Anyone ever live in a townhome?

[socaso]

We are going to be moving to a new state and are considering purchasing a townhome. Up to now we've lived in apartments and most recently have owned a single family home. We think it might be a good fit because our new life situation will leave us with little time for home and yard maintenance but we still prefer to own rather than rent. We are a family of 3 and therefore don't need a huge house. We have about 2000 sq ft now and townhomes in the area we will move seem to be 1500-2000 sq ft so that seems doable. Also, there might be some community perks like pools or community centers. Possible downsides are restrictive/expensive HOA's.

Since we've never lived in a townhome before I'm wondering if anyone here ever has and what their experience was like. Any things you would recommend looking out for?

[ixtap]

I prefer townhomes over most other styles of housing. You never have a neighbor stomping around overhead, nor do you need to worry about being the neighbor stomping around overhead, yet you don't have the waste of space and resources involved with SFH.

I have never been in a middle unit. My first townhome experience was a four square arrangement and I am currently in an end unit. We did look at a middle unit, but it was quite dark. That was not necessarily a light problem, however, since it had been remodeled with dark red (deep cherry?) cabinets with a medium to dark countertop and dark brown flooring. Light in the unit is something to consider, however.

You do want to make sure it is a good build so that you don't hear everything your neighbors are doing: we have lived in a place that you could hear the neighbors closing their cupboards, even though they had soft close.

[J.R. Ewing]

I miss the old townhome.  A well constructed townhome with a minimal yard is about 5% of the upkeep of an older house on a large lot. 

[PDXTabs]

It's my favorite in the USA. Maybe just a flat overseas.

[WSUCoug1994]

We lived in a Townhome for 12 years.  I bought it as a single man - which is was low maintenance and perfect for what I needed.  It had two master bedrooms on the top floor which was great for guests, a small kitchen and family room with a decent dining area and an extra sitting room.  At the bottom it had a "bedroom" sized room with no closet which worked great for my gym/office.  It also had a two car garage if you had two smallerish cars.

Our HOA was strict, which I liked and it was quiet and peaceful most of the time.  Once we had kids - we had ZERO area to play outside or even BBQ (had to be done in the shared driveway area).  It worked better for us as single and later married but once kids came into the equation it was time to go the more traditional route.  We were in the middle - had neighbors on both sides - and we never heard them and one side had two young children. 

Overall we loved it for what it was - simple and easy to maintain and affordable.  Ours had a weird kind of design and it actually had 5 different levels - hard to describe - but man did we ever get sick of climbing stairs.  The actual living space was small, tight which took some getting used to - you have to be VERY careful about the dimensions of your furniture.

[former player]

I've lived in 7, mostly Victorian, they're one of the predominant forms of housing in the UK.

Convenient for city living, create good walkable neighbourhoods, minimal maintenance, noise depends on construction values and your neighbours.

[rab-bit]

We downsized from a 4 BR house to a 3 BR townhome about 6 years ago (we have since downsized again to a 2 BR condo).

Although we had never lived in a townhome before, our experience was generally good. It will be important to check out the HOA's finances and make sure you understand exactly what you and the HOA are each responsible for. Also you may want to get a sense of what the neighborhood demographics are like, since some communities skew younger or older which could be a factor depending on what you want.

[RainyDay]

I had a mostly negative experience with townhouse-living in Virginia.  It may depend on the laws in the state/county regarding how much power HOAs actually have.  In my case, they had a TON of power and could effectively hold up or ruin the sale of a TH (or cost you a lot of $$ trying to make them happy, which is what happened to me).

Aside from that, I found the garage was too small for a med-large car and there was still enough lawn that I had to have a mower and some lawn implements.  And there were serious limitations on what you could and couldn't do with your property, such as planting a tree, painting the front door, etc.  Also a lot of stairs, depending on the layout.  If you're heading into your older years, stairs may not be desirable.  If you have inconsiderate neighbors, you can definitely hear their large and expensive surround-sound home theaters, even in newer construction THs. 

[chemistk]

We are currently just about to move out of our townhome (3Bed/2.5bath, ~1400 sqft with 3/4 finished walkout basement). We're in one of the newer style townhome neighborhoods, where there are a number of 6-unit buildings on the street with front-facing garages, and mostly private yards (all backyards back up to undeveloped land, so no common areas like some other communities). We are also responsible for 100% of the yard work.

For what it is, it's fine. When we moved in as a family of 3, it really worked well but we're now a family of 5 and the place is definitely not suited for more than 2 kids realistically. We also rent, which does affect our perception of the place as there's a number of projects we'd long ago tackled to make it a more functional space.

I'll try and be objective & a little optimistic about it - if you really don't care about having a mostly private yard, and don't mind that you can still hear your neighbors and must be cognizant of them, it is probably the most ideal use of space. I think my problem with them has been that many aren't very well-laid out (we have no pantry, among many other complaints), and our neighborhood has always felt a bit trashy as being the more affordable units in town means attracting the type of people who don't really care to keep up their yards/vehicles/etc.

[Metalcat]

We lived in a townhouse before we downsized to our apartment.

I don't like SFHs, and now live in a high-rise, so my opinion is heavily biased.

Our place was a corner unit, so that was nice. Very well constructed, so great soundproofing. As in our neighbours were musicians and we could barely hear them. I could hear if a neighbour was hammering on a shared was, but that's about it.

We're not gardeners or BBQers, so we mostly used our little front lawn as a spot for the dogs to pee and wander around, so it was more lawn than we needed.

Our condo board was amazing, and they managed all snow removal and landscaping, which was awesome since we both worked long hours at the time. While we were there they also replaced the roof and all of the doors without special assessments. Their money management was impressive and had been for 40 years. Our condo fees were some of the lowest in the city and we got more services included than most similar complexes.

We really like feeling part of a community, so we enjoyed chatting with all of our neighbours. The complex was set up that there were several buildings all facing a central part/children's play area, so there was a lot of socializing between all of the neighbours.

Basically, if you don't mind condo living, find a well constructed place with a well run board, and get a lot of value for your condo fees, then townhouses can be a great buy.

