While searching for Chesapeake Bay real estate for our customers, we frequently hear the words “but we don’t want a condo.” Condo, is probably the most misused word in the real estate dictionary and most home buyers do not understand its true meaning, probably because amost of us found it a convenient way to catagorize an apartment style home that is owned instead of leased.

A condominium, or “condo,” is strictly a form ownership. Years ago, ski and other vacation resort developers constructed multiple dwelling units for purchase, and they devised the condominium concept to establish a means of managing and operating them independently, after completion. From the very beginning, this concept was misunderstood and the word condo came to mean any multiple unit residence, further reinforced later on, when condominiums were constructed as apartment style buildings in urban areas.

A condominium is the whole collection of individual home units along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home ownership is confined to the interior space of each unit. Anything outside this boundary is held in an undivided ownership interest by a homeowners association. Anything outside of this boundary is referred to as “common elements.”

All of the individual homeowners have shared rights to these common areas, such as the elevators, hallways, pools and clubhouses. Maintenance of common elements is the responsibility of the condominium association. Every owner owns a share of interest in the condominium association, plus an obligation to pay monthly dues for normal upkeep or special assessment fees for special needs.

In summary, a condominium may be a detached house, townhouse or villa, a high rise or low rise building, an office suite, a retail store, commercial space or even a boat dock (dockominium). The next time you want to find a Chesapeake Bay property, be sure and ask your real estate agent to inform you of any ownership regulations if the property is a condominium.