5 Tips for Buying a Calgary Condo for Sale

Purchasing Calgary condos for sale is an increasingly popular choice for Calgary residents because condos offer safety, convenience, and maintenance-free living. Although condo dwellers are responsible for the costs of maintaining the common areas in their condos, the day-to-day management of a property is handled by a condo association.

Although condos typically offer convenient living and require far less maintenance than single family homes, not all condos are created equal. In order to determine whether a Calgary condo for sale is worth the investment, find out what the monthly fees are, what the neighborhood is like, and how the condo will appreciate, among other factors. Moreover, the following 5 tips will help you make an informed decision when you buy a Calgary condo for sale.

1. Read the minutes of the condo association’s board meetings to determine if residents are complaining about particular issues and what those issues are. If there are several complaints, it may indicate that the condo is having management problems. Even if residents of the condo aren’t making complaints, the minutes of the board meetings could reveal other things that the seller did not mention, such as new projects that are in the works.
2. When you purchase a Calgary condo for sale, you are buying a lot more than just a condo unit; you are buying ownership into the condominium corporation. As such, carefully review the document package of a Calgary condo for sale to ensure that the condo association is in good financial health and the condo building is well-managed. A document package typically includes a condo association’s budget, bylaws, management agreement, insurance certificate, and recent financial statements.
3. Hire a lawyer to assist you in reviewing the bylaws of the condo association prior to purchasing a Calgary condo for sale. A lawyer can help you determine whether the bylaws are consistent with local laws. In addition, a lawyer can screen the condo association at the local courthouse to ensure that no residents have filed lawsuits against it.
4. Purchase a Calgary condo for sale when the market timing is right. You can contact a Calgary real estate agent to determine what the price trends are for the particular properties and neighborhoods in which you’re interested. In general, there tends to be more market activity in the spring and fall rather than in the summer and winter. This means you’re likely to have access to a wider range of affordable Calgary condos for sale in the spring and fall. However, sometimes the reverse can be true, and prices are lower when no one else is looking.
5. To negotiate the best price and terms and to be able to come to a win-win agreement with the seller, your best bet is to work with an experienced realtor. If you want the realtor to be more aggressive while negotiating on your behalf, make sure that he is a buyer’s realtor and not a seller’s realtor. A buyer’s realtor will serve as your advocate, help you make informed decisions, and negotiate the price and terms most favorable to you. The best way to find a qualified realtor is through asking friends and family members for recommendations. Good realtors® tend to get most of their business from referrals.