Condominiums

Benjamin Chiang nearly lost the chance to refinance his condominium when his lender discovered that many other people in the building were behind on their condo association dues. "It made me a little peeved that my loan depended on the credentials and behavior of my neighbors," said Chiang, who bought his Arlington, Va., home eight years ago. Condo owners share more than roofs and lobbies these days. They also share one another's financial burdens.

Money is already tight at the Wilshire Condominium, and new lending rules threaten to make life even more difficult for it and other condos around the country. Arthur Barr, a board member of the Wilshire homeowners association, estimates that 30% of the owners in the 378-unit building in North Miami Beach are behind on their fees. That makes it difficult to pay for things like elevator repairs and gardening.

It was May 2005, the giddy days of real estate, and Diane and Anthony Cordova had sold their 1,800-square-foot, two-bedroom town home in Westwood after just one open house. Their plan: to move into not one new home, but two -- a dream house they would build out in Palm Springs, and a one- bedroom pied-a-terre in the city. They had already pounced on the condo -- a rundown 1970s fixer in the heart of Brentwood -- a few months earlier.

The London-based owners of the former Robinsons-May department store property on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills said Tuesday that they wanted to reduce the number of condominiums in their planned $1-billion residential and retail development, replacing them with hotel rooms. "We plan to go back to the city and ask for approvals for a five-star hotel," developer Nicholas Candy said. It would be about the size of the Peninsula Beverly Hills, he added, which has 196 rooms.

Saving up for a brand-new condo that's move-in ready? Just want to turn the key and unpack your boxes? Condominiums are a popular alternative to single-family homes because of their relative affordability and low upkeep. But with little construction on the horizon, there will be fewer newly built units to pick from down the road.

The City Council on Friday approved both a 23-story condominium tower on the site of the vacant Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Hollywood and two billboard-sized signs on the building's south and west sides. The 305-unit project was approved despite objections from critics who argued that it had received too many exceptions to the city's planning and zoning rules, such as the location of the "supergraphics" -- signs to be stretched across vinyl on part of the building's exterior. The council simultaneously approved a higher density for the project and fewer parking spaces.

They sit atop downtown buildings like beacons: Marble bathrooms glistening, glass wrap-around patios gazing out on the city and high-end ranges awaiting their first speck of gourmet food. The penthouses that crown many of downtown's high-rise condos and lofts were conceived in a different era, during the last real estate boom when the sky seemed the limit, even on the gritty streets of the city center.

The top two floors of a Century City residential tower still under construction have been sold for a record $47 million to Candy Spelling, the widow of TV mogul Aaron Spelling. A $47-million price tag may seem like an enormous sum, but this is all about downshifting in the fast lane.

When Don and Gigi Maurizio set out to gut and redo their condo in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, they didn't have to hold a yard sale or haul stuff to a thrift shop or the dump. The Claremont couple simply alerted the staff at La Paloma, the gated development where their beachfront condo is located, that whatever was in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit -- sofas, televisions, cookware, dishes -- was free for the taking.