Condo’s/Apartments for Rent

[Tim Sapien]

What are your thoughts on buying condo’s/apartments for future rentals? Are they typically good rentals? Any advice helps. Thanks - Tim

[Theresa Harris]

It really depends on your market and the condo.  My first place was a condo that I bought to live in and then rented out when I moved.  I had it for a long time and the price I sold it for was almost 3 what I paid for it.  The last time (2 years ago) when I was looking to buy another rental, i compared a higher end townhome to a single family.  Listing price was about $30K less for the condo.  At the end of the day, I went with the singe family.  On paper both would have cash flowed about the same, but for the condo, a couple of hundred dollars a month was going to condo fees instead of towards paying the mortgage.

With condos, you also have the condo board to consider.  Are they going to change the rules restricting rentals?  How well do they manage their funds?  I do have 2 condos are rentals now and both are well run, but my first condo that I sold wasn't and there were often extra assessments.