Hi
I am planning to buy a town house in a few months and have a few questions:
-Is there any home inspection for a town house?
-Some people told me to be beware of baseboard heatings in town houses. what exactly is this? what difference does it make?
-Normally, what is covered in the maintainance fees for town houses? what are the additional expenses that I need to budget for?
Is there any other major factor that I need to consider?
Thank you very much for your assistance
T
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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be"
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 18-04-06 17:35:57
Quote:
Originally posted by Timon
Hi
I am planning to buy a town house in a few months and have a few questions:
-Is there any home inspection for a town house?
-Some people told me to be beware of baseboard heatings in town houses. what exactly is this? what difference does it make?
-Normally, what is covered in the maintainance fees for town houses? what are the additional expenses that I need to budget for?
Is there any other major factor that I need to consider?
Thank you very much for your assistance
T
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Timon,
Congrats! on the proposed townhouse ownership.
I am not a real estate agent but i do design townhouses. So let me tell what i know:
If it is a used townhouse you better do a home inspection. Also try to do a environmental inspection (5 to 10K), which will show if it was used as a drug co op.
Maintenance is generally for snow removal, upkeep of common areas only. Some may incl. home insurance along with it.
See if it is a lease hold or a free hold. There is some advantage in one. I donot know what and which one.
Ask/see if the common walls are firerated. else the next door fire could come into your house. (of course insurance will cover that but what if you forgot to do it and the fire came?)
All the best.
TK
Sidenote : Why donot you go for a stand alone house or semi detached? the higher cost will be off set by the maintenance cost in townhouses.
Also get a house/ townhouse, which has a option of separate entrance from outside to basement for you to rent it out if the need ever comes by.
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
TK saab
I dont have the kind of money for a standalone house right now. So, I think the best bet would be to go for a good town home.
I am not much in favour of renting out my basement. I need that addl place to build a home theatre.
Thanks for your reply
T
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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be"
I thought you'd moved. Didn't Africa work out?
http://www.canadiandesi.com/read.php?TID=3445&page=1#17108
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Are you there?
No..I decided to quite after 6 months
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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be"
For a freehold TH there's no maintenance fees, but for a condoninium TH there are maintenance fees.
The fees and range of services covered under each type may vary. Just comparing apples to apples, back in 2002, when I lived in a TH, the monthly maintenance fees were $165 which incl. water, cable, bldg insurance, bldg maintenance (external only), snow removal and landscaping. I had to pay for heat and hydro. Another complex on the same street - maintenance $600 per month which incl. water, cable, bldg insr., bldg. maintenance, heat, hydro, swimming pool (it was an outdoor pool located in the adjoining bldg), snow removal and landscaping.
Baseboard heating is electrical heating which is expensive. The advantage is you can control the heating level in each room. You'll probably find these in older homes.
Expenses (in general) you need to budget for
* mortgage payment
* maintenance fees
* property tax
* utilities (if not covered by maintenance)- heat, hydro, water
* telephone
* cable
oh... don't forget to budget for the home theatre....
One thing to watch out for is the reserve fund the complex is holding. If repairs are needed, there should be enough reserve funds to cover those expenses, else each unit owner will have to make an additional contribution. Going back to the place where I lived, in 2000, they replaced the roofing of all the 95 units and we didn't pay anything extra. Between 1997 and 2002, the maintenace went up from 145/month to 165/month. Inspite of the low fees they maintained a decent reserve fund.
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SS
Reiki Grand Master
Quote:
Originally posted by Timon
TK saab
I dont have the kind of money for a standalone house right now. So, I think the best bet would be to go for a good town home.
I am not much in favour of renting out my basement. I need that addl place to build a home theatre.
Thanks for your reply
T
HI Timon,
Welcome back to Canada.
What TK says makes sense and with this new 30 or 35 year amortization by CMHC you might look for owning a house instead of condo townhouse and can still pay roughly the same monthly installments.
For example a $225,000 mortgage with a 25 year amortization at 5.25% would be approximately $1340 per month. On top of it you might have to pay a maintenance fee of $ 100 To $150 per month, While on a mortgage of $275,000 ( I am considerting that you might have to take more mortgage for the house) for a 35 year amortization at the same rate of 5.25% would be approx $1422 per month and you would not have to pay any monthly maintenanc fee but the property tax could be $50 per month extra on a home in comparison to a townhouse. Of course if you go for an amortization of 35 years instead of 25 years than you would end up paying much more money in interest over the entire period of the mortgage. However, you can always pre pay and reduce your amortization. If you need any help or clarification, you can email me.
Good luck.
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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada
