Condominium Communities - The difference between a condominium and an apartment complex is purely legal: there is no way to know a condominium from an apartment simply by looking at or visiting the building. What defines a condominium is the form of ownership. The same building developed as a condominium (and sold in individual units to different owners) could actually be built someplace else as an apartment building (the developers would retain ownership and rent individual units to different tenants). As a practical matter, though, builders tend to build condominiums to higher quality standards than apartment complexes because of the differences between the rental and sale markets.

Types of Condo Ownerships- There are many forms of real estate ownership that are similar to condominiums but not identical.

Classic privately owned detached houses on privately owned lots may be part of a community that has a homeowner's association. Such an association may administer a common park area, for example, or an access road, or architectural standards for the houses.

Learn About Condos Homeowners Associations - A homeowners association (HOA), whose members are the unit owners, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership. The concept exists under various names depending on the jurisdiction, such as "unit title", "sectional title", "commonhold," "strata council," or "tenant-owner's association", "body corporate", "Owners Corporation", "condominium corporation" or "condominium association." Another variation of this concept is the "time share" although not all time shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of (i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute. Among other things, the HOA assesses unit owners for the costs of maintaining the common areas, etc. That is, the HOA decides how much each owner should pay and has the legal power to collect that.