Should You Buy A Condo Or A Single Family Home?

Considering buying your first piece of property? Let’s go over the differences between purchasing a condominium versus purchasing a single-family home. 

Condominium

This can be a great first home purchase as it allows you to start out small! You’ll be able to get the feel of what it’s like to maintain a home without having to worry about the home maintenance of an entire home. In addition, one great perk to owning a condo is that you’re only responsible for the inside of your place—the community typically takes care of everything else. This brings us to the next upside of owning a condo: the luxury of not having to keep up with lawn and yard work, which can get pretty expensive and can require a good deal of physical labor on your part. If you’re planning on moving to a new state, buying a condo can be a beneficial option since you’ll be able to get a sense of community (more so than you would get just living in a single-family home). You’re close in proximity to your neighbors, and condos most often have community amenities where it gives you a chance to meet your neighbors! Not only that, but condos tend to be located in busier areas where shopping and restaurants are more accessible. While there are a ton of perks to owning a condo, keep in mind that the convenience of having less maintenance to do and having more amenities available does come at a price: HOA fees (for more on HOA’s, be sure to check out on Pros and Cons blogs). However, listing prices are typically cheaper for condos than single homes depending on the location so the fees may even out for you—plus, even single-family homes can have HOA fees tacked on.

For those of you who may currently be renting an apartment, you’re already essentially living in a condo—you just don’t own it yourself. So, if you find yourself liking the apartment lifestyle and not minding the limited space, then why not purchase a condo in your name and start earning equity instead of paying your landlord’s rent?! After all, less upkeep means more time to enjoy your amenities or even travel!

Single-Family Home

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If you prefer more privacy and are okay with a bit more maintenance, single-family homes are the way to go! When deciding to purchase a single-family home, there are various factors you need to sit down and consider, with three of the biggest factors being budget, size and location. When it comes to budget, you’ll need to consider all the costs into your budget—not just the down payment, monthly mortgage payment and closings costs. You’ll want to calculate in the property taxes, maintenance, HOA fees (if included in the community you’re purchasing in) and insurance, etc. One of the biggest reasons why you may want to consider a single-family home over a condo is: more privacy. Yes, the houses in the community are often close together nowadays unless you’re buying out in the country, but you’re not sharing walls with another family. In addition, you’re able to add your personality into the way the outside of your home looks unlike with a condo and can customize it to match your lifestyle (hello pool addition, outdoor kitchen, playground, fire pit, etc.)—in HOAs, this may be more limited in terms of say paint colors, but you can still mostly customize your home landscape to your liking. Keep in mind, when owning a single-family home, you will have to oversee your own home maintenance though (in some HOA neighborhoods, the community may offer lawn care services). This includes managing the upkeep of the exterior of your home and yard and handling repairs whenever something breaks in your household. Since your home’s value is partly dependent on how well you maintain it, you’ll want to keep your home in tip top shape and may want to consider home improvement renovations as time goes on—even if your first home doesn’t end up being your forever home, you’ll be able to get a better return on your investment when you decide to sell if the home was well-maintained.

Now to decide: condo or single-family home?

When weighing your options, be sure to think about your budget, what’s important to you in a home & whether you’re mentally and financially ready to purchase a single family home or if you want to give it a test run with a condo to make sure you’re meeting your payments. Once you figure out what is best for you, our Home1st will be here to help you start your journey (and tell you all about our awesome first time homebuyer programs)! Ready to take the next steps now and find out what you qualify for? All it takes is 60 seconds or less on the right of your screen to complete our quick form or give us a call at (407) 330-7566!