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Comment by alistairSH | Hacker News Reader

In the US, owner-occupied flats are called condominiums. And ground rent exists as "condo fees".

In my area, condo fees are often high enough to make buying a condo a strange proposition - you really must want to live in a multi-unit building because mortgage+fees > mortgage for a detached dwelling.

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It happens slowly.

Typically the condo board is in charge of contracting a management company who they give the fees to in order to keep up the place.

Said condo board is typically made up of retirees with the time to do it and they're less sophisticated than the management company.

Over time, the fees go up while the management company skates by doing a little less each year.

Some places have the worst of both worlds in the form of HOA dues. You pay yearly for the upkeep of common areas that are so far away from your front door that you never even see them unless you make a special effort.

Oh yeah, I know all about those! I live in Reston, VA, one of the early planned communities. I live in small townhome development, with it's own "cluster" dues (paid quarterly), then I have the Reston Association fees (paid annually), special district real estate taxes, and county real estate taxes. Quadruple whammy of taxes/fees! And four levels of incompetence to deal with!

Maintaining your detached building isn't free, and condos are typically a feature of denser, closer-in land where a similar quality detached house would cost considerably more.

The local high-rise has condo fees in the range of $1000/month on a $800,000 unit. Even adjusting for amenities, it would be hard to get to $1000/month on a detached.

With a household income in excess of $250k to afford that $800k condo, the labor you’d spend mowing the lawn, gardening, coordinating repairs, etc. could easily be worth that much.

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