Friends of Laska,
In my last post we saw that living in an average downtown Minneapolis condo costs about $870 more than living in an average house in south Minneapolis. However, if you look at some of the direct benefits of living in a downtown condo you'll find that this figure may be closer to $500. Let's take a look.
Transportation. The average family owns 2.28 cars. Living in the denser downtown neighborhood, numerous transportation options (commuter rail, light-rail, bus, bike and walking) make it easier to drop down to 1 car. There are many things you used to drive to that are now only blocks away, including restaurants, bars, convenient stores, banks, grocery stores, theaters, stadiums and more. We did it and couldn't be happier. And, as you can imagine, this means less money spent on transportation costs.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Consumer Expenditures in 2009 the average transportation expenditure was $7,658 or about $638 per month. This figure includes purchase costs, gas and oil, insurance and other associated costs. Over the past year I have added up all costs for our one car and came up with a cost of $438 per month, a savings of $200 per month. There is a VERY conservative estimate as some put the cost of owning one car alone at over $6,000 per year.
Lawn care and snow removal. Living in a condo, we pay for all mowing, landscaping, raking, weeding, pruning, trimming, shoveling, salting, etc. in our association dues. If you were to pay for these services at your home, you could easily be looking at a bill of $100 per month if you averaged the costs over a year.
Security. At our building, our associations dues pay for 24 hour security with a guard on duty around the clock. A comparable service from ADT would cost about $36 per month.
Other facility advantages include a shared grill, fireplace, picnic tables, game room and social room with additional kitchen. We also have a cleaning service which vacuums and washes our hallway carpets, cleans common bathrooms and maintains other common areas. I don't think I'd be a stretch to say these benefits about to $30 per month or more.
If we take these benefits into account, our $870 difference is now about $500, which is still a sizable sum. So why would we still live downtown then if we are are paying $500 more per month or $6,000 more per year?
Stay tuned for Downtown Condo Costs - Three....
