Nov 16, 2007

Condo Conversions

With today's high price of homes and rising price of new construction condos, one of the most attractive alternatives has become condo conversions. Conversions are old apartment buildings that have been remodeled and updated to be resold as condos. This has lead to a huge boom in the lower-priced condo market as conversions are ideally suited to supplying a more reasonably priced alternative to new construction condos and single family homes.

One of the main reasons that conversions have become so popular is the ready availability of old apartment complexes. Typically, conversions are aimed at the first time and entry-level buyers, so if you find yourself in this category; you may want to look into the possibility of a condo conversion. Most of these complexes offer a great array of extras and benefits that are associated with condo ownership such as strong community living, owners associations and shared cost of building upkeep. One thing that may be absent in a conversion is some of the newer "hot assets" that many new construction complexes offer such as health spas and the like.

This kind of condo is a favorite of real estate speculators and conversions are indeed tailor made for investing. The relatively cheap asking price (many for around 90K in some areas) is almost guaranteed to appreciate quickly as the demand for housing increases. In fact when this kind of condo goes on sale many times there are limits to how many one person can purchase. That is a great indication of the worth of these units for investment. Many investors purchase such units on the basis that they will appreciate and they will be able to resell them for a nice profit, however; many also purchase with the plan of renting the units out. This is a great way to build your equity and have a property pay for itself in the process. Condo conversions are not too hard to find so get out there and start searching, your new conversions could be waiting!

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