Questions about purchasing single units of Townhomes and Condos

[Batista Thomas]

I am considering purchasing a single townhouse to rent out. There are three other units connected to the townhouse but they are owned by 2 other individuals and are not for sale. Only one unit is occupied and the unit we are thinking of purchasing is a foreclosure and there are HOA fees.

Does anyone have experience purchasing only one unit of a condo or townhouse? Is this a good strategy? Can someone with experience identify any reasons why not to purchase one out of four connected units?

[Lynn McGeein]

We own individual townhomes, with different owner/renters on either side. We do not like having no control of who moves in next door. We actually had an out-of-town owner in the next unit who rented out to like 17 people in a 3 bedroom, and police and social services were no help because they said no proof that many people live there (could be sister visiting with kids, etc.). By the time we found the owner and contacted him, they had destroyed his unit and our tenants had moved out. We sold all but one of the townhomes (end unit with strict HOA so no multi-families moving in) and bought single family detached. We also just purchased a condo to live in near work, our first condo, thinking it was a great deal (much cheaper than renting nearby) and a good rental when we're done with it, but we will be selling it when we leave. We are learning that condo associations just seem to be a whole new level of crazy from homeowner's associations in our other neighborhoods, and you cannot stop them from raising the fees and they seem to run it based on what's more convenient for the actual board members versus the strength and condition of the whole association, so we will avoid condos in the future as well and stick with single family detached or duplex/triplex if we get the whole thing.