Five Important Factors to Remember When Buying an Investment Property

Finding the dream investment property or the condo unit that you have been dreaming of is very exciting. That gets you ready to grab the opportunity to buy and finally have the nice feeling of living in your own condo.

However, buying a condo should also be a result of a thorough study as there is usually quite a significant amount of money involved. So you need to do your homework. You should consider the following important factors:

Location and Physical Factors

A major factor in condo-buying, just like when buying any real estate property, is location.

Are the surrounding areas peaceful, quiet or renter-friendly? It is worth the time to also ask some existing tenants or people in the location to know it better. The location determines accessibility to schools, hospitals, restaurants, convenience stores and banks.

Accessibility means whether those areas can be reached on foot from the condo within or below 10 minutes.

The condo’s proximity to amenities, sources of noise, garbage chutes, elevators’ noise and street noise is usually a big thing to consider.

How about electricity usage? Metered ones are ideal as no one wants to pay for the extravagant electricity use of his neighbor.

Developer’s Reputation

A developer’s reputation is always present in a real estate investing tips list. If you’re not careful with them, developers can give you terrible headaches in the future.

If buying during the pre-selling stage, your choice of developer will pre-determines if the developer will complete the condo project on time or not. There are cases wherein the constructions stopped because the developer ran out of money. It would be very difficult to get the money back if that is the case.

For ready for occupancy (RFO) units, the developer’s reputation determines if they are committed to help the owners in condo management such as installation of security measures, proper building maintenance and implementation of rules.

In the Philippines, there are many developers who have gained a good reputation in finishing their condo projects and are continually committed to the owners even in condo maintenance.

Human Factors

It would be interesting to check on the present owners’ delinquency rates in paying their association dues. Delinquency can be a sign of discontent or maybe the association is underfunded.

When examining a condo unit, check the amenities and the people. Are they polite or loud? Are they the type of people to be good neighbors?

For retired buyers, it is good to see some people around in their age. You may also want to look for the lifestyle terms of people in the surrounding areas.

Insurance Coverage

Real estate seminars would emphasize having a comprehensive insurance for the property. Thus, it is wise to examine the certificate of insurance as well.

See if the coverage is enough for the replacement costs of rebuilding the condo building. Understand thoroughly what the insurance covers, what the association takes care of and the buyer’s responsibility.

Also, it is wise to personally insure your condo unit and its items separately. If the insurance policy is difficult to understand, have an insurance agent explain it.

Amenities

A condo’s price can be expensive due to its amenities. Common amenities are swimming pool, function room, children’s playground, gym and others.

Make an assessment if the condo price is reasonable for the amenities. Also, check the population density or the number of people per unit area. This translates to the number of people who might use the amenities. The more people a condo building has, the lesser space is available to every owner.

---