Condo life

Clearing the Snow this Morning

I enjoy condominium living.  I have been here a little over four years and look forward to many more years.  Last night it snowed, just a heavy dusting, and this morning the maintenance staff was out shoveling the entryway and walks. People complain about paying the association fees, but when I add up the value of everything that I get, it is a decent value.  I have owned homes since 1982, but last mowed the grass about a decade ago.  I hate mowing grass.  For the last 10 years I lived in Florida I paid a lawn service, we have hired a lawn service for the house in Kentucky four years ago.  I have had a couple of roofs replaced, dealt with exterminators and landscapers for years.  It costs a lot of money to keep a house looking good.  When I add up the value of lawn service, water (including hot water,) front gate security, building security, sewer service, trash collection, exterior building maintenance, keeping the entryways clean, fresh carpet in the halls, the paint on my front door touched up every year and the snow being shoveled, it is worth every penny.  I pay for amenities I under utilize, indoor and outdoor pools, even a private bowling alley, but they are there if I want to use them.

There are moments when condo living is not perfect. I have upstairs neighbors who like to drag furniture across the floor late at night and there is the crazy lady downstairs (who shouldn’t live in a condo) who shouts at people for walking past her patio - a patio that is adjacent to the front door to the building with 250 neighbors living in it. Once a year, someone’s dog or cat will run wild in the hallways. And living in a 30 year old building that was marketed to “empty nesters” dead neighbors are a fact of life and death.