Here are a few things to investigate when you want to buy a condo in your location, at the Marina View Residences or wherever you might want to move to.
Will there be any future construction work?
If you are buying somewhere that still has ongoing plans for further development are you ready for what that means? Scaffolding, noise pollution, dust, lots of vehicles and more. You might want to check around the location of the Watten Estate condo or where you are looking to buy and then decide if you are happy with any work that is still ongoing or not. There is also the factor of what your view will look like when the work is finished. You might have a nice open view right now but when the new buildings go up that won’t be the case. What you could do if you love the apartment building and its location is to choose a condo knowing that it faces away from the work that will be happening for the next however many years.
Are there condos you can trade up to?
A lot of buildings have condos of different sizes to meet different needs and have a system where someone living there already can trade up or down when something becomes available. If you can live with a 1 bedroom condo now and there are 2 bedrooms that will come up in the next couple of years that suit you better that is something worth thinking about. It is not always the case that people want something larger, sometimes family moves out and our needs get smaller so you might be in a 3-bed place and want to downsize to a 2-bedroom place.
Is the construction done well?
You want to make sure the building work and the finishes in the condo themselves are done to high standards using quality materials and skilled labor. In general, you will find that new high rises (more than 6 floors) are built to better standards because the new laws require it to be so. Look at whether they are concrete, stell or wood-framed buildings, as wood will allow noise issues from neighbors to be more of a factor. Look at the windows and how many panes of glass they have. Older condo buildings have single paned windows which is worse for insulation and noise than newer places like the Marina View Residences
How old is the apartment building?
We have already mentioned a little about age but it is something worth focusing on. While it is not always true that new is better, when it comes to places like a Watten Estate condo it tends to fit. Older buildings have more wear and tear, they are also built to old and generally lower standards. New buildings tend to be the better choice when it comes to finding an apartment or condo to purchase. You will not have to do much to it and you can enjoy more time where you are not needing to help pay for expensive repairs. It is also easier to re-sell.