Condo Advantages

Mike Eberts’ Speaking Out on the benefits of living in a condo (Sept. 17) made sense to me.

I particularly agree with the statement that condo owners can, unlike most middle-income homeowners, virtually pick and choose what neighborhood they wish to live in.

Most of us, I think, have a somewhat fallacious notion that the kind of house you live in is more important than the type of neighborhood or, to extend the analogy further, kind of community you live in.

Within the urban area, whose neighborhoods and communities differ so greatly in such quality of life factors as crime, insurance rates, pollution, traffic congestion, etc., I believe one should pick environment first and structure second. That is, unless your goal is primarily to pursue real estate speculation, which, obviously, many L.A. area homeowners do as “second careers.”

Of course, good neighborhoods are often where the highest values are, too!

I don’t think living in L.A. has much of a future for many people. But condo owners--and renters--at least have some consolation in that they can afford to live in the few pockets of desirability.

WILLIAM L. SEAVEY

Sierra Madre