Condos come with another problem: you don't own the land. The condo itself is a depreciating asset unless maintained and money is put into the unit and the building. You're also exposed to the risk of the area becoming less desirable, newer condos being built nearby, general economic trends, mismanagment of the property, etc.

A condo will have an HOA which is responsible for things like fixing the roof.

However, not all HOAs are actually financially responsible. So they might raise monthly fees, issue “special assessments” (lump-sum charges that can be $10k+) or take on loans. And they decide when they will do that.

Condos may, and quite often do, have enormously expensive maintenance issues that the condo owners are quite unaware of until the last moment and will have to shell out for via special assessment from the condo association. Example from personal experience: very soon after moving into my condo, cracks were discovered on the other side of the building. They were investigated and it turned out that the building was made from substandard concrete. All exterior facing concrete needed to be replaced or the building would fall down. To pay for the fix, there was a special assessment that I needed to pay into, and to add insult to injury, for 2 years I could not use my theoretically beautiful view from the balcony and windows - it was all jackhammering and concrete dust.

Which ones? Mortgage, real estate costs, repairs, maintenance are all still there with a condo.

My gut feeling is that repairs and maintenance cost more with condos than if you own a home and you're handy to fix minor stuff and know how to find good contractors for bigger jobs. I imagine condo jobs becomes more difficult and contractors charge more for those jobs. But I don't have data to back my hunch. Condo has extra issues in dealing with neighbor problems (issues with garbage, pets, unpaid fees, noise, etc...) and you have to maintain shared spaces (hallways, elevators, etc...) and you end up paying for that via your condo fees.

Condos basically just force you to pay for the ongoing maintenance that the author mentioned, but with the downside of not actually having any control over the quality of the work or the decision making process at all unless you're on the condo board.

Condos are generally the worst of both worlds, because you have almost all the responsibilities of homeownership combined with nearly all of the restrictions of renting an apartment.

There's a reason they appreciate significantly less than other types of property.

Yes, but so are some of the advantages (e.g. "More space and a quieter environment"). It's somewhere in between home ownership and apartment renting on the spectrum of living situations.

Owning a condo can be quite scary financially. If the building itself needs expensive repairs, the condo board can pass those costs down to the tenants.

You may own your condo, but the condo board can also hit you with a 6-figure bill for building repairs and aggregate maintenance. Enough to force you to get a new loan, even when you might still be paying your mortgage.

And if the tenants take issue with these kinds of bills (they frequently do), they can tie things up while things get worse and more expensive to repair.

This was actively a problem for the tenants at the center of the Surfside condominium collapse, with maintenance needs directly related to the problems that resulted in the collapse.

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