My first home was a townhome. It was the right choice and perfect fit for me as a first time home owner. In my opinion, looking at what you get with the HOA is super important. I didn’t have a huge emergency fund, so the fact that the outside stuff, like the roof, wasn’t my responsibility, was a huge relief. Home maintenance can really add up. It was also great because the yard work was also part of the HOA, which saved me from having to invest in yard equipment. HOA dues can and will go up. Eventually mine went up so high it no longer made any sense for me to stay there, when looking at the cost of a SFH. I was there 7 years and by that time had fixed some stuff up and had significant equity that I was able to sell and purchase a nice SFH.