[Raenia]

We are about to sell our townhome.  Outside of the problems with the place (if you're curious, I have a journal), really get to know the neighborhood, because that will make a ton of difference.  Also the age of the buildings - different periods had different building codes and more/less sound insulation.  In our place, we could hear the neighbors yelling in the middle of the night far too often.  It was also quite disruptive that the units on either side of us were rented out, with frequent turnover of tenants and no sense of community.  That's more to do with rentals than townhomes in particular, though.  A townhome on a street where all the units are owner-occupied would probably be much nicer to live in.

Light is an important consideration - our house doesn't have any windows in the dining room, so the only natural light was what filtered through doorways.  The third floor bedrooms were also rather dark, due to the orientation of the windows and lack of skylights.

Pay attention to anything with shared ownership, with or without an HOA.  We didn't have an HOA in our neighborhood, but we did have shared walls, rooflines, and retaining walls in the yard.  If one home develops a water issue, mold, dry rot, mice/cockroaches, etc, those things can spread to adjacent units.  We had a difficult time negotiating a retaining wall repair with the neighboring owner, because the wall in question fell mostly on his side of the boundary line (we had a survey done) but was visible only from our side, so he didn't want to pay to fix it.  Notice if there's things like that, which may have shared ownership or belong to someone else while impacting you.

Overall, while I won't buy a townhome again, I don't want to discourage other people from trying it.  I think the experience depends more on neighborhood and build quality/age than type of home.  There are just more things to consider ahead of time, so they don't become problems later down the line.

[seattlecyclone]

I rented one for a year when I moved to Seattle. It was fine. With kids I'd take a hard look at the bedroom arrangement and make sure it works for you. The typical layout for these in Seattle is often to put two flights of stairs between the master bedroom and another bedroom. If you have little kids who need a lot of attention at night that's probably a deal-breaker, but with older kids it could be ideal.

The one I lived in was on a hill which actually resulted in three flights of stairs between the master bedroom and other bedrooms (two bedrooms on the lower level which was ground level at one side of the property, garage and laundry on the second level which was ground level at the other side of the property, living/dining on the third level, and master bedroom on the fourth level). This separation was great for the roommate situation we had, but I can't imagine having fun checking on a toddler waking up at night three levels below.

The lack of yard work was a major plus, we rarely heard the neighbors, and the higher density went hand-in-hand with walkability in the neighborhood.

[norajean]

We hated the idiots in the HOA, parking situation, noisy and nosy neighbors. We liked the cost and location. and sometimes the social scene.

[mathlete]

We bought our freestanding SFH almost 7 years ago. The idea was that if we had kids, it would be better to have a SFH. Now that we have a kid on the way though, I feel a little different. Good parks are much more central to our outdoor recreation and I really don't care about our yard. It's a headache more than anything.

Hindsight 20/20, I think I would have gone for a townhome instead, but who knows? Maybe I'll feel different one the kid arrives.

[GodlessCommie]

We liked our townhouse, but didn't appreciate all the benefits at the time. We wanted a backyard for kids to play, were annoyed by the stairs, and were embarrassed that our guests had to park far (or we had to park far for them to use the small driveway). All that turned out to be a) not that important and b) not worth $$$ and work of maintaining it. And stairs are a good, continious exercise. No noise issues, 80's construction. HOA was reasonable.

[Systems101]

Lived in 4 townhouses (both owned & rented) for 20 years.  In SFH now primarily because the townhomes where I am are not much less than SFH, and the designs/locations are hideous.  Lawn upkeep is kind of a pain in a SFH though :)

I liked my townhomes, especially those I purchased were well located and well built (both backed to trees/open space, so I chose carefully).  A few things to pay attention to, most of which has been covered below (but perhaps with a few more details here):

• What does the association own?  Does it own expensive stuff, e.g. drainage facilities (normal in many places, but not all), pool, rock retaining walls, roads.  Worry about the expensive stuff (walls and roads in particular), the rest of it will be similar overhead everywhere.  Are you far enough south that it requires a ton of water for the lawn ($$)
• What does the association maintain?  To the point raised by others, some folks still have to mow in a townhome
• Know the rules about how many units can be legally rented, and whether the association is strictly enforcing that constraint.  (Some associations have no limit, some are based on time since purchase, some have a % of total units limit) - in all cases, the enforcement differs dramatically from community to community.
• What is the financial situation of the association?  Know about what they are maintaining (above), what the costs are, what their financial situation is... is there a sufficient reserve, or are they planning many (potentially very large) one time assessments to pay for big items (e.g. roof).  Is there a reserve study being followed?  If the reserve isn't taking up 30% of the budget, it may not be enough.  What major items (roof, roads, repointing brick, full paint, etc.) need to be done in the next 5 years?
• Ask a realtor about the reputation of the association.  Ask more than one, preferably before you get into a contract with a realtor.  In one of my communities we absolutely had a reputation, but that was for being financially well run and strictly enforcing the rental limit.  Few in the community were concerned about our reputation :)
• What is the parking situation?  This is not just # of guest spots on the property (and whether those are dedicated guest and enforced as such), it's also road width (and whether on-road parking is allowed), driveway length (are there 2 spots for guests per driveway or just 1), garage size (1 or 2), how far South you are (to know if the garage is storage space by default rather than used for parking) and how isolated the community is from other things.
• Know the rules of transfer in your state.  In some places this is fire inspection, letter from association on finances.  In other places, there is nothing.  In some places the HOA has more control.  This is majorly dominated by state law, but the association rules may also tweak that to a degree (there are likely clauses that a strict HOA could use that others won't)
• Consider when & how it was built.  Soundproofing will be very different depending on age (and also quality of the home).  The early 90s townhouse was noisy - the 1999 townhome had drywall, 2x4, drywall, 2x4, drywall and wasn't bad on noise.  The 2015 townhouse had drywall, 2x4, 4" fire break foam, 2x4, drywall, and I had to strain myself to hear my neighbor vacuuming (and I honestly think the sound was going out windows reflecting and coming back in).  A hint here is to ask specifically what separates the units from a fire perspective.  Also helpful if you can run into people in the community when you are looking at it to talk to them about the community (don't try to see it in a 15 minute rush mid day - try to see it early evening when folks maybe out checking mail, also will be at home so you can hear cabinets, TVs, etc.)
• Yes, the HOA will control things, but in general, that's designed for your protection.  If you are expecting the customization of a SFH, go buy a SFH.  The townhome will be cookie-cutter.  If you don't like that, don't buy it.
• If you expect to use you garage as a form of living space (and want an A/C in a window to make it a workshop or practice area for instruments) expect it to go poorly.  This is part of "cookie cutter" - it will look the same outside years from now as it does today...

