Home Buying TipsKnow What Youre BuyingThe first rule of real estate: Location, location, location. It is imperative to choose your neighborhood wisely. During these tough economic times, this cannot be stressed enough. Your neighborhood is as invaluable as your homeprobably more. Why? For starters, your house is only as good as the houses around you. If you are investing on a property for rental, or even making a home your primary residence, thinking the future is crucial.Yet not everything in home buying is all about the location. The type of house you want to purchase is another important consideration because defining it dictates the other requirements: budget, mortgage plan, future renovations, maintenance, etc. So, lets not dally anymore and move on to the types of homes you might stumble upon during house hunting.1. Detached Single Family Home Along with the Co-operatives, detached single family homes are located on the far end of the residential spectrum. This type of home can be found anywhere and is typically defined as: a single, four-walled residential structure intended for one family and separated from other homes. Purchasing this type of home naturally makes you responsible for paying property taxes, utilities and mortgage.As an owner, you are also responsible for everything within the lot, including: insurance, maintenance and repairs. You are free from doing virtually anything you want on the property: inside and out. But although the full extent of autonomy can be tempting, you must remember that you are also accountable for whatever happens to the property. 2. Co-OperativesAlso more popularly known as simply, co-ops, these properties are owned by a single entity or corporation. Apartment buildings are common examples of co-ops. So, instead of purchasing the unit itself, you are actually buying a membership or shares in the corporation; this makes you part-owner of the building. Along with this part-ownership is the responsibility, not only to your own unit but, to the entire building, as well as its individual entities. 3. CondominiumsThese are similar to co-ops in a sense that condominiums are comprised of a number of residential homes in a building or a group of buildings. When you purchase a condo unit, you become an exclusive owner of that unit and other amenities tied with the purchase. You also obtain shared ownership on the portions of the property, or common area, together with your neighbors. The common area may include wide-ranging facilities depending on the building, such as: pools, hallways, parking spaces, courts, gyms and laundry areas, to name a few.As an owner, you also have the responsibility of paying the Homeowners Association. The payment dues commonly tied with HOA are: water, gas, homeowners insurance and maintenance. This is the common hurdle when owning a condo unit because your HOA dues can possibly exceed the total sum of your maintenance, insurance, water and gas if you are living alone. This is within the regulations, of course, since the HOA reserve funds for unexpected maintenance expenditures. 4. Planned Unit DevelopmentsThese are essentially detached single family homes located in a community or neighborhood that offers on-site