DC Cooperatives
Cooperatives are a form ownership that has many similarities and some differences to condominiums. Cooperatives pre-date the introduction of condos to the DC market as the first co-op, the Concord delivered in 1891. The 1920s saw a signficant number of DC’s apartment houses convert to cooperative ownership led by prominent DC developer Edmund Flynn. With a cooperative, owners buy shares in a company that owns the development, vs owning everything inside the walls of a condo.
In many cooperative buildings, the monthly fees include both the maintenance charges typically found in a condo as well as the utilities, property taxes and sometimes an underlying mortgage for the building. Buyers are sometimes scared off by the larger “all-in” monthly fees associated with a cooperative. Another consideration regarding cooperatives is that many have significant restrictions regarding owners renting out individual units.