Condo Living 101

Desirable Condominium Attributes

What to look for: Desirable Condominium attributes

• High owner-occupancy rate (minimum of 51%)
• Stable monthly condominium fee
• Sufficient capital reserves (as evidenced in 5 year capital improvement plan)
• Strong, professional condominium management team (both on-site and parent company)
• Active, involved condominium Board of Directors
• Well maintained common areas
• Association rules regarding occupancy, parking, pets, etc.
• Independent utility meters? Pros and Cons:

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Sssshhh… Keep Quiet!

Have you realized the importance of respecting your neighbor especially if you live in a condo or an apartment? Please don’t allow your children to scream and run up and down the hallways. As cute as it may seem to you, it annoys everyone else in the building. If this is something you let your children do, you might know why nobody talks to you. There is nothing wrong with walking around your apartment, but some people don’t have a clue how nosy it is when you walk on your heals. If you have people living below you try to walk softly and on your toes.

The Lightning of Your Condo

Generally in most bedroom uses sconces or table lamps either side of the bed is sufficient for general lighting with a ceiling mounted fixture for occasional use. If the ability is there, a series of 4-6 recessed pot lights on a dimmer can replace a ceiling mounted fixture for a modern aesthetic and provide flexibility in lighting options. If further lighting is needed for wardrobe systems, purchase art lights and hang them from the top of the wardrobes for localized task lighting. If a makeup area requires lighting, install a light bar above a mirror. For lighting at a sitting area, use an adjustable floor lamp situated just behind the chair, away from the side table lamp.

Easy Lifestyle

Most condo living is easy to maintain and dust are unlikely to be present on coffee tables, china cabinets, and entertainment centers.  As an alternative, buy double-duty furniture like day beds that can turn into a sofa and other decorative chest for storages. Unnecessary items can be stored on these and allowing more space as well for other things. The other side is that little spaces blow up anything that is less than white-glove dirt free.  If you forget to make your bed for example or clean the floor, you need to do quickly so that when you arrive with a visitor you’ll have a stress free environment.

Living together

The word condominium came from the Latin words ‘con’ which means together and ‘dominium’ which means property. This makes condominium as common property which is shown between people who live in a condominium. In condos, there are lots of families sharing the same building but they live in individual units. There are area where they gather such as lobbies, cafeterias, pools, activity rooms and gardens. Condo life is more complicated that living individually because you share property with yourself and you must learn to live and tolerate people living with you. Thus it is important to know what each one can do and cannot do so that you could live in harmony within shared property.

Feng Shui for Condos

Do you believe in Feng Shui? It is the art of placing right objects at the right areas of your unit so that you would activate good Chi or universal energy. By doing so, you will receive good luck, sustain your relationships, experience good physical, emotional and mental health, and have success in your endeavors. On the internet, Joey Yap discusses how to make use of Feng Shui in apartments and condos. You will learn the basics of Feng Shui, the rationale behind furniture arranging and how to do it yourself. Try it out now and see if it really works for you.

Screens – Or the lack thereof

Window screens more often than not prevent insects from entering your condo or home but they can be a source of dust should they not be regularly cleaned so vacuum them regularly or wash them down to remove stubborn dirt. They can come in steel mesh, aluminum mesh, plastic or fiberglass, the later two being prone to decay when exposed to direct sunlight but the first two will also suffer corrosion as time progresses.
Do you know that dirty window screens can prevent fresh air from getting into your home, leaving it warmer than usual? Keep them clean so you get the benefit of less energy on cooling and warming, allowing air from the outside to normalize with the air within or outside.
The small things we do can indeed help mother earth in the long run for the smallest things can amount to a lot when combined with the rest of the earth-friendly measures you and others take.

Recycled Insulating Products

One of the most expensive parts of the home is the insulation which keeps the warmth from the heating system in during the colder months and keeping the cooled air within during warmer months. There used to be widespread use of cellulose wall insulation that is basically virgin paper trimmings mixed with an adhesive and some preservatives that prevents pest infestation but now, there are more recycled cellulose fillers that are good as the virgin pulp products and are very much environmentally friendly.
They are blown into the walls as they are being put up, just before they are closed up with all electrical and plumbing fixtures and pipes (please include access panels and provisions for additional installations). Adding more that you really need in terms of electrical conduits, greatly reduces the need for extensive work on the walls when they are indeed needed.

Earthy Homes – Efficient Homes

There is a constant revision of the way our homes are constructed and what do you know, we are again turning to technology that has been in use for millions of years till now in impoverished homes in Africa and elsewhere. A move to make earthen homes again all the rage is one of the the best solutions to the energy crisis for the many enticing advantages these homes offer us. First, they are made of dirt and straw so they can be way cheaper. They can be made to work with current modern framing technology, that can only get better with the advantages of a better understanding of what needs to be addressed. They are naturally insulated from external temperatures so they mostly maintain a proper balance of moisture making them a joy to live in. You may have to trim down on the painting and rich colors for they work best left natural hence they may lose their insulating properties. Earthen homes was one of the earliest forms of home construction that served our ancestors well, why can’t it serve the same purpose for us now?

Green Roofs – Worth It?

The many concrete buildings and structures we have been erecting since the beginning of the industrial revolution are not only some of the most polluting structures but some of the most drab and lifeless we have ever come up with. In an effort to bring more green into our city’s, planners and building administrators are studying the feasibility of green roofs or gardens that allows the green to return while we keep our concrete jungle below. Property owners have been finding that developments besides such green roofs are more favorable and clients often haggle for a view of such structures. Continue reading Green Roofs – Worth It?…