Renters Wait As Condo Conversions Stall
(As the condo conversion market continues to slow, many renters are left in limbo as the county and individual planners decide whether to convert certain apartments into condos. )
A condo conversion occurs when an apartment unit is spruced up and changed into a condo that is for-sale.
The condo conversion craze of the past few years is now beginning to slow down, and renters who got a notice saying their apartment is one of the ones to be converted, and they could either buy it or move out, are finding that the conversions may never even happen.
A September 25, 2006 article by Liz Neely and Lori Weisberg of The San Diego Union Tribune, “For renters, it’s all about the waiting,” looks into how many renters throughout the county are waiting to see what is going to happen to their apartments.
“As the rush to convert apartments to condominiums winds down, some renters are wondering what has become of the projects that threatened to push them out of their homes. Rules vary, but once a building owner gets a city's approval to convert, there's no timeline for when an apartment building will be renovated into a condo complex. The waiting can be unnerving for renters.”
It seems as though more and more renters throughout the county are in this limbo stage, where they received a notice from their property manager or other authority, but nothing has really followed through.
This has left many people worried that they will have to pack up and move on any given day, which can be a tremendous stress for many people who already carry a heavy financial burden.
But as the condo-conversion market continues to slow for a variety of reasons, it seems as though people who received notices of conversion recently may really have nothing to worry about. Developers and building managers are putting many projects on hold due to the slowing market, and waiting to see what is going to happen in the long run.
“Twice in the past three years, Stephen Whitburn, 42, has been forced to move out of apartments in Hillcrest and North Park when the owners informed him the buildings were to be converted. Whitburn thought he was fairly safe in his current North Park apartment complex until he once again received a conversion notice last year.”
“Although the owners have assured him it is unlikely they will convert the rentals to for-sale units, Whitburn is skeptical. ‘I don't have a lot of confidence in what the apartment owners say,’ said Whitburn, who is the public affairs manager for American Red Cross Blood Services.”
Many renters are upset with apartment managers who did not inform the tenants about a planned conversion before they moved in.
“Hilary Backus, 43, of El Cajon moved into his Mollison Avenue apartment in January. Two months later, Backus was told it would be converted into a condo. It's disappointing, Backus said, because he, like Whitburn, had asked the apartment manager if a conversion was planned before he signed a lease. Backus didn't want to move again, having just relocated from a complex next door that went condo.”
Renters may just have to continue to wait as the market starts to level out, and project managers decide whether or not to go through with these conversions.
