Yeah. We know we won't get a house that nice. It looks like it is going to come down to how much work do we want to put in.
I am also slightly afraid of a condo/townhouse. They are building a lot of them so know a few years how hard will it be to sell it. Not to mention it sounds like the HOA fees are pretty expensive.
Another option in that spectrum is a Zero-lot line...essentially like a duplex, but each side owns their own half. You don't need to have HOA fees, then, and the only issue is if the roof or siding ever needs replaced, you're sharing costs. Although I've seen some where they kind of offset the roofs a bit, so they're separate planes and you could replace just one side or the other, but then the concern is the other doofus doesn't replace his side and it leaks into yours.
Which is why when we bought one, we bought it brand new, and sold it like 6 years later. (well, that and we needed more bedrooms for littlest 00clone.)
We also found one without a finished basement and finished it while we lived there (but we hired it done, I'm not a fan of DIY, we toured a LOT of houses that were CLEARLY DIY jobbers...yeesh). We bought at the height/end of the craze in 2004 and sold in 2010 in a decent, but not hot market for essentially a push, which means we didn't make a lot, but we also saved whatever we'd have paid in rent in those years.
And I get you on building a lot of them...when we sold, we were one of probably 10-15 zero lots for sale in a 2 mile radius. But we accepted an offer 7 days after it listed. We did that by standing out. First, when we bought, most zero lots in the neighborhood would slam 3 bedrooms into a 1200 sf main floor, but ours had 2, we put a 3rd in the walkout basement, so it didn't seem so cramped. Likewise, we hired a realtor who specialized in staging, and she did a lot with very little expense to make it look it's best. Heck, she even gave us lamps, artwork, and some tables to use for staging.
The other thing I'd say if you're getting into a situation like that (condo, townhome, zero lot)...find out about the attached neighbors. We didn't and had a little annoyance at first from the neighbors partying. Thankfully, they had kids soon and it died down. They moved out and a retired woman bought it, and that did help sell ours as well. A retired couple bought ours as well, and they asked who the neighbor was..."A retired woman" was enough to help seal the deal. Granted, you can't control it after you buy, but it's something to consider.
