In today’s episode, I’ll explain how a home with a “common element” can be different than a traditional condominium. It’s a subtle difference.
With a condominium, you own your “unit” which could be an apartment or a townhouse, and you own a proportionate share of the “common elements” surrounding that unit. In a high-rise building, this could include the pool, gym, parking lot, elevators, heating and cooling systems and water heater.
With a few townhouses in Milton, you own your home and it’s not considered a “unit”, but you share ownership and responsibility of a separate entity… usually a road. We sometimes call these POTL, which stands for “parcel of tied land”.
One of today’s homes is listed as a condominium, which is not technically wrong – you pay for garbage and snow removal on the road, which is privately contracted and maintained, and owning the home means you become a part owner of the road in a condominium corporation.
What I’m trying to say is that there are freehold homes, homes with common elements attached (POTL), and more traditional condominium properties (either high-rise or townhouses). The standard real estate forms to make offers on all three are different, and I believe from a listing perspective that there are some advantages to listing as a freehold and stating the common elements fee in the description instead of listing as a condominium townhouse.
I think buyers are much more likely to buy into a non-condo, if gives a side-by-side choice for the same price. Still, the home at 620 Ferguson is lovely, and I think they will do well regardless of how they’re listed.
More information if you are curious, can be found in this link:
There are a couple of good Westgate Corner models on the market – one yesterday and one today. It’s tricky when you’re selling identical floor plans as your competition… so this might be a good situation for a buyer.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! And thank you for watching our episodes.