ETA: Yes, I've lived in center units all but once, the tradeoffs are noise (when that's an issue) and darkness.  I prefer an end unit for the extra windows that are possible, but the center unit works if it's well laid out... but I can see some could be a problem based on the design and the direction the unit is facing.

Also raises another issue of: What direction does it face, and what will that mean for heat gain, melting of driveway, etc. (These are similar for a SFH... but connected units mean they have a shadow a SFH wouldn't)

[socaso]

Thank you, this is really interesting feedback so far. I knew about checking out the HOA to make sure they are solvent but hadn't considered finding out what the percentage of owners to renters in a complex might be, that seems like a very good thing to check out. It's interesting that there seem to be a number of people who enjoy townhome living. I do think it could be a good fit for us now but long term I think we'd want a SFH. We do like to garden, however I don't anticipate us having a lot of time for it in the next few years.

[hdatontodo]

I generally like my TH. However, the parking is unnassigned, except for an informal agreement that visitors don't know or care about. One neighbor lets their grass grow tall and has junk in the front yard. HOA is cheap and laid back. I don't have any loud-music playing neighbors, but I can hear when Mr 3am Off To Work stomps down his interior steps next door.

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[EmFrugal]

The other day I had an epiphany that townhome living is the best kept secret.

We live in a HCOL area but in the suburbs. A 3-bed, 2 bath, 2000 SQ ft SFH goes for 1-1.2 million these days. The townhomes are the only property still under a million, but even that is about to change.

We are a family of five (two adults, three kids ages 5 to 10) living in a middle unit. Our townhomes have amazing fire walls so I never hear my neighbors. We've lived here for close to ten years. The amount of space is fine for our family and even has the option to add another bedroom, which we will do when our oldest is a teen.

We came from an urban area and the yard thing wasn't a deal breaker for us. I cannot imagine paying to maintain a yard or spending time doing it ourselves. Our family is so busy that maintaining a yard is not a priority of ours - maybe in retirement one day. We have a patio and that is plenty for gardening, etc.

The biggest benefit/secret to townhome living is community. Please check out the neighborhood before you move and see how it feels. We massively lucked out and moved into a neighborhood that continues to turn over to young families. Our kids have tons of playmates and see them every day after school. The parents have gotten so tight that we joke we feel like we are back in college, hanging out on the quad, with the addition of kids.

Our community has a communal green area that the kids play on all the time, in addition to flat area to ride bikes and scooters.

Some HOA's can be a pain but if you can find a current resident you can ask how it is. Ours is very laid back. It cares about maintaining the neighborhood and safety but allows more freedom with door colors, etc. A lot of it depends on who is president. Our HOA even has a social committee and gets the neighbors who don't have young kids to come out and mingle by offering free food and drinks.

Bottom line is townhomes are incredible if they are constructed well, you don't mind stairs for exercise, and you move into a neighborhood that is a good fit and has a strong community.

[coppertop]

Naysayer here.  I grew up in the country on a three-acre property and never got used to people being everywhere.  I have lived in townhomes several times in my adult life for economic reasons and really dislike it.  After my divorce, I moved with my three late-teen kids into a three-bedroom townhome with fee simple ownership, meaning we owned the sliver of ground that our home stood on, and had a fenced-in back yard, rather than a condo situation.  We had adjacent neighbors with elementary-aged kids that were allowed to run wild.  I'd come home and find they'd been climbing in the small tree in the front of our home and broken branches that were left lying on the sidewalk.  Speaking to the parents did no good, as the mother would say she just didn't have time to watch her kids (!).  Neighbor on the other side would lie in wait for me to get out of my car so he could come out and jabber at me for half an hour when all I wanted to do was go inside, get out of my business clothes and make dinner.  Also be aware that if you are an owner, you can be assessed at any time that the board decides they need money for reserve or capital improvements, unlike owning a single-family home where you decide what improvements you wish to make and on what timeline.  My mother-in-law has lived in the same condominium townhome for more than 40 years and it used to be nicely kept and up to date, but lately the place has gone downhill and they can't find five people to serve on the board, so they are working with a couple of people and the property management company.  It's looking really sloppy there and shabby.  My husband likes to change the oil in the cars and wash them himself, and most HOA's will not allow that.  If you don't like outdoor work and don't mind taking the chance on getting obnoxious neighbors, then go ahead and get a townhome; but if you like your privacy and the freedom to do more with your property than the typical HOA allows, then I recommend strongly against moving into attached housing of any kind. 

[Raenia]

Just a reminder that not all townhomes have HOA's.  Newer built ones are more likely to, but even then it depends on the location.  My townhome was built in the 1880's, with no HOA.  This is both good and bad.  On the one hand, there's nothing besides city ordinances to tell us what we could or couldn't do with our house, and no fees to pay.  On the other hand, there's no organization to mediate issues with shared property, like the shared wall or roofs.

You can get weird neighbors anywhere, though.

[GhostSaver]

We live in a PUD style townhouse community. It's maybe 2/3 detached and 1/3 side by side attached at the garage. The HOA owns and maintains the loop road/driveways and the landscaping.

Pluses: we have young kids and the HOA owns and maintains the little playground that we can see from our deck. The density makes it easy to walk/bike/bus places. We lived in a cabin on a half acre before we moved into town. The endless yardwork pissed me off and now that's gone. My wife likes to garden and we can fuck around with the flower beds around our house or we can tell the landscaping company to stick some perennials in there and be fully hands-off. The HOA fees include some bulk-purchased utilities.

Minuses: my wife and I have to wear bathing suits to and from our hot tub. There is no fenced yard to contain the kids and my wife gets anxious about them wandering. The HOA will ride my ass if it's time to paint or replace the roof, and our dues don't cover exterior maintenance of the structure.

