Should a Young Professional Buy a Single Family Residence

Saturday's Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about the growing ranks of single female homeowners. The author quotes a letter from her father about some of the pros and cons of homeownership for a single female.

Buying offers "the ineffable qualities of ownership"—that is, presumed emotional rewards—but at the cost of immobility, lost investment returns and continuing expenses (taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance), which, for a $300,000 house in Newburyport, add up to $18,000 a year, or $1,500 a month. That is for a single-family residence bought for cash. Condos, in his opinion, are merely "buying into trouble; just one difficult owner can be a costly misery" (though he concedes that large complexes with professional management have much less potential for problems).

Renting, by contrast, offers more pros than cons: greater mobility, no continuing costs, no maintenance responsibilities and investment returns on money not spent on ownership—which, in Norma's case at least, could likely cover her rent. He cites the downsides as "no ineffable qualities of homeownership" and "other tenants." (The mortgage tax deduction gives a slight break to homeowners, but not so much as to make a real difference, and generally only those with high incomes itemize their deductions anyhow.)

I have written a post on why I would not recommend that young professionals buy a single family residence as their first property. 
In many areas a duplex or triplex is marginally more expensive than a decent single family residence. As well, properties that have 1-4 residential units are more readily financed as an owner-occupied dwelling. Some properties would allow the owner to rent out the units at a rate that would allow them to live almost rent free. 
If you are contemplating your first real estate investment as a single person, a duplex, triplex, or fourplex as an owner-occupant is an excellent way to go.