Three years later, while I'm still not entirely enamoured by the surrounding community where we live, I have to admit, I love our condo, and I love being closer to our family.
While we're still enduring the frequent thundering footsteps above us, the chain-smoking, screaming-at-each-other neighbours across the hall moved out last year. The original, inept property managers were booted out and replaced by a company/manager that's much more efficient. Our monthly fees have gone up significantly, but we knew they would (fees for new buildings are often deliberately kept low, at first, to attract buyers), and we're now confident that the building is getting back on a more solid financial footing. The endless roadwork/transit lane construction in front of our building is dragging on (& will continue for at least another year, UGH...), but on the other hand, construction on the 59 new townhouses behind us, which began right around the time we moved in, is (dare I say?? -- finally!!) almost complete. People started moving in last fall, and work seems to be winding down on the last block of homes (although the driveways & roads still need to be paved, and landscaping completed).
Condo living might not be for everyone -- but for those of us who don't have children, who don't need a lot of space and extra bedrooms for guests, who have brown thumbs and dislike mowing lawns & shovelling snow (especially as we age) and the other trappings of suburbia, it's a solution worth considering.
Previous relevant posts:
Condo living one year later
Condo living two years later
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
Three years? WOW, that went fast! I'm glad you're loving the condo if not the neighborhood, and the yelling chainsmokers are gone!
ReplyDeleteYes, what Jess said. Can't believe it has been three years. I wish we had more condos available, because I'd move into one in a flash. My husband would too. It would be the perfect "between" home until we move into somewhere more suitable for us when we are elderly. But they're expensive here, a bit dodgy in earthquakes, and there aren't enough! One of the reasons our country has a bit of a housing crisis, with ridiculous prices at the moment, is that we have very few apartments/condos (I don't know if there is a difference). It just has never been part of our culture. It needs to be!
ReplyDeleteThere's been a huge explosion in the condo market here in recent years. You see signs for new condo developments everywhere. People have seen it as a more "affordable" way to get into the housing market, but prices have skyrocketed to the point that they are almost as unaffordable as a house now!
DeleteHard to believe that much time has passed. I'm glad things keep getting a little quieter, less smoky, and less chaotic. Condo living is a possibility here for when we are ready to say goodbye to lawn mowing and snow shoveling.
ReplyDeleteIf I weren't 100% certain that my husband is going to outlive me, I would be shopping for my ideal condo location already. I wish I could have kept my tiny loft in Chicago - I loved that place, even with the occasional noisy neighbors (well, until that idiot next door moved in and took in her daughter's dog who did not like being left alone and expressed his displeasure by barking non-stop.) Sigh...who knew I would have to scrub siding or rebuild retaining walls because an animal dug them out?
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