I live in Gainesville, Florida which is a die hard college town.  People live and breathe the Florida Gators, whom by the way, are playing in the Final Four today!  Go Gators!  Anyway, this town is saturated with over-priced apartment complexes.  Lately, the trend has been for these apartment complexes to get converted into condos. 

My wife and I have been seriouan on sly considering buying a condominium, but after taking into account all of the extra money needed to spend on a condominium, we end up paying a bigger monthly payment on our mortgage than renting.  I understand that I am building up equity, but a 30 year mortgage does not offer too much equity building if you only plan on living in it for 2-3 years. 

The kicker is that these condominiums are selling anywhere from $125 - $150 per square foot!  I think that is just ludicrous, but at the same time, I do not want to rent anymore!  My wife and I have been talking and debating about this for about a month or so now, and we just do not know what to do.  Here is the breakdown if we bought a 2/1 800 square foot condominium

Price:  109,000

Mortgage Payment @ 6.75%:  about $630/month

PMI:  $40

Association Fee:  $125/month

taxes: about $130/month

Insurance:  25/month

The Association fee and PMI are what makes this not a good deal.  I hate association fees, but even worse, I hate PMI, because I have never had trouble paying my rent.  Is there any way to get around this besides putting more money down?  I really don’t know if this is a good investment for us or not.  On one hand, I know that it will appreciate.  The condos are right across the street from UF’s medical hospital.  We would never have a problem renting it out if we could not live in it.  But on the other hand, we would have to put quite a bit of money into it to fix it up and keep it maintained. 

If anyone has some good advice about buying condos, please comment!