Some misconceptions I've seen here: you can have a townhouse without an HOA and a detached SFH with one. You can have townhouses built as unwalkable sprawl or in some of the best neighborhoods for walkability in the country. The HOA might be helpful or it might suck (if you have one). The same might be true for the local government entity that fulfills some of the same roles an HOA would in another location. It all depends on the particulars and that's why you've got to do your due diligence.

All-in-all, I like my current setup. The rowhouses in, say, the older neighborhoods in Washington DC or Philly are also dope, but very different from what we've got. I've seen townhouse developments in far-flung suburbs of large American cities that did not appeal to me at all: thin walls, no green space, completely car dependent, populations of fairly transient renters. Kind of the vibe of the complex in Office Space, at best. It all varies.

Just my $0.02.

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[MoneyTree]

I live in a townhome and generally enjoy it. There are pros and cons.

My location is walking distance from a grocery store, a target, and a costco. It is nice to have some amenities in the community as well, such as a clubhouse, pool, community garden, and fitness center.

The main downsides are the ones already mentioned. Parking can be hard to come by for guests, HOA fees, stairs make moving furniture in and out pretty tough, HOA fees...did I mention HOA fees?

So its really about the tradeoffs you are willing to make. In my area, the cost-benefit of townhome prices vs SFH prices when we bought clearly favored townhomes, so that's what we went with.

[Simpli-Fi]

We hated the idiots in the HOA, parking situation, noisy and nosy neighbors. We liked the cost and location. and sometimes the social scene.

This is my experience…hate HOAs and once the neighbor’s man child got kicked out of his GFs house for assault with a deadly weapon and moved home, the cops were called often by neighbors on all sides.  Since his mom owns and the rest of us rented…we all moved.  Shitty just shitty.

[Zamboni]

I liked living in a townhome. We had a middle unit in a building with 8 units (4 on each side). It had a small patio in front that was half shaded by an overhang and half sunny. It was surrounded by a wooden fence, and there was a small border garden there that was nice for ferns and shade-tolerant plants/flowers. So that was basically our "yard," and it was big enough for our grill and a small table and chairs. Our little patio provided plenty of privacy, and there was a row of trees just outside of our fence. The unit itself was nice, modern, and had big windows and bright spaces. It was fairly new and had the nicest laundry room I've ever had (including 3 houses) and two very large bedrooms, each with a private bath, in addition to a half bath downstairs. It was plenty of space for two people and one little dog! It was also a very short walk to the bus I took daily on my commute. Also, our HOA didn't seem to have a bunch of silly pointless rules, which was nice.

Our neighbors on either side were quiet and quite lovely people.

Cons:

The biggest one: there was insufficient parking. Other people have mentioned this, but it cannot be emphasized enough. In our case, each unit had one "assigned" space, but these were all 2-3 bedroom townhomes, so most of the occupants had 2 cars, and there were not enough unassigned spaces to accommodate all of these. Technically there was some "street parking", but the street wasn't wide enough for parking on both sides (it wasn't actually designed to have cars parked along it at all.) The parking shortfall led to constant strife and the guy on the corner got really fixated on it. Eventually there was a shooting in this neighborhood where three people were killed over a parking dispute (I'm not kidding . . . it was horrible.) From what I understand, this is not an uncommon problem in townhome developments: not enough parking for residents, and nothing for their guests. Definitely find out from the neighbors about parking before you buy!

HOA mismanagement: for one reason or another, our HOA hadn't taken care of the roofs properly over the years. It was mostly retired people who volunteered, and probably they were distracted by constant parking disputes and complaints! Right before we moved, we had to shell out $8K for a "special assessment" to cover the costs of roof repair. People with bigger units had to pay even more. So, as long as you have a big stash, this isn't a grave concern, but it's something to be aware can happen.

Common space/common wall catastrophes: At one point the neighbor diagonally behind us had a clothes washing machine overflow. The water seeped under the wall and damaged our flooring/carpets, baseboards. The insurance companies kept pointing at each other and neither one wanted to pay. That was a pain to deal with. Eventually our own insurance paid out for the damages, but it wasn't as straightforward as it would have been in an SFH. Also, there will be a dumpster or twelve . . . make sure your unit is not too near it/them, and be prepared to just ignore it when people make a mess around it.

I would consider townhome living again, but I'd be very particular about the community and specific unit location. I can see how a townhome at the low end of the market could really spell trouble.

[Fish Sweet]

Folks have covered a lot of the good and bad about townhomes, so I just wanted to add one more bit of food for thought.  Some townhome complexes include amenities like pools, walking paths, gyms, large spaces for reservation (for parties or what have you) that might not be easily available to people living in single family homes.  Of course, HOA dues are there to cover the costs of those amenities, but if you, for example, wanted all the convenience of a heated, cleaned, regularly maintained pool & jacuzzi but none of the personal maintenance or liability, the right townhome could provide that for you.

[Dicey]

I've owned a condo and a townhome. Our three rentals are SFH's in the same 55+ community. They are ruled by an iron-fisted HOA. We knew it and we kept on buying houses there. Much as we hate some of their practices, the area still looks great 20+ years in...

My BTDT advice is if you're not willing to serve on the board, or at least attend meetings, don't buy one. I made things better for myself and my neighbors because of my frugal sensibilities. The return for the time invested was astronomical.

If we ever get to the point where we live in any of our rentals long enough to qualify for a seat on the HOA board, I guaran-damn-tee, at least one of us will be serving on the board.

In case I haven't been clear: the rentals are in a different part of the state, so regular attendance isn't possible just yet.

[Serendip]

We live in a townhouse, a middle unit but are very fortunate that we are the ONLY full-time residents (in a 15 unit complex). This might be a downside to people who want the social scene but for us introverts it is a real joy that we live in a very desirable location and most of the year have it to ourselves (these units have been bought up as vacation-homes by city-dwellers). We do know and like our neighbours, but the sound-proofing is an issue so putting up with loud noises on occasion is no biggie but if it were constant, could be a real downside. We also have huge windows and skylight so natural lighting isn't an issue.

