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Updated almost 9 years ago on . Most recent reply

Condos? Good first time rental?
Hello everyone. I'm a brand new investor and have started looking at homes for sale in my area. I see a number of relatively low priced deals in decent areas, but many of them are condos. I ran some of them through the BP calculators with very conservative numbers and the returns were still very good. They seem attractive to me because I can afford the down payment on many of these deals with my own money.
Is there a catch with condos? I know there is an association fee but is there anything else I should look out for? Are they a good investment in my situation or should I hold out on finding a good deal on a single family home? Thanks!
Most Popular Reply

my first unit was a condo, it's been profitable and pretty easy to deal with.....and....I would never buy another nor would I recommend it.
- the HOA fee alone sucks. it builds no equity and you have little control over changes in price. and it cuts into cash flow
- the hoa can put on special assessments (although I have never had one)
- the hoa can simply be a pain in the *** if someone living there is out of spec or they have restrictions that make renting trickier
- condos generally don't appreciate (in my experience) like SFH because they have to appreciate as a whole, which is harder.
not the worst possible investment, but since I have owned mine I have seen no benefit over my SFH and I have less control over it