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much? New houses are generally worth more, but they tend to cost more, too. Developers often offer unique financing alternatives (discussed in Chapter 7), which may make a new house purchase more affordable.
    • Who’s this guy?! You might have to deal with the developer’s salesperson or representative, without the benefit of your own real estate agent to protect you.
    • Not time-tested. While it’s exciting to get a brand-new home, you’ll be the first to discover whether all the lights work, the dishwasher runs, the water heater heats, and more.
    • It will be done when ?! Developers don’t always finish houses when they expect to, and often don’t compensate purchasers for the delay. Instead, the fine print may release them of liability.
    • More rules? As we’ll discuss when we get to condos, some PUDs require all owners to live by a set of written rules. Short of selling, there’s often little you can do to get out of these rules if you don’t like them.
     

Sharing the Joy, Sharing the Pain: Common Interest Properties
     
    Maybe a traditional house isn’t for you—perhaps it’s out of your price range, you’re looking to avoid all the maintenance, or you want to live in an area that just doesn’t have many regular houses. In that case, you may want to consider an alternative, like a condominium (“condo”) or co-op.
    These types of properties are often referred to as common interest developments (CIDs), because they involve shared ownership or responsibility for common areas like hallways, recreation rooms, or playgrounds. How a place looks physically doesn’t really make a difference—any of these three might look like an apartment, flat, loft, or townhouse; old or new; in the city or the country. (Houses in PUDs count too, but since we’ve already covered those, we won’t include them in this section.)
    Are you picturing yourself out on the roof with a hammer, doing your share for the common good? Don’t worry, you won’t likely be asked to perform repairs or fix elevators. But you will have to become a member of a community association, which makes sure those things are done. Your monthly membership fee will help keep common areas in good shape and provide a cash reserve for unanticipated or larger projects like replacing a roof. If you want to actively participate in the association, you can attend meetings and voice your opinion—or even get yourself elected to the board of directors. If you don’t, you just write the check and hope the more active owners are like-minded.
    There are three types of community associations: planned community associations (for PUDs and townhouses), condominium associations, and co-op associations. We’ll point out any significant differences among them as we go.
     
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    What the association leaders do. Though every CID homeowner must join the community association, the board of directors handles the day-to-day work and decision making, such as coordinating repairs and collective services like trash pickup; managing amenities such as swimming pools, playgrounds, and tennis courts; preparing annual budgets; and conducting meetings.
     

Condominiums: Benefits and Drawbacks
     
    When you buy a condo, you buy the interior space of your home. Your walls, ceiling, and floors define your boundaries instead of fences and sidewalks. Everything in the common space—be it stairwells, swimming pools, sidewalks, or gardens—the whole community owns together and is financially responsible for. Some of the benefits of condo life include:
    • Affordability. A condo often costs less to buy than a house (although in major metropolitan or resort areas, the opposite is sometimes true). Maintaining a condo can also be less expensive, since costs that otherwise might be duplicated—like landscaping, roofing, and some insurance—are shared.
    • Convenience. If you aren’t into maintenance, you’ll appreciate that the condo association—particularly in a larger