Home, Land, Property Buying and Selling - Town home Vs Single family Home

I live in SoCal, and I am a first time Buyer...

Here the housing market is still expensive, and wages are still not keeping up :wall: . But now I am in a position to take the "leap" into home ownership. I have a good down saved up, and I want to make a sensible choice in my search :coffee: . Single family homes are still just a little too expensive for me, and Town homes seem to offer the opportunity of being reasonably prices, and not paying into the bottomless pit of rent. Town homes are popping up everywhere in my area (a suburb east of Los Angeles), and they seem to be a good choice. Are they really a good investment? or am I just mesmerized by the attractive price? Are there any tips that other Town home owners may have? Any other advice for this Newbie to the housing market would be great too! :thumbup: Thanks for the Help! :D

As a So Cal Realtor the big thing I try to remind my clients is first what kind of payment can they live with.
The downside to Townhomes is the often large monthly payments on Homeowners association fees. Have your
Realtor check it out for you.
Home prices are so excellent right now that
you probably can afford to by more home now as oppose to 1 year ago.
Talk to your Mortgage guy to get a sense of what really works in your budget. Then home shop in your price range.

it seems that modular home would also be a good choise. basically, a modular home will save u say 15%-20% cost, and has greader architectual freedom.
just a suggestion..

2 things to consider. A townhome still has some of the bad aspects of apartment living, that being neighbors on the other side of the wall. The other is that the resale may not be as good on the town home. A house will always be preferable to buyers. And how well does the homeowners association keep it up.

But it is better than paying rent.

In line with that, I would watch for restrictions on renters and if it is enforced. You wouldn't want to buy into a 300 unit townhouse development and in five years find out 200 of the units have been changed into rentals by their owners and the value of yours has gone down accordingly.