downgrading to a house?

I know that I’ve talked a lot about our living situation, and trying to stay in our one bedroom apartment a little longer to save some money. (here and here in case you're interested)

But, just out of curiosity of what’s out there, I did some looking for two bedroom apartments in our area, just to see if it’d be worth moving into a two bedroom before buying a house…someday!

I found so many apartments that have top of the line amenities, like pools, hot tubs, fitness centers, etc. Now, I should mention that a pool/fitness center is pretty standard for apartments in Colorado. Our complex has a pool, and a small fitness room with a few machines and free weights.

I found apartments that have more than one pool, multiple hot tubs, tennis courts, huge fitness centers, kitchens with granite countertops, master bathrooms with Jacuzzi tubs…

The point of this post is, that the more I thought about it, if I lived in one of those fancy apartment complexes, buying a house would seem like a major downgrade. What?! I have to mow my own lawn AND there are no hot tubs on the premises?!

I think I’d rather pay my dues now, living in a cheap apartment, so that my house feels like an improvement instead of a downgrade.