They got really big in the eighties with properties that were built specifically to be sold that way. You pay not-quite-as-much as you would for a house to get a place that's tiny, and then pay fees that are nearly-as-much-as-rent in perpetuity so that someone else mows the non-existant lawn. Well, actually the fees cover the insurance and stuff too, but they're mostly maintenance fees.
Once the real estate people saw how much money the condo folks were making they started taking apartment buildings, refurbishing them so that the heat and hot water, etc., no longer came through a single unit (which is damn ineffecient, energywise) and then selling the apartments as condos. The usual effect of which is to put the poorer tenants out on the street because they could manage to pay rent, but didn't have enough savings for the downpayment on the places where they'd been living for twenty years and more.
Ironically, at least half the condos in Boston are occupied by renters who lost their old apartments to condo-conversion. And they're paying twice as much rent! Gotta cover those condo fees somehow you know...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-07-01 02:58 pm (UTC)Once the real estate people saw how much money the condo folks were making they started taking apartment buildings, refurbishing them so that the heat and hot water, etc., no longer came through a single unit (which is damn ineffecient, energywise) and then selling the apartments as condos. The usual effect of which is to put the poorer tenants out on the street because they could manage to pay rent, but didn't have enough savings for the downpayment on the places where they'd been living for twenty years and more.
Ironically, at least half the condos in Boston are occupied by renters who lost their old apartments to condo-conversion. And they're paying twice as much rent! Gotta cover those condo fees somehow you know...