Condo Life -- Chapter 1

I said Chapter 1, because I've been telling my friends for years that some of the happenings of condo life could make for some wonderful sitcom scripts. I won't jump into all the details in this post but mentions a few odds and ends to "set the table".

About seven years ago, I moved from my apartment near the lake (Edgewater) to Albany Park. I don't miss much about that building, I do miss having access to the lake (via walking distance) and some of my old neighbor friends.

My apartment then, just announced they were going to convert from apartments to condo's. Since the building (as well as the plumbing, heating, etc) was turn of the century, I decided to condo hunting. It was a gorgeous building, but all I could see was years and years of special assessments.

After looking around for weeks and weeks I eventually I happened on Albany Park. Our building was one of the first in this neighborhood to become a condo -- it was even featured in the Chicago Tribune. It's previous life was one of abandoned building / crack house -- now it had been gutted, new AC, heat, plumbing, and that 80 year old exterior, it was the best of both worlds.

The neighborhood had already considerably changed since I had been there previously, I was to learn later of some of the thuggishness of the 'hood still around, but overall I believe my choice was a good one. The value has increased nicely, even with the bubble burst it's one of my better decisions.

This year of condo life has several wonderful stories -- I have to ponder which ones to share first.