October, 2017 | Cincinnati Condo Connection

5 Condo Open Houses to see this weekend!

Looking for an urban condo in Cincinnati? Check out these 5 buildings and all they have to offer this weekend!

The Edgecliff

The Edgecliff Private Residences is a great place to have a condo. Being in the heart of Walnut Hills means that you are close to Mt. Adams, Hyde Park, Oakley, Downtown and more. Being near all of those areas means that you can enjoy all that they have to offer, including restaurants and shop, parks, as well as the sports stadiums in Downtown.

Come see the two 2bd 2ba units available and all that they have to offer on Sunday from 1:00-2:30.  2200 Victory Parkway

See units 1607  and 2104

The Dominion

Want to live in a beautiful urban condo? Well check out The Dominion. Just blocks away from OTR, within walking distance to all the best things Cincinnati has to offer including sports stadiums, fountain square, restaurants, shopping and more! Residents will enjoy high end luxury living in these beautiful urban condos.

There are open houses this weekend for 3 different units. They offer exposed brick, quartz counter tops, stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, concrete floors, an open living area, a private patio and more!

Come see these gorgeous condos on Sunday from 12:00-1:00.

The Regency

The Regency is a stately Condominium building located just 7-10 minutes from Downtown Cincinnati on 14 acres. Residents can enjoy convenient shopping and restaurants being close to Downtown and Hyde Park. The Regency offers a private park like setting while being within the city. It’s walk-able to Hyde Park Square and close to I-71. Many units are quite large and have beautiful views of the golf course at Cincinnati Country Club and surrounding Hyde Park area. Some even have city skyline views.

Come see what The Regency has to offer on Sunday from 3:00-5:00!

Unit 609 will be open. 2444 Madison Rd.

One Mercer

Located in the Over The Rhine Historic district, One Mercer is in an up and coming neighborhood featuring a rich heritage and diverse population. One Mercer is in the heart of OTR and close to everything that Cincinnati has to offer. Get to Findley Market and the Riverfront via the street car, or just enjoy life from your beautiful corner balcony!

Come see #204 condo Saturday from 11:30-1:00!

Trinity Flats

Trinity Flats are condos located in the Gateway Quarter. They are within walking distance to everything in Downtown Cincinnati including the restaurants and bars in OTR as well as Findley Market. The condos include hardwood floors, stainless appliances, and a great location!

Come check out this 2 bedroom 2 bathroom unit on Saturday from 2:30-3:30!

Schoolhouse Lofts in East Walnut Hills

Come see this 1525 SF one bedroom condo two blocks from DeSales Corner.  It’s in a renovated schoolhouse and boasts two turets and 12 foot ceilings.  This condo has low HOA $290 and comes with a garage.  The building has an elevator.   Unit 42 which is being offered at $225,000 will be open Sunday from 11:00-12:30.

Buying a Condo? Get the Facts

 

Buying a condo is a little different from buying a house.  You are buying into a community and delegating management and maintenance to others (the board and the manager).  I often think that you are becoming business partners with your neighbors.  I consider this a good thing.  There are more resources to draw from and you can keep things together even when you have big life changes that may take you way from day to day maintenance and management of your property, however; you want to make sure that the other homeowners have similar values to yours.  If it’s a luxury building, most of the owners will want things to be in top top shape and you will pay to keep it that way or you may be in a building with mainly first time home buyers or retirees living on very small budgets who may be more interested in doing the bare minimum and deferred maintenance could be an issue.

Get the Documents

Declaration, By-laws and Rules and Regulations: It is your responsibility to get these.  If you are working with a real estate agent they will likely request these as part of the purchase contract (offer), however; there is no reason that you can’t review these before placing an offer.  These are legal documents that describe the property and how it will be run.  You and your real estate agent should be able to read understand them but don’t hesitate to have an attorney look at them if you are not comfortable with them.

 

Financial Statements:  You’ll want to review the annual budget so you can see where the money goes and understand the financial priorities of the community.  You will also want to see the income statement for year to date or previous year.  This is sometimes called a profit and loss statement.  This will help determine how good they are at sticking to the budget.  The balance sheet will give you a picture of the assets and liabilities of the HOA.  How much cash reserves are in place for large capital improvements or maintenance issues that my come up.