I grew up on 20+ acres and although I occasionally miss spaciousness I don't miss all the work associated with owning lots of property.  We have a plot in a community garden and have great access to the outdoors.

[BlueHouse]

There are some terms used that may not be the same everywhere. 
First, Townhomes/Rowhomes ARE single family homes.  Detached homes are what most people are thinking of when saying SFH.
Townhouse-style homes can be townhouses or condos, depending on who owns the land beneath them. 
I also think most of the things people don't like are related to density, and have nothing to do with the type of home.   Only you know if you like living with shared walls in very close proximity to a lot of people. 

So I'll try to add a few things about row homes.  I'm in DC, and we call them row homes.  Townhomes are rowhomes in cities, so we're technically townhomes, but who knows why we call them row homes.  Now when I hear TH, it sounds snooty to me!  :)

Shared walls -- Some of my neighbors say they can smell their neighbor's cooking and smoking.  (things like fried chicken and pot).  I've never smelled anything through the walls, but my neighbors aren't smokers.  Never smelled their cooking either.

Shared attics?  -- I lived in a condo-townhouse years ago that had an open attic.  No firewalls in the attic, so I could enter my attic, tiptoe across the beams and enter a neighbor's home.  Weird setup but that was much older.

Roofs.  I wonder if the people whose HOAs maintain their roofs are really in condos and not true townhomes?   My house has a flat roof, and while most row homes here in DC have parapets on the roof that separate the houses, ours do not.  When I eventually have to fix/repair my roof, there's not a clean "line" to start and stop.  They have to do something special to draw a line and then make sure not to damage the neighbors' roof when they replace mine.    One section of our roofs do have parapets separating the roof decks.  These parapets have expensive metal parapet covers which are jointly owned.   We had a hailstorm that dinged up the parapet covers and everyone was told "don't fix them".  That was the first time it dawned on me that my neighbors could do anything they wanted with or without my permission, as could I.  And if a cheap fix is done, it would likely cause leaks in my home. 

I live in a middle unit and I had a choice of an end unit, but didn't want it because:  1) covering all those windows was so much more expensive, and 2) my heating and A/C bills are probably 1/2 of what an end unit is.  When my house was built, I did NOT opt in to get an insulated garage, but because it's a middle unit and there are homes close behind it, my garage never really gets cold.  I don't even turn off the water hose bib in the winter.  It does get stinking hot in there though in the summer. 

My community does have an HOA.  We pay $90/month and that covers landscaping and snow removal.  There are very few other services, thankfully.  I'm not crazy about an HOA doing anything other than taking care of common element issues. 

[GhostSaver]

There are some terms used that may not be the same everywhere. 
First, Townhomes/Rowhomes ARE single family homes.  Detached homes are what most people are thinking of when saying SFH.
Townhouse-style homes can be townhouses or condos, depending on who owns the land beneath them. 
I also think most of the things people don't like are related to density, and have nothing to do with the type of home.   Only you know if you like living with shared walls in very close proximity to a lot of people. 

So I'll try to add a few things about row homes.  I'm in DC, and we call them row homes.  Townhomes are rowhomes in cities, so we're technically townhomes, but who knows why we call them row homes.  Now when I hear TH, it sounds snooty to me!  :)

Shared walls -- Some of my neighbors say they can smell their neighbor's cooking and smoking.  (things like fried chicken and pot).  I've never smelled anything through the walls, but my neighbors aren't smokers.  Never smelled their cooking either.

Shared attics?  -- I lived in a condo-townhouse years ago that had an open attic.  No firewalls in the attic, so I could enter my attic, tiptoe across the beams and enter a neighbor's home.  Weird setup but that was much older.

Roofs.  I wonder if the people whose HOAs maintain their roofs are really in condos and not true townhomes?   My house has a flat roof, and while most row homes here in DC have parapets on the roof that separate the houses, ours do not.  When I eventually have to fix/repair my roof, there's not a clean "line" to start and stop.  They have to do something special to draw a line and then make sure not to damage the neighbors' roof when they replace mine.    One section of our roofs do have parapets separating the roof decks.  These parapets have expensive metal parapet covers which are jointly owned.   We had a hailstorm that dinged up the parapet covers and everyone was told "don't fix them".  That was the first time it dawned on me that my neighbors could do anything they wanted with or without my permission, as could I.  And if a cheap fix is done, it would likely cause leaks in my home. 

I live in a middle unit and I had a choice of an end unit, but didn't want it because:  1) covering all those windows was so much more expensive, and 2) my heating and A/C bills are probably 1/2 of what an end unit is.  When my house was built, I did NOT opt in to get an insulated garage, but because it's a middle unit and there are homes close behind it, my garage never really gets cold.  I don't even turn off the water hose bib in the winter.  It does get stinking hot in there though in the summer. 

My community does have an HOA.  We pay $90/month and that covers landscaping and snow removal.  There are very few other services, thankfully.  I'm not crazy about an HOA doing anything other than taking care of common element issues.

Where on earth are you in DC where you have a rowhouse that modern with a garage and an HOA? Such things were near-unheard of when I lived in Ward 5.

Most places in DC, you've got brick party walls and no HOA. But you have a neighborhood ANC that is as bad as or worse than any HOA.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Metalcat]

There are some terms used that may not be the same everywhere. 
First, Townhomes/Rowhomes ARE single family homes.  Detached homes are what most people are thinking of when saying SFH.
Townhouse-style homes can be townhouses or condos, depending on who owns the land beneath them. 
I also think most of the things people don't like are related to density, and have nothing to do with the type of home.   Only you know if you like living with shared walls in very close proximity to a lot of people. 

So I'll try to add a few things about row homes.  I'm in DC, and we call them row homes.  Townhomes are rowhomes in cities, so we're technically townhomes, but who knows why we call them row homes.  Now when I hear TH, it sounds snooty to me!  :)

Shared walls -- Some of my neighbors say they can smell their neighbor's cooking and smoking.  (things like fried chicken and pot).  I've never smelled anything through the walls, but my neighbors aren't smokers.  Never smelled their cooking either.

