I would be very cautious about buying a condo in UTC. It’s a great area, and I love it. Given its proximity to UCSD, it should offer a strong rental market from the flow of students (likely high turnover though).

The reason I would be cautious is that during the housing boom, several large apartment complexes were “converted” to condos and sold. In some cases these were done well, but in many others, little more was done than changing out the carpet and repainting.

Several of the complexes that were being converted and sold were ones that I was familiar with from an earlier housing search when I was looking to rent in UTC. At that time, many of these suffered from poor sound insulation, mold and water intrusion issues, and had numerous building quality complaints on apartment review websites. I did look at some in person (before and after conversion), and I was not impressed.

If you are looking to buy a condo in UTC, do extensive research on the history of the complex.