estate agent to go look at both condos and houses.  You may be able to get a better deal on a condo depending on where you live.
570017
Maybe. It depends upon the local real estate market. It also depends upon your definition of Investment. Are you looking at paying cash for a home there in the hopes of seeing the price go up in order to make a profit? OR are you looking to pay cash for this home to Live in either full or part time? I would hesitate if you are looking at using it as an investment vehicle. Most of the time Real Estate is a Liability with Maintenance, insurance, utilities, Property Taxes, association dues etc... That exceed the annual appreciation of the value of the property. My question to you is Do YOU REALLY NEED 2 houses? If not, put your money elsewhere to grow. Unless you are looking to purchase property in one of the few areas that are involved in states of Hyper-Inflation of property values, your money is better invested elsewhere and you can use it at any time to buy property where you want to live. Examples of these are the Ridiculously overpriced Condominium market in Florida and the WAY overpriced houses in Southern California. I believe that these growth rates are unsustainable and many people are going to lose their shirts there eventually. \n  Point is I would need alot more information to make an educated answer to your question beyond Maybe.
269114
If you can afford a single-family home, then go for it.\nMost of the time, a single-family house would appreciate at a higher rate than a duplex or condos.  Also, depends on location, condos and duplex might take longer at time of resale. \nUnless you plan to move within a year or so, and plan to keep the duplex as investment property (rent to renters),\na single family house is a better bet.
79429
It depends on whether or not she keeps the condo.\n\nIf she does, it would be a 100 dollar increase.\nIf not, a 200 dollar decrease.\n\nOn the other hand, she could just sell the new house, and there would be no change, and she would have enough in savings to keep her condo for about 25 years.
379215
if you've lived in your current principle residence for at least 2 years out of last 5 years, then you have $250k tax free capital gain (or $500k for married couple). any gains over this amount will be taxed regardless whether you invest in another house or not.
689946
i bought a house built circa 1880. its definitely got a lot of character, but its a fixer-upper. but, as long as theres nothing structurally wrong with the house, you should be ok. i've got a lot of connections with plumbers/conctruction and stuff because my dad works with them as an electrician. so, i chose to get more, but have to work on it. generally with newer homes you get less, but its done and in perfect shape. and with condos, theres no work at all to be done, but theres fees.
220031
Renting would give you the most flexibility. Your cash would also be available for investment, emergencies, etc.\n\nIf you rent you don't have worry about upkeep on your home and maybe no yard work. \n\nThe down side, less control over who your neighbors might be. Probably less privacy.
69634
consider yourself lucky to be a new home buyer.  Yes you will have more out of pocket costs initially but you will receive tax benefit bigger then you have received previously.  You will have an association fee, hazard insurance, taxes etc...  your interest on your home loan is a write off.  Talk to your tax advisor for more details on the benefit.  Write me an email and I'll send you a free .pdf on the benefits of home ownership if you prefer.\n\nYou need to know your current county tax base.  In CA we estimates taxes at 1.25% depending on the county the home is locate in (your taxes may higher so check with your county recorders office or ask a realtor, they will know).  Hazard insurance can be estimated at $50 or less for your condo (just a guess) and your association is based on your HOA (Home Owners Association) so ask them or simply ask any current owner what they are today.
698539
Housing and Council Tax Benefits received make no difference to your right to buy.\n\nBut if you're still on these benefits, you're not likely to be able to get a mortgage.\n\nIf you've been on benefits before and are now working, there is no problem.\n\nPhone the Council and talk to a Right To Buy officer. (Or they might be called a SOLAH (Sale of Local Authority Housing) Officer.)
409643
Property taxes and mortgage interest payments are tax deductible. If you have an office in your house that meets the federal requirements (discuss with your accountant), you can figure out the square footage of the office compared with the total square footage of the home and you can take that percentage of the cost of utilities, repairs, etc. off your taxes.
796775
You have to check the insurance of the condo company.  \nUsually the condo associations insurance only covers the exterior and roofing of the house.  You are almost never covered for the pocessions in your house.   Condo insurance for just your personal items is very inexpensive (compared to home owner insurance)  I would recommend you get it.
