Sunday, July 27, 2008

Things They Should Invent: parking space management companies (for urban condos)

Apparently it's really hard to sell a condo that doesn't come with a parking space, even in the city. But there are also lots of people in the city who don't have cars (and general urban and environmental planning wants more and more people to be carfree). So that leaves condo buyers in a dilemma: do they pay for a parking space that they're never going to use, or risk not being able to sell their condo when they have to?

Someone should start a company to fix this problem. The company would buy the parking space off the buyer at market value (no fuss, no haggling) and sign a contract under which they're obligated to sell it back to the buyer at market value upon request, and they're obligated to sell it back at market value to whomever buys the corresponding condo next. In return, the company is allowed to rent out the parking space and collect income from it in the interim.

That way the company gets to make some money by renting and flipping property, and the condo owner doesn't have to dump money into buying this parking space they're never going to use, instead being able to dedicate the money to buying more condo or paying off their mortgage faster.

Yes, the condo owner could rent the space out themselves, but not everyone wants to spend time and effort finding a tenant and making sure they pay rent etc.