Too Much of Everything: Condominiums

1 is very lonely number for New Jersey family that is the sole tenant of Florida highrise:

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — The Vangelakos’ southwest Florida condominium has marble floors, a large pool overlooking a river and modern furnishings that speak of affluence and luxury. What they don’t have in the 32-story building is a single neighbor.

The New Jersey family of five purchased their unit four years ago, when Fort Myers was in the midst of a housing boom and any hints of an impending financial crisis were buried in lofty dreams of expansion and development. They made a $10,000 down payment and eagerly watched as builders transformed an empty lot into an opulent high rise, one that now symbolizes the foreclosure crisis.

“The future was going to be southwest Florida,” said Victor Vangelakos, 45, a fire captain who planned to eventually retire and live permanently in the condo.

Most of the other tenants in the 200-unit condo didn’t close on their contracts, and the few that did have transferred to an adjacent building owned by the same company because more people live there.

If you’re thinking “Woo hoo! They’ve got the whole place to themselves,” think again. As sole owners they would also be responsible for all maintenance costs and taxes for a 32 story building. That’s one of the counterparty risks of condominium ownership. Maintenance fees and taxes are divided by the number of owners. If there’s a falloff in ownership everyone’s fees increase.

Previously – Too much of everything