10403 Forum Park Dr.

[porTENT]

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[porTENT]

Here's one for sale by Fed Nat'l Morgage.

Why would someone want to buy one of these properties? Does individual ownership of each condo make it difficult to condemn the entire property? Why would the existing owners hold onto something like this and for how long?

[sevfiv]

Whoah...so do you still have to pay the $230/month maintenance fee?

"Condos are not readily accessible. Condition is unknown. 2 bedroom 2 bath, approximately 1054 sqft. The whole complex has been abandoned for at least 18 months. No access & no utilities."

Looks like everyone moved up the road to the Winfield II condos (10110 Forum West)

[TheNiche]

Why would someone want to buy one of these properties? Does individual ownership of each condo make it difficult to condemn the entire property? Why would the existing owners hold onto something like this and for how long?

Eyeballing the Forum Park Phase I site, it looks to be about 4.2 acres. There are 120 units. So the average unit has a claim to about 1,525 square feet of land. And that's all that an owner should expect to receive, is land--net of the cost of demolition--at some uncertain date.

I don't know off hand what closing costs would amount to, or what kind of fee brokers would get, but no doubt it'll amount to a significant amount relative to price. Let's say that someone pays $5,000 in total (front end or back end, doesn't matter). That's $3.28 per square foot of land. And a maintenance fee of $230 per month will add $1.81 to that price for every year between the purchase date and the date that the land can be sold. And depending on the condo bylaws, there could be a big special assessment issued by the condo association to finance demolition, repairs, or some other significant expense. Also depending on condo bylaws, selling the property may require the consent of a supermajority of owners. That could be difficult to come by. Hell, even getting a quorum of owners present at a meeting is difficult--for condos that are lived in and in decent shape--like the one I used to own. Without a quorum, the meeting to decide whether to sell cannot be held.

On the face of it, owning a condo at this location seems like a bad deal. Maybe the land could be sold to an industrial developer for a warehouse or mini-storage...maybe. A sucker is born every minute, and sometimes one sucker is lucky enough to do business with another. I wouldn't touch it.