Do not buy a condo in this building. It looks nice from the beginning but it will slowly turn into a nightmare.
Let's say for some reason some day, you'd like to move out and rent this place. Here are the rules of rental:
1. Pay $200 for "processing paper work" and running credit check. First off, what does "processing paper work" means - no one has given me a good answer on that despite transferring me to many parties. And why does it cost $200 to do something vaguely defined as "processing paperwork" and running a credit check. Other buildings cost $20 per person! It is clearly a way to suck money out of people.
2. $150 elevator fee. This is not a deposit. It is an upfront payment. It cost $150 to use the elevator? I have moved into condos before and they charged me $100 DEPOSIT, refundable if I do not damage the common areas.
3. $30 for a plastic key that cost like $1 to manufacture
4. $500 if you want to process the paper work and credit check within 30 days!!!!!!!!! It takes them an extra $500 to process 3 pieces of paper if you want it within 30 days????
5. And countless other fees.
They do this because it is to no cost to the building if the owners cannot rent out their units because the building continues to receive assessment from the owners. And if renters get put off by bad service, they can simply walk and owners stand to lose all that rental income. On the flip side, if owners want to rent out their units, they have to cough up all these fees to persuade renters who will be put off by it so the building is receiving that as an income which the owner is trapped with because they OWN the place and there's nothing they can do. The building inserts itself as a middleman, by demanding all these fees, but it does not provide a useful service. They said they run the "paperwork" and "credit check" but all they do is to pass it on to the owner - that does not cost $200 to be processed after 30 days or $500 additional to be processed before 30 days. It's just ludicrous.
Talking to these people are like banging your head against the wall. They give vague answers, are clearly uneducated low paid employees who are worse than call center attitudes you get when calling People's Gas whose representatives are located in Delhi.
The worse it, I have to wait 30 days for them to process the paper work by which time move in date is 2 days away. I started apartment search more than 2 months ago. in 2 weeks, I found this place with a landlord I really like. But because of this "middle man building" they have made it so difficult for us. They will not tell me the results of my paper work before 30 days, which brings me to the end of my current lease. I HAVE TO KNOW WELL AHEAD OF TIME OR I NEED TO GO LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!! And if I do go look somewhere else, I do not stand to lose that much but the poor landlady does - $900 in rental income every month!
This, my friends, is a crappy condo management, which uneducated crass employees. You can walk away from it. But once you buy, you're trapped because no one else would want to buy from you in the future. read more