Condos vs SFH Comparisons

[Brian Dudash]

For some reason I didn't think to look into condos in my area but based on my numbers, it looks like getting condos is better than SFH - whats the catch? Now for the great debate!

Googling around, this topic is talked about quite frequently but I want to get some BPers who may have experienced doing something what I'm about to explain or if you completely advise against it. I know one of the big downsides of condos is the HoA but even taking that into account, I can get 2 condos for the price of 1 decent SFH. The other potential "gotchas" could be the HoA board rules for things such as are you allowed to rent/lease it out and re-sell potential/issues but the ones I'm specifically looking at do mention that you are allowed to rent it out.

The condos that I've been looking at are listed for around $50,000 each (rent ready) and some of the SFH's I've been looking at are for around $100,000 (rent ready).

The cash needed upfront is ~50k (per condo - pay cash) and ~30k (per SFH - would come with mortgage)

Insurance is slightly cheaper for the Condos

Property tax is much cheaper for the Condos (avg ~1,200 per Condo and avg ~2,600 per SFH)

HoA fee does help cover parts of the CapEx for the condos (avg HoA per year is $1,200)

Average rent: for each Condo would be $750/month and $1,100/month for SFH

I estimate that 2 Condos (paid for in cash) would generate ~$8,960/yr (w/out PM)

I estimate that 1 SFH (25% down, 30yr mortgage @ 4.625%) would generate ~$1,855/yr (w/out PM) and for comparison sake, if I paid cash for this SFH ~$6,715/yr (w/out PM)

Am I missing something? To me, 2 condos looks waaaay better than 1 SFH...? I feel that if I can find these type of Condo "deals" that it would only take about 8 to get to my milestone number of $3k per month of net income compared to many more for the SFH (~19 or 20 SFH's)