5 ms·

Single family homes offer dominion over your housing, where condos come with a variety of complexities. Unless condo laws are improved, I wouldn’t want one. Con

Single family homes offer dominion over your housing, where condos come with a variety of complexities. Unless condo laws are improved, I wouldn’t want one. Condo regulations about noise, guests, pets, children. Some actually try to ban children. Buying and sells is complicated by the association’s finances, which depends on other people. This naturally leads to maintenance issues. Look as the surf side building collapse. Then there are problems when a small group owns a large share of the building. Eg corruption in the contracting process, not to mention forced buyouts. The quality of the construction can often be deficient (wood). So, there are real differences aside from the lack of a yard.

zbrozek 5y ago
Unless you're in CA, where an SFH just means that your municipality is the HOA instead. In places with sensible governments and less NIMBYism, the SFH offers the advantages you describe.
thisrobot 5y ago
Something to point out is that condo regulations vary significantly from state to state so can’t be as easily generalized as you do here.
axlee 5y ago
It has been solved across the pond, why wouldn't the US be able to do it?
- sofixa 5y ago
  For the same reason it can't do public transit, high-speed rail, affordable healthcare and education for the masses, etc. (Insert a bunch of vague and debunkable excuses here like the size of the country(Russia, China)).
staticman2 5y ago
There's a big difference between a project like Surfside and a townhome condominium. Also banning children is illegal in the U.S. unless you have a 55 or older community. I don't know why you wouldn't desire rules about noise if your home is attached to another home where loud neighbors would bother you. But at any rate that concern has nothing to do with condominiums, your HOA in a planned development with detached housing can also serve you noise complaints. The quality of construction has nothing to do with whether the project is a condo. Unless you think single- family detached homes can't have bad construction.
- everforward 5y ago
  > I don't know why you wouldn't desire rules about noise if your home is attached to another home where loud neighbors would bother you. The level and type of noise that reaches nuisance levels is highly subjective, which leads to conflict between neighbors. You also have no control over your neighbors, so you might be able to practice your guitar for a decade and then suddenly your neighbors move and the new ones don't appreciate the sound as much. It's the same issue all of these types of organizations have; HOAs suffer from the same problems. The rules tend to be defined by those most sensitive to them, who are generally those the most willing to waste a bunch of their own time screwing around with the HOA/condo association. I personally refuse to own a condo or HOA home. It's worth it to me to exchange the equity for renting and being able to get out easily if I want to. I also find "ownership" to be a bit of a misnomer for either type of housing, since the rules can be arbitrarily changed and they can place a lien on your home. You live there at the grace of the HOA/condo community.
  - staticman2 5y ago
    Depending on state law and the requirements of the condo bylaws major changes in the condo rules in many projects require a supermajority of residents to vote in favor of such a change, so rule changes aren't necessarily something that can be easily or arbitrarily changed for important aspects of the project.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - everforward 5y ago
      Yeah, but then it's on me to run a counter-campaign to preserve rights that I already have. I get the reasons why those processes exist, especially for condos, but it's just not for me. I grew up in a rural area, so my idea of ownership is probably tainted by space being a non-factor and enforcement of any kind of laws, much less non-governmental ones, being sparse. I'm hanging on to hope that remote work will become a major factor in the job market so that I can move back to the country without having to resort to the rural IT job market.

zbrozek 5y ago

Unless you're in CA, where an SFH just means that your municipality is the HOA instead. In places with sensible governments and less NIMBYism, the SFH offers the advantages you describe.

thisrobot 5y ago

Something to point out is that condo regulations vary significantly from state to state so can’t be as easily generalized as you do here.

axlee 5y ago

It has been solved across the pond, why wouldn't the US be able to do it?

sofixa 5y ago
For the same reason it can't do public transit, high-speed rail, affordable healthcare and education for the masses, etc. (Insert a bunch of vague and debunkable excuses here like the size of the country(Russia, China)).

staticman2 5y ago

There's a big difference between a project like Surfside and a townhome condominium. Also banning children is illegal in the U.S. unless you have a 55 or older community. I don't know why you wouldn't desire rules about noise if your home is attached to another home where loud neighbors would bother you. But at any rate that concern has nothing to do with condominiums, your HOA in a planned development with detached housing can also serve you noise complaints. The quality of construction has nothing to do with whether the project is a condo. Unless you think single- family detached homes can't have bad construction.

everforward 5y ago
> I don't know why you wouldn't desire rules about noise if your home is attached to another home where loud neighbors would bother you. The level and type of noise that reaches nuisance levels is highly subjective, which leads to conflict between neighbors. You also have no control over your neighbors, so you might be able to practice your guitar for a decade and then suddenly your neighbors move and the new ones don't appreciate the sound as much. It's the same issue all of these types of organizations have; HOAs suffer from the same problems. The rules tend to be defined by those most sensitive to them, who are generally those the most willing to waste a bunch of their own time screwing around with the HOA/condo association. I personally refuse to own a condo or HOA home. It's worth it to me to exchange the equity for renting and being able to get out easily if I want to. I also find "ownership" to be a bit of a misnomer for either type of housing, since the rules can be arbitrarily changed and they can place a lien on your home. You live there at the grace of the HOA/condo community.
- staticman2 5y ago
  Depending on state law and the requirements of the condo bylaws major changes in the condo rules in many projects require a supermajority of residents to vote in favor of such a change, so rule changes aren't necessarily something that can be easily or arbitrarily changed for important aspects of the project.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - everforward 5y ago
    Yeah, but then it's on me to run a counter-campaign to preserve rights that I already have. I get the reasons why those processes exist, especially for condos, but it's just not for me. I grew up in a rural area, so my idea of ownership is probably tainted by space being a non-factor and enforcement of any kind of laws, much less non-governmental ones, being sparse. I'm hanging on to hope that remote work will become a major factor in the job market so that I can move back to the country without having to resort to the rural IT job market.