Meeting Minutes:  Whether the HOA board meets monthly, quarterly or annually, you will want to see what the topics of concern are for them.  Generally the larger the community the more often they meet.  Request minutes for the last year.  Your real estate agent or the management of the community should be able to get these for you.  The community is required to keep minutes of their meetings.

Talk to the Stakeholders and Professionals

 Residents:  Find out if you already know someone that lives there or a friend of a friend.  They will be able to tell you what the culture of the building is like and if they like living there.  If you don’t know anyone, ask your realtor to help you find someone.  Every community has their doers, complainers and regular people who just enjoy living in the space.  Make sure you know which type of person you are speaking with.  In other words a complainer might be a good resource to help you understand where potential problems may be but they may also be someone who always finds faults with the community,  The doers are a good resource who may be a bit more positive and have better facts.

Management: The manager may be onsite or offsite.  The manager may also be another resident or a professional property manager.  They will often give you good insight into how the building is run and the culture of the building. They can provide you with more in depth information. Ask them if they’ve done a condo reserve study to determine what will need to be repaired or replaced and when.

Board members: They will be the most knowledgable resource about the issues.  If you have concerns about anything that you found in the financial statements, meeting minutes or conversations with residents.

Lenders:  Financing a condo with a mortgage is different than a regular house.  Your lender will consider your ability to pay the HOA payments in addition to your principal, interest and taxes. Also not all condos are eligible for FHA financing.  It’s best to find a local lender that understands condos.  Your realtor should be able to help you with this.

 Insurance Company: Condos are usually much less expensive to insure than a home since you are usually just financing the interior of your condo.

Home Inspector:  Get a professional home inspector to conduct a full inspection of the condominium.  You will want to learn the condition of the appliances, electric, plumbing, HVAC and more. Even if you don’t plan on asking for anything from the seller, it’s a good idea to get an inspection so you have a n understanding of how things work and what might need to be done to make your home functional for the future.

Maria Walley

 

Condo Envy: Park Place at Lytle Park #701

 

Entrance

This is my current favorite condo on the market in Cincinnati right now!   This must be seen in person as the photos really don’t capture the feel of this spacious loft.  #701 is a  corner unit on the 7th floor. It’s not so high that you see  the roofs and mechanicals of neighboring buildings but high enough to get the light and the views.  You can see Mt. Adams, the Stadium, Lytle Park and the tiara of the Great American Building.

View from Living Room

It’s a designed  in a contemporary loft style but still very inviting.  It’s a very large 3,100 SF condo with an open floor plan but there are still enough rooms to have privacy.  This was originally two units.  The current owner was the listing agent that was working with the developer to sell the condos and chose these two units to be her home and is now selling it after 12 years of enjoying the space.

Park Place at Lytle

 

I love that there is a nice office that is tucked out of the way and a nice master suite. It features his and hers bathrooms and walk in closets.  It also has a man cave outside of the unit and two storage spaces. The man cave could be a workshop, art studio, large wine cellar, craft room or whatever you want it to be.

Park Place at Lytle is one of my favorite condo buildings in downtown Cincinnati. I think people overlook this building and that is a shame.  I like that it’s in a quiet part of downtown that feels residential.  You can easily walk to the riverfront or the central business district as well as OTR.  It’s close to entrance to Columbia Parkway and I-71 so it’s very easy to get where you need to go.  And your local pub is The Top of the Park at the Phelps/Residence Inn.  It gets better, if your local is too crowded, Park Place has it’s own rooftop garden, a great place to socialize with your friends or neighbors.  The Polk Room is a nice place to host a party, although with this condo, I don’t know why someone wouldn’t host an event in the spacious condo itself.

Roof top of Park Place

The building has plenty of amenities.  It features two guest suites, a nice gym, garage parking, 24 hour concierge and onsite management.  With 126 units it’s large enough to support all of these amenities but not so large that it feels like a hotel. One of the other benefits is that there are plenty of households to cover the maintenance of the building so the HOA is quite reasonable for a 3,100 SF condo. It’s $1,190 per month.  It’s one block from the University Club and Queen City Club and next door to the Taft Museum.  Lytle Park is across the street for those who have dogs to walk.

Lytle Park

This unit was designed by Maris Bernard and features beautiful cherry floors, neutral walls and lots of granite.  3 fireplaces, one in the bedroom, living room and the sitting room.

It comes with three garage spaces and is currently listed at $995,000.    See the listing detail for more information and hurry up and book a showing with me before this wonderful condo is snapped up. 513-235-3996

Maria Walley