Would appreciate it if some of you who live in condos, townhomes or apartment complexes would share a little info. on what it is like. I'm in the market for a new abode and my parents are urging me to consider a condo or townhome.

The condos and townhomes in this area tend to be built in subdivisions away from central shopping or business areas, and there is no walking out your door to shopping, a cafe, or a free museum. There is walking out in a large parking lot and getting in your car and driving 5 to 15 miles to get to a sidewalk. So we aren't talking the benefits of a central city location. I also have a 14 year old boy who alternates weeks between me and his Dad, who lives out in the country in a travel trailer on 10 acres I theoretically jointly own.

I'm a country and small town person who has always had physical space and a yard to dig in. I'm handy with garden tools, but not with a paint scraper, hammer, power drill, or pipe wrench. I've lived in a lot of rural settings, including old farmhouses, tents, travel trailers on farms, under tarps in the Florida Keys. I've always had at least a nice-sized yard, if not a farm or acres of national forest around me. The only intolerable living situation I have been in was a mobile home park where I lived for a couple of years in my late twenties.

There are a number of very practical reasons to consider a condo/townhome, so I want to try to be open to the idea. Quite frankly, when I look at photos on the internet, or drive through the condo/townhome complexes in the region that are within my price range, it gives me the spiritual/emotional willies. I'm hopiong I am over-reacting or projecting my experience of living in the mobile home park in an unrealistic fashion.