When shopping for condos you are looking not only at the units but at the buildings and the grounds—the “common area”—and also at the services provided by the central management.

Here are some things to be careful of:

• Pet policy: many condos prohibit pets completly, many allow pets of a certain type (“cats only”) and/or put size limits on the pets (“dogs no more than 30 pounds”).
  
  
• Many condos have community laundry rooms rather than washers and dryers in the units.
  
  
• Parking is a very serious problem at some (not all) condo communities. It is not only a question of how many spaces convey with the unit. There is also the question of how many visitor spaces there are, where they are located in relation to your unit, and whether there may also be street parking spaces reasonably close to the units. You should ask and observe closely, because in some cases parking is such a problem that Kit has recommended against even considering the community.

There may also be much to learn from talking to other residents of the condo. Kit strongly suggests that you do this, knocking on some doors if necessary, asking some open ended questions of people you meet. A good question is: “What do you like best about living here?” And, or course: “What do you like least about living here?” These questions will uncover all kinds of positive and possibly negative aspects of the particular community.

Call Kit at any time with questions about a particular building you are considering. Often he will know, or can find out, the answers to your questions.