Condominium Investment Quotes

Any investment that has become a topic of widespread conversation is likely to be hazardous to your wealth. It was true of gold in the early 1980s and Japanese real estate and stocks in the late 1980s. It was true of Internet-related stocks in the late 1990s and condominiums in California, Nevada, and Florida in the first decade of the 2000s, as well as bitcoin in 2017.

Be careful of investing in condominiums. Condominiums most often have a board of directors made up of homeowners. Homeowners and investors do not always see eye to eye.

Overall, I only recommend investing in a condominium if it is the only type of residential property you can realistically obtain financing for.

I advised a friend to buy a condominium for $65,000.  She qualified for an FHA loan and only put $1,200 down. A year later, she sold it for $105,000 and bought a 4-plex apartment building. She then transitioned into a 6-unit apartment building, and finally into a 12-unit complex. By 2005, she had made $770,000 on her initial investment.

There are many important decisions where you may be tempted to select the first possible solution. In all of these, some effort spent creating alternatives that provide a nudge for your decision will likely be a wise investment. Examples include purchasing a car or a condominium, finding a new primary physician or a specialist, choosing a firm that will manage some aspects of your small company (e.g., taxes, payroll), or selecting an individual as the main contractor to build or remodel your house.