Condo/Townhouse vs. House

I don't think owning a townhouse/condo is a bad idea and think it is a wonderful investment. DH and I bought one two years ago for the reasons you listed. We didn't want to buy a fixer upper and plunk every last penny we had into fixing it up know that we probably wouldn't even stay with that house!

We bought our townhouse which has increased by about $125K in the past two years. We'll probably stay another year or two. That money will now be a nice downpayment on a nice house, espeically with the salary increases we've had.

It's been nice being in a townhouse. It is about the same size in sq. feet as some of the smaller houses we had seen (starter homes). It only needed cosmetic stuff (paint, new rugs, etc.) b/c we didn't like the previous owner's old lady's style. I love not having to do all the gardening or shoveling or outside maintenence yet....we can just pick up and go! Plus, we have a pool, tennis courts, clubhouse with workout room/pool table/pingpong table/saunas, etc. Our development is a nice mix of older and younger people too.

My advice is to look at what developments you like, compare townhouses to homes, and decide. I know in my development the townhouses cost as much as houses, but don't require much work at all! If you find a development you like, stay on top of it...my development sells super fast!

Good Luck!

We also were thinking about buying a condo or townhome to start off with, but in my experience condos and townhomes are just about as much $$ as houses
There is the added bonus of no outside maintenance - no showeling snow! But for me I wanted my own big private backyard.
Look around at whats out there... your plan sounds good!

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Posted by julz33

We also were thinking about buying a condo or townhome to start off with, but in my experience condos and townhomes are just about as much $$ as houses
There is the added bonus of no outside maintenance - no showeling snow! But for me I wanted my own big private backyard.
Look around at whats out there... your plan sounds good!

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We found the same thing and went with a condo. Honestly, if my DH was more handy and could do the work himself, we would have bought a house for the same price as our condo. BUT, knowing how much money we would have had to pour into a home we could afford, a condo in great condition made sense. I am so glad we did--it is so nice not having to shovel or worry about maintenance. We plan on moving in 3-5 years before we have kids, but in the meantime this is a great way to get tax breaks from owning. There is a huge demand for condos in our complex--they often sell before officially listed. Our real estate agent actually said the demand for condos is growing even more than the demand for homes since younger generations and older seniors are looking for affordable housing that they don't have to maintain.

I totally agree with what everyone has mentioned. We just bought a townhouse and I'm very happy. I always wanted my private big yard but hopefully one day We searched and searched for a house but everything in the price range/area we looked at seemed to need so much work where as the townhouse, for a little less, was all new and comes with some nice amenities

Where did you guys buy your townhouses?
We just started looking (again), but not seeing the prices are any better than some of the homes.

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Posted by mv1003

Where did you guys buy your townhouses?
We just started looking (again), but not seeing the prices are any better than some of the homes.

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Ours is in Ronkonkoma. FM me for details.

I think a co-op or condo is a great idea. Condos will be more expensive generally so if you are looking to move into a house within a few years, a co-op may be more lucrative. I bought a co-op 2 years ago in Alley Pond (I NEVER thought I would move to....Queens!!) and I made a killing on it. I think this is the best option for young couples, and also gives you some free time as opposed to spending all weekend maintaining the house!!

we are strongly considering the condo/townhouse option now as well. we have started the house hunt and are totally put off with what is out there. come the spring selling season inventory should pick up, but then so will prices so we now going to check out condo/townhouses as well.

i initially did not want to pay more than 350K for a 2 bedroom condo, however comparing them to the 500-600K houses that are out there 350-450 for a 2/3 bedroom condo doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore. we will continue to look at both and eventually come to a decision...

ANY real estate is an investment. There will always be young couples just starting out looking for a place to live that they can afford We started out in a 3 bedroom townhome and in 3 years it is worth DOUBLE what we paid for it. Good Luck.

