If you are a first-time buyer, you will probably be able to afford to live in a better location by buying a condo than you would if you purchased a traditional single-family house. That is because you share the expenses — for example, of the landscaping and other amenities — with the entire condo community. You also share the high property taxes!

For the more than thirty or so years of its growth in this country, the condominium has been considered the starter home for the first-time home-buyer. Indeed, retirees and first-timers form the principal makeup of many complexes. For retirees, the attraction is smaller, more manageable living space; the amenities; and, to a lesser extent, lower costs than those of a house. After cost, the appeal to the first-time buyer is minimal upkeep. Many first-time buyers say they are busy with careers and do not want to spend their little free time keeping up with the demands of a house. They want fun, and if a condo community comes with a pool and other special features, so much the better. Young empty nesters are flocking to condos, too, also looking for a low-maintenance, more amenities-packed lifestyle.

The condo can free its owner from that rent-check-down-the-drain living style. It can give buyers a chance to buy something without sacrificing location, for example in a large urban area, where there may not be single-family houses located on the subway, but where the buyer may not want to give up his convenient city lifestyle. It can be a reasonably sound investment too, allowing a unit owner to later trade up to a house, if he chooses, or perhaps to a more expensive condo complex or location. However, if chosen for the wrong reasons or without sufficient thought, the condo lifestyle can prove to be unsatisfactory.