Condo Viewing #3
Posted on October 28, 2007
Filed Under Personal |
I went and saw another condo a few days ago, and should be seeing some more early this week. The one I saw recently was actually pretty nice. I can already think of a few things I would do to improve it, because it does need some work, despite the significant work that the current owner has obviously put into it.
I have some mixed feelings about this unit, though. It’s much cheaper than the other one that I like, but it’s not quite as nice. It’s also not really possible to install a washing machine or a dryer. I would have to use the common laundry room. I suppose this isn’t a big deal, but it would be really nice to be able to have in-suite laundry. It’s also a bit smaller, I think. I’ll have to double check the square footage, though, because I might be wrong about that.
It’s also in a pretty rough neighbourhood. It’s just off of Alberta Avenue (118 Avenue), at 88 Street. Despite that, I didn’t feel like it was a bad neighbourhood, to be honest. Sure, I don’t think I’d want to be hanging out on that part of 118 Avenue on a Friday night, but the condo building actually seems to be just far enough off the main drag to be more or less “safe” from any sort of trouble that might occur on the Alberta Avenue.
There are a lot of things about this unit that really appeal to me, though. As I said, it’s significantly cheaper than the other unit I was thinking about buying—by about $30,000, in fact—so much so that my monthly mortgage payments would actually be equal to (or less than) the average rent for an apartment of similar size. It would definitely be less than the rent I’ll be paying for my current apartment, come January. Even when you add in the condo fees, it won’t be much more expensive than what I’ll be paying for rent if I continue to live in my current place.
It also has a fireplace, which is pretty cool. It’s an electric fireplace, so it’s not as cool as a gas or wood-burning fireplace would be, but it’s still a nice feature to have.
It’s got an eat-in kitchen, which the other place that I looked at didn’t have. Again, this is a pretty nice feature to have, since most of the condos in my price range are pretty small, and space is at a premium.
Another positive is that it’s on Alberta Avenue. This could be seen as a negative, but I sincerely believe that the efforts of the City of Edmonton, and, more importantly, the community itself, will see this area become revitalized and grow into a very nice area in the next 3-5 years. This means that the resale value of the condo should go up significantly.
The location also means that I’ll still be pretty close to downtown, and most of my friends. Even though I work on the south side, I don’t really want to live on the south side. I enjoy living centrally. I enjoy being urban. I have no desire to move out to the suburbs any time soon.
Really, the only suburb that I’d be willing to move to is the community I grew up in (which I never really thought of as being part of the suburbs, but it seems to be turning into a more suburban-type area, if the developments that are being built are any indication), but the prices in that area are too expensive these days. I can only imagine how insanely valuable my parents’ home has become in today’s market.
Another positive that seems like a negative is that the place needs a bit of work. I see this as a positive for two main reasons. The first reason is that the idea of putting a bit of work into a property appeals to me. I like little projects like that. Plus, working on a place, and putting some of my own time and effort into it would really make it feel more like my place.
The second, and more “practical” reason why this is a good thing is because it means that there are some pretty obvious things I can do to increase the property value, and get a higher selling price when I inevitably decide that I want to upgrade to a bigger place.
Anyway, I’m going to be seeing a few more units, in the near future, but at this point, I think the decision is between the Boyle Street unit, and the Alberta Avenue unit. A few days ago, the choice would have been obvious. But, the more I think about the unit on Alberta Avenue, the more I think that it might be the better choice, despite it’s short comings.
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