Does a two-family in Hartford beat a condo in Glastonbury for a first Connecticut buy
$2,400 a month. That's what a decent second-floor unit in a Hartford two-family rents for right now, and I keep circling back to it every time someone asks me whether a condo makes more sense for a first purchase in this state. Entry price on a Hartford two-family is somewhere around $280k to $320k depending on the neighborhood and the condition of the mechanicals. Glastonbury condo in the same budget gets you a nice kitchen and a HOA fee that starts at $380 and goes up when the roof does.
The rent from that second unit does not erase the mortgage but it changes the math enough that the buyer is living closer to what a single-family would cost them, sometimes below it. West Hartford and Wethersfield have the same structure but ask $50k to $80k more for the same square footage because the school district is attached to the price. First-timers with kids go there anyway and I understand it, but the numbers are harder to make work without a bigger down payment.
The condo argument is usually about maintenance and simplicity, which is fair. But HOA fees in Connecticut are not stable and resale on a condo in a slow market, say Meriden or parts of New Britain, gets painful fast. Two-families hold value differently because the income is real and buyers can underwrite it.
I'd be looking at Frog Hollow, Parkville, or the South End of Hartford for the two-family play. Not for everyone, but the $2,400 number keeps winning the argument in my spreadsheet.
