Buying a condo in Chicago

[Sung Park]

Hello everyone, this is my second post. I learned a lot from my first post thanks to this wonderful forum. After some thoughtful consideration, I am leaning towards getting a condo for primary residence/investment. Since me and my gf are both working in the loop 10min< commute is just too hard to pass by. I have been looking a lot of condos and it seems like 250k is an average price for a 1 bedroom condo. However, looking at the costs, it seems like it will be around 2500 to 3000 dollars in mortgage interest, HOA etc. Whereas rent is around 1800 dollars. I really want to get my first property and it seems like prices are going to rise soon so getting into the market seems like a reasonable idea. 212 w washington st condo seemed very good but too many units and a lot of them in the market seemed like something was wrong. I could use any advice or suggestions. Thanks again in advance.

[Michael J Scanlon]

There are some condos with higher HOA's but certain buildings have much lower. I would suggest finding a building where the HOA is useful and covers things like your utilities rather than a pool and gym. These are nice features but rarely have positive ROI. 235 Van Buren is a great example. All utilities except electricity are covered including basic cable I believe. So the HOA being in the 400's suddenly feels a lot better. I would aim also for a 2-3 bed condo and rent out an extra room or two while you live there. 1 bed condos are tough to cash flow on.