Comment Re: Another silly decision (Score 4, Insightful) 480
Definitely a good option in your case. In ours, we found a townhome that allows us to paint and do limited remodeling, and plant a garden. And if anything major goes wrong, we don't have to foot the bill. Oh, and there's rent control on the entire complex, so raising the rent is indexed against property taxes (meaning property tax would also be going up like this).
Other than as a financial investment, I really can't see the reason for buying a condominium though -- you pay just as much, and own no land (but still have conditions you must agree to about property use).
I'd buy land in a rural area if I could afford to live there -- but that's what retiring people tend to do, and it's bumping up the land value pretty much everywhere as the boomers retire.
The big difference between renting and buying is that instead of throwing away money to pay someone else's mortgage, you are building equity in your own property. You do "own" a portion of the strata if you bought a "freehold" instead of a "leasehold". The latter is rent free for a period that is usually 99 years and after that date, you lose whatever value you had and have to enter into a lease with the land owner.