Shared attics?  -- I lived in a condo-townhouse years ago that had an open attic.  No firewalls in the attic, so I could enter my attic, tiptoe across the beams and enter a neighbor's home.  Weird setup but that was much older.

Roofs.  I wonder if the people whose HOAs maintain their roofs are really in condos and not true townhomes?   My house has a flat roof, and while most row homes here in DC have parapets on the roof that separate the houses, ours do not.  When I eventually have to fix/repair my roof, there's not a clean "line" to start and stop.  They have to do something special to draw a line and then make sure not to damage the neighbors' roof when they replace mine.    One section of our roofs do have parapets separating the roof decks.  These parapets have expensive metal parapet covers which are jointly owned.   We had a hailstorm that dinged up the parapet covers and everyone was told "don't fix them".  That was the first time it dawned on me that my neighbors could do anything they wanted with or without my permission, as could I.  And if a cheap fix is done, it would likely cause leaks in my home. 

I live in a middle unit and I had a choice of an end unit, but didn't want it because:  1) covering all those windows was so much more expensive, and 2) my heating and A/C bills are probably 1/2 of what an end unit is.  When my house was built, I did NOT opt in to get an insulated garage, but because it's a middle unit and there are homes close behind it, my garage never really gets cold.  I don't even turn off the water hose bib in the winter.  It does get stinking hot in there though in the summer. 

My community does have an HOA.  We pay $90/month and that covers landscaping and snow removal.  There are very few other services, thankfully.  I'm not crazy about an HOA doing anything other than taking care of common element issues.

Where I live at least, a townhouse is not a single family home. SFHs here are synonymous with detached homes. It specifically means a home that shares no structure or utilities with anyone else.

Perhaps definitions of SFH vary regionally.

Here townhouses/row houses can either be freehold or condo. If they're in a full complex, they tend to be condo ownership. But it they're just a small row of connected houses on a street, they're often freehold.

I know a few freehold townhouse owners, and they usually coordinate roof work with their connected neighbours on a schedule because it's cheaper.

When I lived in a townhouse it was condo ownership, which I personally prefer, but only if the corporation is well run, which is also why I tend to end up on the condo board. I'm running for my current condo board this week.

As for townhouse vs rowhouse. Typically here people use the term row house when all of the units are identical, and there is no backyard. I referred to my place as a row house because behind us was another attached unit, the rows were double sided, so middle units shared walls with 3 other units.

It's a pretty arbitrary distinction, and likely varies regionally or even depending on neighbourhood.

So yes, I think there is a lot of confusion with terms because there may be regional differences in how they are used and what's common in different areas.

[partgypsy]

A lot of good advice. Townhomes vary  (construction, monthly fees, amen ties) do your research. My dad was happiest in one apartment (that had a pool, fitness room) and 2nd favorite a townhome, which backed up to a nature area with paths. Privacy, room, a small patio area where he could have his outdoor plants, but much less upkeep than a typical house.

[Dicey]

I'm running for my current condo board this week.

❤❤❤

[Imma]

I've lived in 7, mostly Victorian, they're one of the predominant forms of housing in the UK.

Convenient for city living, create good walkable neighbourhoods, minimal maintenance, noise depends on construction values and your neighbours.

Also in Europe, never lived in any other sort of house. Before I bought my current one (in the middle of the row) I rented a floor in one on the corner.

Pros & cons I've not heard yet: energy savings. If your neighbours like to turn on the heat, they will also heat the joint walls, which means you don't have to turn the heat on that much. Usually walkable neighbourhoods since the plots are small, so the distances to walk are smaller.

Cons: neighbours. Always an issue unless you live in the middle of nowhere, but more neighbours closer together = more likely to become an issue.

HOA's are not a thing in my country for single family homes, only for apartments. They seem like a pain to me so I've always avoided them. I've never had issues with neighbours that don't do maintenance, but it's more important to figure out who the neighbours are than in a detached house. We are considering moving because of issues with a neighbour. When we look at houses we're interested in, we pay attention to the state of the neighbour's front yard, back yard, general maintenance. If it's all immaculate, that's good for you, but it could also mean your neighbour expects you to clean your windows three times a week. If the weeds are up to the window, run away.

I'm not sure upkeep is less work than a detached house. Of course, the bigger a house is the more maintenance you need to do, but I'm not sure my smaller rowhouse is a lot less work than a similar house that's free-standing. It depends much more on the size of the house and the plot than whether it's a detached house or a terraced one.

[obstinate]

I currently live in an NYC brownstone, which could be considered a townhome. It's fine! We're in the middle unit. The natural light situation is not great, but it's ok. We are currently remodeling the main level and kitchen and adding a lot of glass on the south exposure, which should help with the amount of natural light.

In terms of governance, NYC townhouses are often quite different from other places. In most parts of the country, a townhouse will be part of an HOA that covers an entire neighborhood. In our condo, it's just us and the upstairs neighbors. We do share walls with adjacent properties, but they are technically separate buildings. So while every decision needs to be made unanimously, we don't really have a problem getting along with our neighbors. Of course, with different neighbors, we could have a different outcome, but that's always a risk that can only be mitigated, never completely removed.

[Metalcat]

I've lived in 7, mostly Victorian, they're one of the predominant forms of housing in the UK.

Convenient for city living, create good walkable neighbourhoods, minimal maintenance, noise depends on construction values and your neighbours.

Also in Europe, never lived in any other sort of house. Before I bought my current one (in the middle of the row) I rented a floor in one on the corner.

Pros & cons I've not heard yet: energy savings. If your neighbours like to turn on the heat, they will also heat the joint walls, which means you don't have to turn the heat on that much. Usually walkable neighbourhoods since the plots are small, so the distances to walk are smaller.

Cons: neighbours. Always an issue unless you live in the middle of nowhere, but more neighbours closer together = more likely to become an issue.

HOA's are not a thing in my country for single family homes, only for apartments. They seem like a pain to me so I've always avoided them. I've never had issues with neighbours that don't do maintenance, but it's more important to figure out who the neighbours are than in a detached house. We are considering moving because of issues with a neighbour. When we look at houses we're interested in, we pay attention to the state of the neighbour's front yard, back yard, general maintenance. If it's all immaculate, that's good for you, but it could also mean your neighbour expects you to clean your windows three times a week. If the weeds are up to the window, run away.

