Why is Buying a Condo so Difficult?

Now that is a good question... why is buying a condo so difficult? Have you ever felt like there are so many condos, so much to know and really no where to turn to get the information? About two years ago my wife and I were at Home Depot on a sunny, summer, Sunday afternoon when I finally decided that I was totally over living in a house. I was tired of always having work to do and always hanging out at Home Depot while all of my friends were frolicking at a lake, park, et cetera. If you have lived in a house I am sure you have been in this position. So... my wife and I started driving towards down town Seattle determined to find the condo of our dreams... or the condo of our dreams that we could afford.

When we "arrived" in Belltown we found ourselves sort of lost and confused... and we know real estate really well. We are seasoned investors, I have bought and sold over 30 properties in the last few years and here I am in Belltown totally lost(blocks from my home on Queen Anne). We literally couldn't find more than 1 property to look at. There were no signs and no way to find a condo for sale... Also, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a condo vs an apartment building, commercial space or even a hotel these days. Have you been in this position as I have? If you were looking for a house you can just drive the streets and look for signs... condos are just totally different. There are often no signs literally or figuratively...

I started feeling like the condo world was this little cult where by some people had the information and I couldn't get it unless I could find these people. Since I couldn't find anyone in the "cult" worth speaking with I realized that most agents no very little about condos, in fact the average agent has sold maybe 1 condo and has been in probably less than 10 condo buildings. It is just very difficult to find agents that know the condo market compared to finding an agent that specializes in the residential market. So... we started a little company called CondoCompare.com to bridge the gap between condo buyers needs and the current gap in access to information.

Our site is built to help simplify the condo shopping process and great agents to guide you through the buying process. We have live MLS data and we give you the ability to compare condos side by side and size each building/unit up based on a bunch of different criteria. We hope you enjoy it and we certainly hope that we have bridged the gap between the potential condo buyer and the cult of the condo market...