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Posted by Summerbride04

I've been considering this more and more lately myself. Me or DH aren't the most handy people so we rather move somewhere that doesn't require dumping tons of money into it to make it livable. Any websites dedicated to just condo/townhouse/co-op developments?

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You can do a search on mlsli.com and check off that you only want it to included condos/co-ops/and townhomes! Good luck!

We also wanted to buy a house. We started looking back in February and must have looked at 50 houses. Everything we could afford was small and needed too much work done. So we started to think about buying a condo a few months ago. We just figured it would be a good start. So we got lucky and we found a great 2 bedroom townhouse in a nice complex in our price range. It hardly needs any work. Just some new carpets and fresh paint. It is much nicer then any of the houses we looked at. So we close next week and I could not be happier. Also we are paying less for the mortgage on the townhouse then we would have paid for a house and won't be strapped. So we will stay here for a few years and when we want to start having kids we will be able to sell and make a profit and move to a house. So check out the condo/townhouse market. There are some really nice ones out there that are still affordable. I guess it depends on what you think is affordable. Good luck. I was just through the whole process so FM me if you ever have any questions. I am happy to help.

Kim

IMO...if i had to do it all again NOW...I would not bother buying a condo and go for a house. 2-3 years ago when i bought my condo the prices were much different than they are now.. All condos have gone up dramatically. You can't make the money on a condo that you once could..
BUT it is a great way to invest your money so that when you are ready to sell...you will get something back! But i am sure not that much if you are planning to stay there only 2-3 years.

I disagree with the last post. I've just read 2 or 3 articles, not including the wall street journal article on the real esate market and how it will continue to rise, and prices of houses, condos/townhomes and condos in 'hot' areas like long island, nyc, westchester, california, etc will continue to increase almost as dramtically as they have over the past 4 years or so. So although it may not be good news for potential young homebuyers, it is good news if your able to purchase real estate b/c you will still get a great return on your investment for the next decade or so. I cant imagine what real estate prices will be like on LI in 10 years!!

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Posted by dandg

I disagree with the last post. I've just read 2 or 3 articles, not including the wall street journal article on the real esate market and how it will continue to rise, and prices of houses, condos/townhomes and condos in 'hot' areas like long island, nyc, westchester, california, etc will continue to increase almost as dramtically as they have over the past 4 years or so. So although it may not be good news for potential young homebuyers, it is good news if your able to purchase real estate b/c you will still get a great return on your investment for the next decade or so. I cant imagine what real estate prices will be like on LI in 10 years!!

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the prices of condos cannot possible rise more than it has in the past 2-4 years...
My condo is worth almost double what i paid for it...i can't see it doubling again.
I have been watching the prices, since this is very important to me and they have stopped going up dramatically

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Posted by oct.2004bride

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Posted by dandg

I disagree with the last post. I've just read 2 or 3 articles, not including the wall street journal article on the real esate market and how it will continue to rise, and prices of houses, condos/townhomes and condos in 'hot' areas like long island, nyc, westchester, california, etc will continue to increase almost as dramtically as they have over the past 4 years or so. So although it may not be good news for potential young homebuyers, it is good news if your able to purchase real estate b/c you will still get a great return on your investment for the next decade or so. I cant imagine what real estate prices will be like on LI in 10 years!!

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the prices of condos cannot possible rise more than it has in the past 2-4 years...
My condo is worth almost double what i paid for it...i can't see it doubling again.
I have been watching the prices, since this is very important to me and they have stopped going up dramatically

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agreed, interest rates will go up and prices will stand still or come down a bit...some type of correction needs to take place...

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Not one person can predict whats going to happen in the next few years. Who thought we'd have this real estate boom 4-5 years ago??

IMO The beauty of real estate is the fact that it appreciates 99% of the time. So no matter what the economy is like, there will always be a demand for homes, townhomes, condos and coops. This is turn drives prices up. Maybe not as excesive as they have been the last couple of years, but you most always will make a profit of some sort.