I'm not sure upkeep is less work than a detached house. Of course, the bigger a house is the more maintenance you need to do, but I'm not sure my smaller rowhouse is a lot less work than a similar house that's free-standing. It depends much more on the size of the house and the plot than whether it's a detached house or a terraced one.

Re: neighbours

This is not my experience at all.

I had far more difficulty with neighbours living in my last few detached homes than I have with my townhouse condo or any apartment buildings I've lived in.

In fact, living in an apartment building, I now have the least issues with neighbours. We have excellent sound proofing, and because we're all so close together, there's a culture here of respecting each other's boundaries and giving each other space. We politely nod and say hello in the elevators, but I have 8 other households on my floor and NO ONE ever asks personal questions or sticks their noses in anyone's business.

That was NOT my experience in any of the detached homes I've lived in. All of my in-laws live in the suburbs and have way more issues with their neighbours than we do. Most of them have at least one neighbour they absolutely hate and feel the need to hush their voices when out in the backyard when talking about personal things. So I definitely don't see them as magically having more privacy than I do just because they don't have attached walls.

I HATED when I moved to this city from a high-rise into a quaint detached home on a quiet tree-lined street that all of my neighbours expected me to talk to them. They were all at least 15 years older with kids and I had absolutely nothing in common with them, but they thought me rude if I just tried to do my own thing and not talk much to them. It felt like highschool, I hated it.

Also, living in a condo complex with a lot of rules helps govern the behaviour of the neighbours. If a neighbour is being noisy, the management can order them to quiet down. If someone is messy, they can be ordered to clean up. If someone is smoking where they shouldn't be, they can be fined.

There's no concern about the state of anyone's property or backyard, because the rules dictate that everyone maintain to the same level.

The rules and structure here actually make it much smoother living with neighbours, and much easier to stay distanced from them. I literally don't even know the names of the people I share walls with and I've been here for 2 years and I'm quite friendly. It's just the way of life in apartment buildings I've lived in, people respect and expect boundaries.

Re: energy savings
This is HUGE for us because we live in a city that ranges from dangerously cold to dangerously hot, and sharing walls has always kept our climate control costs much lower than detached homes. Not only that, but also the wear and tear on the building since there are less surfaces exposed to the elements.

[former player]

Shared attics?  -- I lived in a condo-townhouse years ago that had an open attic.  No firewalls in the attic, so I could enter my attic, tiptoe across the beams and enter a neighbor's home.  Weird setup but that was much older.

An open attic like this is a big fire risk.  I wouldn't live in, let alone buy, a property like that because of the fire risk, as well as the security risk.  (Some older and cheaper terraced houses in the UK used to be built like that but decades ago the Building Regulations here required fire-resistant walls (usually concrete block) to be put across each internal boundary.)

[herbgeek]

When I was an early married person, we bought new construction in a condo complex, set up as townhomes.  The first couple of years were great- I was working full time as well as working on my master's degree at night and had no time for outside maintenance.  Other units were purchased by folks like us or retired folks.  It was pretty quiet.

Then the market dropped out, people had kids and needed more space and couldn't sell their units.  The units were located in a down-and-out town with high unemployment and a bad reputation (we were naïve and didn't know all this when we purchased).   We got an influx of just don't care renters. .   My immediate neighbors didn't work and were late teens/early 20's , so thought nothing of having a party at midnight on a Tuesday, and jumping down the stairs 6 at a time, and using a chainsaw in living room, having their friends back up their truck on the back of the property and blasting music into my living room, attempting to break in to my storage closet,  keyed my car, having their friends go onto my deck and peer into the windows even when we were home.  Just a nightmare that lasted for a couple of years. 

We sold the place at a significant loss 10 years later.  The prices still aren't what we paid for ours.  We came from an expensive area and just didn't know the price we were paying was way too high for that area- it sounded like a bargain to us.  Expensive lesson to learn.

I couldn't wait to buy a property on 3 acres, just so I'd have some space to be away from other people.

[seattlecyclone]

Where I live at least, a townhouse is not a single family home. SFHs here are synonymous with detached homes. It specifically means a home that shares no structure or utilities with anyone else.

Depends who you ask, I guess. I'd agree that most people in my city would only mention detached homes when asked to describe what a single-family home is. The US Census Bureau, on the other hand, has a category called "single family, attached" that refers to townhomes and the like. To be considered multi-family housing for their official statistics a building needs to have shared facilities and/or units stacked on top of each other. If it has a floor-to-roof wall between units and no shared laundry/utility/storage facilities, it goes in the "single-family, attached" category.

[Metalcat]

Where I live at least, a townhouse is not a single family home. SFHs here are synonymous with detached homes. It specifically means a home that shares no structure or utilities with anyone else.

Depends who you ask, I guess. I'd agree that most people in my city would only mention detached homes when asked to describe what a single-family home is. The US Census Bureau, on the other hand, has a category called "single family, attached" that refers to townhomes and the like. To be considered multi-family housing for their official statistics a building needs to have shared facilities and/or units stacked on top of each other. If it has a floor-to-roof wall between units and no shared laundry/utility/storage facilities, it goes in the "single-family, attached" category.

Yeah, I'm not in the US. I have no idea if Canada has the same definition.

[BlueHouse]

I couldn't wait to buy a property on 3 acres, just so I'd have some space to be away from other people.

Same!  I still love my location, but can't wait to have a get-away somewhere with no people around.
I think the bottom line with neighbors is that in higher-density neighborhoods, you'll have 20 close neighbors instead of just 2.  The odds are 10X higher that you'll have an A$$hole nearby. 

One of the worst things I've run into is when some of my neighbors move away but keep the house as an investment and rent it out.  Too expensive in this market for most people to rent, so a lot of people are renting to groups of young people -- who treat the house like a beach house and party into all hours.  I like diversity, but I also like people who have similar values to me.  I'm glad that some low-income people can live in my neighborhood, but I hate that because they work service jobs, they get off at 2am and come home and slam car doors, turn on their music, and have get-togethers outside under my windows at that hour.  I'd much rather live with all people who work the same hours and have similar professions.