997727
Probably.  It depends how you look at it.\n\nOver the long term, stocks & real estate will probably give you the same return on the dollar (learned this in Finance at University of Chicago nobel prize winner).  However, that may vary in the short run/shorter time horizons (e.g. over 10 yrs or less).  Recognize you usually own a home for longer & usu get a 30 yr loan.  Lately, obviously real estate has been doing better than the stock market.  But, with interest rate hikes, the real estate market seems to be cooling off.  And, real estate can differ greatly pending on the house you buy & its location.  I do not claim to be an expert and you may want to speak w/ an objective real estate agent (if you can find one).\n\nThat being said, in general buying is almost always preferable to renting as your monthly payments will be lower, esp as time goes on.  This, in turn, will allow you to save more so you can invest it whereever you want to.  Usually rent increases year after year; but, your mortgage payments will be the same as they are today for 30 yrs.  I say this as someone who has rented the last 10 yrs & wish I had bought sooner.  My apartment just went condo & I bought it 2 months ago.  In retrospect, I wish I had done it sooner.\n\nI read an excellent book on the subject that was very educational for first time buyers.  It's called "The automatic Millionaire Homeowner" by David Bach.  It explains all the basics & how to think abt mortgage options and what might be right for you.  It was really helpful.   A few months ago, I was a complete moron on the subject...now, I understand what others are talking about.
203022
You can't be sure that a house will appreciate at all.  There is always  the possibility that a house could depreciate.\n\nIt's going to depend on several factors, including location.  How much you pay for the house will also have an effect.  If you pay too much, you won't stand to gain from the appreciation in home values that an area might gain.\n\nGo to the link below.  You can choose your city and state, and view the average appreciation for your area.
898217
A condo is any living unit with shared property, like an apartment building or a townhouse condo.  But a townhouse is one house in a group of attached houses.  It can be condo or freehold.  If it is condo, the land is shared by all of the townhomes and condo fees are assessed for its mainenance.  The outside of the building may also belong to the condo corporation as well as the roof.  For freehold townhomes, each owner is responsible for the maintenance of the yard attached to his unit as well as the ouside and roof of his/her portion of the building.
416059
Unfortunately not. But you can claim all sorts of things, including expenses relating to maintaining and upkeep of the home based on the same portion or percentage of your home that you use for business (office, and a washroom, living room for presentations, etc.) Here in Canada we can base that on how many rooms in the home we use for business or the actual floor space. It might be 4 rooms out of 8, which would be 1/2 and allow us to claim 1/4 of the homes heat, maintenance and mortgage or rent. \n\nThere's some good relevant Tax Reduction information out there - folks who keep up with the current laws that can help you out a lot just by researching their stuff.
913036
Okay.  To be honest, this is a question that the Condo-owners Association normally doesn't understand themselves. The answer to your question, lies in the Condo. Assn. Documents. It's in the "doc's" under headings, like "Insurance Requirements" or some similar verbage. Now the "doc's" can be some 300 or more pages, so a little investigation is necessary.\n\nYou should go to a large, well known property insurer for the state of New York. It may cost a couple of bucks more a year to do this, but believe me, It's worth it if you have a claim....Ask the agent for a "Condo-Owners Policy". Now, I am assuming that you own the condo. If you are a renter, then the whole story changes, but...\n\nThe HO-6 Condo policy, will cover, pretty much, whatever the Condo Association policy doesn't, as far as, your property. From, floor and wall coverings to the comforter on your bed, though these are separate parts of the HO-6 policy. The policy is broken down into 5 basic coverage sections.\n\nA - Building Items (Kitchen cabinets, floor & wall coverings,sinks, Vanities, Etc..)\n\nB - Other Structures ( Sheds, Fences, etc...)\n\nC - Personal Property (From your best pair of shoes, to your toothbrush)\n\nD - Additional Living Expense ( If your house is too damaged to live in)\n\nE - Personal Liability ( Anything, legal, that you might be "legally liable" for. This coverage also includes "Medical Payments to Others" coverage, if someone slips and falls at your home, or the like.\n\nThe coverage you purchase, will normally be based on the "Coverage A Limit". So if it would only take $50,000 to rebuild the inside of your condo, you may only get $25,000 for "Personal Property" coverage. If you need more, it can be purchased.\n\nWas that a long answer to a short question?\n\nGo find a good local agent, and make him /her explain the coverages. If they can't do it, you might just want to keep looking......You could already know more about it than them.
542878
Check your CC&Rs (Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions) which sets out the rules for condo residents.  It should set out specifically what consequences there may be for unpaid fees to the HOA.  But I agree, why don't you just pay it?