Be Prepared

You are going to face many pitfalls when buying a new home, whether it's a single family home or a condo.  In both cases, we can never emphasize enough that you have to research not only the builder/developer but also the market and the location.  

If you build a $5,000,000 house in an area surrounded by $500,000 houses, you will have a hard time to resell it.  If you buy a condo (new or resale) near the express way or if the 'L' runs in your backyard, good luck to find a buyer. Most real estate agents never think resale when selling a property to a client.  I do.

I had a client at 3950 N. Lakeshore Drive. His unit was on the second floor and his living room was facing the compressors of the building.  I could not sell it although I had many showings in 6 months and people were impressed with the unit.  But it's a "buyer's market" where you'll find 200 more one bedroom for sale and many with greater views. We had no chance unless we gave the unit away. I asked my client why he bought the unit.  "It sounded like a good investment at the time", he said. 

When I bought my condo in 1999, I did not know much and relied on my agent to guide me. I thought he did, until I and 11 other condo owners got sucked into a lawsuit for 9+ years.  You probably wonder what's taking so long.  A bad lawyer and slow judicial system. The complaints against the developer were plenty: a covered parking that was paid for but never delivered, falling chimney, leaks in units, a non-conforming deck...  We asked a structural engineer to make an inspection and the needed repairs were approximately $300,000.  That's when the association decided to sue. The cost: $30,000 per unit. Don't rely on anyone but yourself to research all you can before writing the down payment check.