Small house vs. apartment

[TheStu]

I'd rather not say specifically but its central PA, not too far from Harrisburg.

I am in the same general area actually.

 

[Sismar]

I'd go for a small house versus an apartment.

 

[pontifex]

I'd go for a small house versus an apartment.

since its a townhouse, it would be almost the same as an apartment. didn't really think about that until someone here mentioned it.

if it was out in the country all by itself, then that would be perfect for me.

 

[2Xtreme21]

OP, just went through the same situation. Ended up buying a house for $84k. Single family home though.. not gonna deal with the shared wall + association fee BS. I could only put 6% down on the house (woulda put more, but the closing costs were a lot more than I thought... almost $7k), but my monthly payment for mortgage + taxes + insurance + PMI is $680. Really not that bad considering it's substantially less than rent.

I'm happy with my decision, but I'll admit, buying a house is a lot more work. An apartment is so simple-- you write a check for $x per month, hand it over, and you're done with it until the next month. Even though my house was sold in "move-in condition," there was (is) still a lot of work to do to get it to what I want.