[Maestro]

Here is my experience on Townhome and it was our first buy as well. As MediaArtist said, they tend to not hold their value, true, but when markets fall and that seems to be the on going trend right now, townhome value usually drop first but not as much followed by SFH but they tend to come back faster then SFH. Also if you had to move and the value is down, they are usually much easier to rent than a SFH.

I agreed having to pay the HOA fees was a pain and saw no value in it since I usually did all my own work. However after many years of having my own place and going through some crazy weather that destroyed the yard and such it is costing a lot to replace it all. Homes can be a lot more costly. If you have a good HOA and they maintain everything all the time you will never get into the big costly things. Also, one thing you need to look at especially with HOA who take care of the outside of the townhome like Roofs and streets and stuff, make sure they are collecting reserves on ever HOA payment. If they are not, you could be in for one large assessment when major repairs are need like everyone's roof needing replaced in 20 yrs.

My HOA had did a pretty good job of collecting and investing reserves they only thing they did not do well was factor in inflation, so they budgeted $100K to do the roofs when they hit 20yrs but it really cost $120K their estimated was 10Yr old. So the 150 Town homes were hit with a $20K bill, but they broke it up over 2yr which was easier to take.

When you buy a place with a HOA they should give you the budget and you want to look at it closely to make sure they covering standard maintenance as well as reserving for the big ticket items.