Lofts, Condos & Townhouses

High association dues?

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Stacks_of_money

$460 dollars a month for association dues, you have to be kidding!  No, I am not kidding and it looks like a bargain to me, especially in an older building.

I took the dues for a condo in my own neighborhood that is about the same size and age as our home and compared the association dues to our monthly expenses.

The $460 monthly dues cover Heating, hazard insurance, water, sewer, refuse removal, lawn care, snow removal and exterior maintenance.   Our costs for a similar size home are $363 a month for heating, insurance, sewer, water and refuse removal, leaving $97 a month for exterior maintenance, snow removal, and lawn care.

I don’t even have to factor in the cost of lawn care and snow removal to see that the dues are a bargain.  Our exterior maintenance costs spread out over the length of time we have owned our home easily come out to more than $100 dollars a month.

If I factor in the cost of the roof repair we needed, the gutters we had to add to keep the basement dry, the siding we replaced, and the porch we had rebuilt the total monthly exterior maintenance costs for our home are easily more than $100 a month, without including  the cost of plants, landscaping work or the labor costs associated with lawn care and snow removal.  Not to mention the cost of owning and maintaining both a lawn mower and a snow blower.

There is an advantage to paying for exterior maintenance on a monthly basis.  When we need a major repair we need to come up with a major amount of cash all at one time.  Before buying a condo or townhouse, especially a unit in an older building make sure that the association has some reserves so that you don’t have to come up with a large sum of money for repairs.

When buying an older home or any home at all keep in mind that things wear out or even break and budget some reserves for emergency repairs.  Before deciding that association dues are too high compare look at what the dues are paying for.

Downtown Saint Paul continues to grow

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

The residential population of downtown St. Paul keeps growing. There were only about 4500 people living downtown in 2002 that grew to 6,604 in 2010 to 7,911 in 2014, that number is expected to skyrocket to 14,280 by 2020, an 80 percent jump. (According to the Metropolitan Council)

It seems like there are more people downtown on nights and weekends than there are during the workday. If you were to travel back to the 1980’s or 1990’s there were more businesses and people working downtown than there are today but not many residents.

Some of the things that make downtown fun are the parks, the Farmer’s market and the union depot and of course the ballpark and the Xcel center. It gets very crowded downtown when there is a hockey game.

Downtown is a wonderful place to live. It is the most walkable neighborhood in St. Paul. There is always something to do and lots of places to eat.

Housing consists of condos and apartments in all price ranges. In recent years there has been some building going on. Most of it has been apartments including some new luxury apartments.

The median price per square foot for a downtown condo is about $202. The median price per square foot of a Saint Paul home is $142. The median sale price in downtown St. Paul is lower the median sale price for the entire city.

The downtown Saint Paul housing market is a bit different from the rest of the city but is also experiencing a shortage of homes for sale. If you have been thinking about selling your condo now might be the time to do it.

There are currently 30 condos on the market ranging in price from $129,900 to 1.8 million. This year they have been selling in 45 days or less on average.

Median sale prices – St. Paul and downtown St. Paul

 

urban legend of no pets allowed

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
Dogs allowed

Did you know that you can live in a downtown condo and have a dog? Most if not all condo buildings have pet restrictions but most will allow a dog or even two. Cats are allowed too.

In some of the buildings, there are height and weight restrictions. Smaller dogs are allowed and large ones are not.

Ask about pet restrictions before making an offer on a condo. After making an offer that is accepted by the seller, buyers have ten days to review rules. Pet restrictions will be in writing.

There are condo associations that do not allow pets at all. I know of one building where residents can have one goldfish and another where the only pet restriction is that birds are not allowed.

There are numerous places downtown to walk dogs and even a small off-leash dog park up against CHS field. Mears Park has “pet areas”. Lowertown is pretty close to the river with the parkland and trails.

I pretty much know the pet rules for every downtown building which saves a little time.

Downtown Condos take longer to sell

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

The downtown condo market has mostly recovered from the housing market crash and great recession. Distressed condos were bought by investors who rented them out. I have sold a few condos that were owned by investors and are now owner occupied. There is a lot more downtown than there was during the recession, especially more luxury rentals.

It takes longer to sell a condo in St. Paul than it does to sell other types of homes. An average of 40 days to sell a condo anywhere is the city,  vs. 25 days to sell a fee standing type single family home and  it takes an average of 44 days to sell a downtown condo.

months supply
Months supply of condos

There is a 3.4 month supply of condos on the market downtown. The average sale price is around $211k. Right now there are 57 units on the market which is about the same as September 2016.

People who do not know downtown should tour several condo buildings before deciding where to live.

Old on the outside, newer on the inside

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
brick turret
Historic brick and stone

I know my St. Paul condo buildings because I have seen the inside of many of them. What is historic on the outside may look like it was built in the 1980’s on the inside.

The original woodwork was replaced with blond oak and the floors are carpeted. The “old world” charm can not be found on the inside. In fact sometimes there isn’t anything charming about the interior.

There are several buildings in downtown St. Paul that were factories or warehouses that were converted into condos. The kitchens are all new but the buildings still have exposed brick and timber.

They don’t look like they did when they were factories but they look historic and authentic. The developers restored unique historic features rather than just gutting the building and starting over.

There are a few great old buildings that are disappointing on the inside because they were chopped up and made into small apartments that don’t make sense. Who wants a north facing condo with one window?

Historic preservation districts have rules about how the outside of a building has to look but no rules about the inside.

Associations and condo docs are a pain point

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Sometimes condo associations hire management companies to take over the tasks involved in running an association like collecting monthly dues, managing the bank coordinating repairs, maintenance, construction projects and managing and storing all those condo documents.

Part of the sale process in selling a condo involves getting condo docs to the potential buyer. In the olden days not all that long ago sellers used to have to pay for these huge piles of paper that were given to the buyer. Today these documents are usually stored electronically and sent out via email which should save money and speed things up.

Some of these management companies charge what seems like a large sum $300-$500 dollars for the documents the owners need so that they can sell their unit. Some of the documents never change and just need to be stored and sent out. Other documents like rules and by laws may be updated periodically but not very often. Condo owners do not usually find out about these fees until they have to sell and have no choice but to pay them.

Usually the documents are needed quickly after an offer is received. The management companies charge an extra fee to expedite the order. Sellers should order the documents as soon as they know they are going to sell.

The resale certificate includes financials and other items that need to be updated monthly. I totally understand why there would be a charge to prepare such a document but since it is part of the management company’s job to keep the information up-to-date the charge should be small, like less than $100. It is in fact the job of the association to keep records.

Some of the management companies and condo associations are difficult to deal with to say the least. I know some of the people who are employees in one management companies because I have dealt with them so many times. I have learned how to go around the worst employees to avoid rudeness and possible delays in closings of the condos I sell. I have been known to go to their offices and wait when they won’t return phone calls or respond to email messages.

Managing an association is a lot of work but hiring a rude, slow and bureaucratic  management company might not be the best solution.

Summer flowers
Summer flowers

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