If you’re a buyer in search of affordable housing for your first purchase, don’t overlook condominiums as an alternative to the highly touted 3-bedroom, 2-bath single-family house. In most areas, a condominium provides many of the benefits of homeownership without some of the home-care hassles.

With most condo communities, there’s no mowing of grass, repairing roofs, watching for leaks or sealing the driveway, as all of these repairs are customarily taken care of by the condo owners association.

True, with most condo developments, you won’t have the usual space for a backyard barbecue, but you will find the benefits of equity growth in your home, interest and tax payment deductions on your federal tax return and the pride of homeownership. My first home was a condominium, followed by a single-family purchase a while later. (They also make for good rental investments, as many condo owners have held onto their first purchase while they move into a larger home the second time around.)

The comparison chart below of five large metropolitan areas, shows the average prices of single-family houses and condominiums. Though Chicago shows that condos can actually cost more in the Windy City than their single-family counterparts, other areas demonstrate the usual differentiation between stand alone structures and condominiums.

The lower prices will obviously require smaller down payments and incomes. But condos also require condo fees, which usually pay for services (trash, water, grounds care, etc.) you would pay for separately in a single-family property. Some financing critics even wonder why mortgage providers still count the condo fee against the owner’s debt load, since the services paid for are not counted against borrowers who are buying non-condo properties. Condo fees can run several hundred dollars per month in most starter-home developments.

As you purchase a condo, you’ll need to understand some of the differences in this property compared to a single-family property. First of all, you’re buying only your walls, ceiling and floor. That’s it. You own the walkway, parking lot and common grounds only as a member of the condominium association. To have the hallway leading up to your condo recarpeted or painted, or to fix any other part of the common areas of your develpment, you’ll have to petition the condo association board of directors – usually operated by volunteer condo owners. Most of the time, however, the board is already taking care of those things using the funds from the condo fees.

The association will also have some very strict rules on what you can and cannot do to your own personal part of the whole. Despite these rules, condo ownership is like living in an apartment, but you now make the decisions on the interior. You can paint, carpet, remodel or even gut the whole place if you like (and within the guidelines of the condo rules). But like the ownership of a single-family home, you also have the responsibilities of homeownership. If the hot water heater goes out, it’s now your responsibility, not the landlord.

The condo lifestyle can get many first-time buyers who have found themselves priced out of the larger piece of the pie with at least a starter home. Depending on your location, the price of condominiums can provide more buying power than trying to move into a higher-priced community of single-family homes.

Published: July 12, 2002

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Mr. Carr has covered real estate since 1989. He is the author of Real Estate Investing Made Simple. Got a personal real estate issue? Post your questions and comments at Anthony’s blog: commonsenserealestate.blogspot.com.