Why More People are Saying Yes to the No Maintenance Lifestyle

New England's seasons can keep us busy; we're boating and off to the beach in the summer and hitting the slopes during the winter. If skiing isn't your thing maybe you prefer to travel. If you don't like the beach there's always camping or time to be spent at the lake. Most of us can agree that a major downfall of living in the northeast is the seemingly constant household upkeep; whether it's shoveling, raking, pruning, or mowing, there's always seems to be a chore preventing home owners from doing what they love to do. 

There's been surge in demand for maintenance free living in the past ten years. Prospective buyers are opting for condominium living because their home owner's association organizes and takes care of the home maintenance that they would be in charge of otherwise. Condominium residents like that when they're on vacation, they don't have to worry about calling their snow removal company if there's a storm.  

Oftentimes the expense of maintaining a single family home surpasses the annual condominium fee for a similarly sized residence. Typically, condominium fees include: roof maintenance and replacements, exterior paint, security, landscaping, snow removal, trash removal, master insurance, and even more in some communities. Condominium associations enjoy the advantage of spreading the costs of such routine expenditures over the entire number of units, as well as the power to leverage their annual expenditures by aggressively negotiating with vendors. More good news is that condos are being built to "live" less like apartments and more like free standing homes. Even if you share a wall with your neighbor, there is technology available that will limit or even eliminate neighbors hearing each other.   

Condominium living does not have to mean down-sizing or losing your privacy. There are complexes to accommodate any lifestyle or family, it doesn't matter if you're a family of seven or if you and your spouse are retired. My best advice to those considering maintenance free living is to do your research and work with an experienced real estate agent.