Buying and selling Condos

[Tanya Braun]

Right now I'm in the Condo market in Vancouver BC and I'm wondering if there is such a thing as a good stategy of when to buy and when to sell in regards to the age of the property.  Is it better to buy in a building that's 3 years old and sell before 10 years? Is it better to buy and hold for a few years or long term?

The reason I'm asking is because we purchased a condo three years ago and now have a $26,000 assessment coming up because it's part of a stata with older buildings.  After we get the repairs I'm almost positive the value will go up (new transit line close by, super hot market) but feel it would have been much wiser to buy into a newer building and get out before it starts needing repairs.  The building was 7 years old when we bought but the other buildings were 16 years old).  I feel like a good strategy moving forward would be to buy in a building at 2 or 3 years old and sell at 7 or 8.  Am I wrong?

I know most REIs on here would say stay away from stratas but in this market you can't buy a single family home for less than $1,000,000.

Any advice for moving forward is greatly appreciated!