Townhouse as a starter home - good or bad idea for a millenial CA

[Elena Z.]

Hello,

I am looking to buy my first home in Los-Angeles or Orange county, which is in a state of RE bubble right now. Housing is very expensive, but one has to start somewhere. Currently renting but plan to live in CA for the rest of my life because I switched careers (from law to modeling and acting). I am not rich as of yet. Houses I can afford are not in very attractive areas. The only way to buy into a more or less desirable area is to buy a condo or a townhouse. But I am worried that a starter home idea means buying and then trying to sell down the road while being fleeced by RE agents in transaction fees again an again as well as having hard time finding a buyer (somehow SFR houses unlike townhouses are more popular and sell fast). Or is it better to rent until one can buy a house he or she likes to live for the rest of one's life if one likes access to a garden or backyard as well as much needed privacy and noise isolation.