YSK: If you are looking to buy a condo, you're going to have to budget in the monthly HOA fees which can sometimes be more than the mortgage payments on the condo.

I found what I thought was a great deal on a sky rise condo in a major city. I took half a day at work and drove down to where the condo was for a showing. Everything was looking great. Great view, fairly new construction, within my budget....until I found out that they charge a monthly HOA (Home Owner's Association) fee of $425. This includes things like maintenance of the property, snow and trash removal, and landscaping around the property.

I was crushed because that extra $425 put it out of my budget and as I started to look around more and more, I noticed every condo complex has mandatory HOA dues. Some are reasonable (~150), others are outrageous (I saw one listing have HOA fees at over $600). I didn't realize that that was a thing until I wasted my time to learn about it the hard way.