[kattygirl]

:eek: I have never lived in a condo before and my husband and I are currently looking at different properties to move to. One of them is a condo and it is MUCH cheaper than the other homes. My husband says that if you buy a condo you don't own the land it is on. Is this correct? I don't want to buy something and then find out we have to leave or move the house. Also would you make payments then to rent the land the home is on? I have always though mobile homes were a bad choice because you never get to stop paying for them. Wouldn't a condo be the same thing? Any info would be great.

[LisaB4657]

When you own a condo, you own everything inside the outer 4 walls. The building itself and the land are owned by the condo association. Everyone who owns a condo is a member of the association. So you own everything inside the 4 walls, plus you have a percentage of ownership in the building and land.

The building and land are called "common areas". All members of the association have the use of the common areas. This also includes things like sidewalks, clubhouse, pool, parking spaces, etc. If your unit has a deck then the deck is called a "limited common area" and it is still common area but it is limited because it is only for your use, not the entire association. If your unit has a reserved parking space then that is also part of the limited common area.

The reason that the price of a condo is cheaper than a single family home is because, in addition to your mortgage payments you are also going to be paying a monthly maintenance fee to the condo association. This fee goes toward maintaining the common areas, such as snow plowing, landscaping and cutting the grass, pool maintenance, etc. If there are special things that need to be done, such as re-paving the parking lots and roadways, or new siding on the buildings, then the association will hit each member with a special assessment to pay for these things.

Condo living is great for people who are just starting and can't afford a single family home and it's also great for people who don't want to or can't maintain a single family home. The association takes care of everything outside the unit and the condo owner is responsible only for general maintenance inside their unit.

You won't have to leave the land or move the house because you are part of a corporation that owns the land. So you own a percentage of the land along with all of the other members of the association. The only way you will lose anything is if you fail to pay your mortgage and the lender forecloses.