[PDXTabs]

Where I live at least, a townhouse is not a single family home. SFHs here are synonymous with detached homes. It specifically means a home that shares no structure or utilities with anyone else.

Depends who you ask, I guess. I'd agree that most people in my city would only mention detached homes when asked to describe what a single-family home is. The US Census Bureau, on the other hand, has a category called "single family, attached" that refers to townhomes and the like. To be considered multi-family housing for their official statistics a building needs to have shared facilities and/or units stacked on top of each other. If it has a floor-to-roof wall between units and no shared laundry/utility/storage facilities, it goes in the "single-family, attached" category.

Yup. In normal day-to-day speech I say "single family detached" when I mean detached.

Also, in the USA your mortgage company will treat a town house as single family (whether or not it is part of a condo association) AFAIK.

[Imma]

I've lived in 7, mostly Victorian, they're one of the predominant forms of housing in the UK.

Convenient for city living, create good walkable neighbourhoods, minimal maintenance, noise depends on construction values and your neighbours.

Also in Europe, never lived in any other sort of house. Before I bought my current one (in the middle of the row) I rented a floor in one on the corner.

Pros & cons I've not heard yet: energy savings. If your neighbours like to turn on the heat, they will also heat the joint walls, which means you don't have to turn the heat on that much. Usually walkable neighbourhoods since the plots are small, so the distances to walk are smaller.

Cons: neighbours. Always an issue unless you live in the middle of nowhere, but more neighbours closer together = more likely to become an issue.

HOA's are not a thing in my country for single family homes, only for apartments. They seem like a pain to me so I've always avoided them. I've never had issues with neighbours that don't do maintenance, but it's more important to figure out who the neighbours are than in a detached house. We are considering moving because of issues with a neighbour. When we look at houses we're interested in, we pay attention to the state of the neighbour's front yard, back yard, general maintenance. If it's all immaculate, that's good for you, but it could also mean your neighbour expects you to clean your windows three times a week. If the weeds are up to the window, run away.

I'm not sure upkeep is less work than a detached house. Of course, the bigger a house is the more maintenance you need to do, but I'm not sure my smaller rowhouse is a lot less work than a similar house that's free-standing. It depends much more on the size of the house and the plot than whether it's a detached house or a terraced one.

Re: neighbours

This is not my experience at all.

I had far more difficulty with neighbours living in my last few detached homes than I have with my townhouse condo or any apartment buildings I've lived in.

In fact, living in an apartment building, I now have the least issues with neighbours. We have excellent sound proofing, and because we're all so close together, there's a culture here of respecting each other's boundaries and giving each other space. We politely nod and say hello in the elevators, but I have 8 other households on my floor and NO ONE ever asks personal questions or sticks their noses in anyone's business.

That was NOT my experience in any of the detached homes I've lived in. All of my in-laws live in the suburbs and have way more issues with their neighbours than we do. Most of them have at least one neighbour they absolutely hate and feel the need to hush their voices when out in the backyard when talking about personal things. So I definitely don't see them as magically having more privacy than I do just because they don't have attached walls.

I HATED when I moved to this city from a high-rise into a quaint detached home on a quiet tree-lined street that all of my neighbours expected me to talk to them. They were all at least 15 years older with kids and I had absolutely nothing in common with them, but they thought me rude if I just tried to do my own thing and not talk much to them. It felt like highschool, I hated it.

Also, living in a condo complex with a lot of rules helps govern the behaviour of the neighbours. If a neighbour is being noisy, the management can order them to quiet down. If someone is messy, they can be ordered to clean up. If someone is smoking where they shouldn't be, they can be fined.

There's no concern about the state of anyone's property or backyard, because the rules dictate that everyone maintain to the same level.

The rules and structure here actually make it much smoother living with neighbours, and much easier to stay distanced from them. I literally don't even know the names of the people I share walls with and I've been here for 2 years and I'm quite friendly. It's just the way of life in apartment buildings I've lived in, people respect and expect boundaries.

Re: energy savings
This is HUGE for us because we live in a city that ranges from dangerously cold to dangerously hot, and sharing walls has always kept our climate control costs much lower than detached homes. Not only that, but also the wear and tear on the building since there are less surfaces exposed to the elements.

I guess the social aspects of living in a rowhouse, detached house or apartment vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. My rowhouse is in a working class area with tons of social control. You are definitely expected to make smalltalk and if your frontyard has weeds or rubbish that needs to go away they will tell you. But I actually like that. I wouldn't want to live somewhere where I didn't even know my neighbours. They're not my friends but we talk on the street. I've never lived in a condo complex or anywhere that has rules you need to stick to, so I have no idea what it's like to live in such a place.

What I meant is more the day to day situation with neighbours. If you are in a detached property, even if your lot is not big, your kitchen window and living room window are probably going to be at least 5-10 meters away from the neighbour. My kitchen window is 2 m from the neighbour's kitchen, and on the other side, my living room window is less than a meter from the neighbour's window. The weather is nice here now, so everyone has their windows open. Both my neighbours are indoors and outdoors smokers, one smokes pot as well as tobacco. Every time they open up their window, I'll have to close mine or live with the smell. My neighbour has a large brick BBQ with a chimney that's built along the fence. It's 5 m from my kitchen window. Every time they use it, the smoke fills my house so I'll have to close all the windows and the vents.

Since we share walls on both sides, noise is also an issue. All rowhouses are built as cheap as possible in my country. Unlike apartments, that can range from cheap to extremely expensive, there's no such thing as a rowhouse built for wealthy people (although in some cities the prices of property have gone up, like ours, but my house was originally built for factory workers who couldn't afford much). Our staircases are on opposites sides of the dividing wall and I can hear my neighbours going up and down the stairs. On the other side our bathrooms are next to each other so I can hear the neighbour shower (the noise of the water hitting the floor). I hear three or four washing machines and also two landline phones from my living room.

[Metalcat]

^
My point was that there isn't *more* privacy in neighbourhoods with detached homes compared to living in denser condo complexes.

When I lived in a townhouse, which was in a working class neighbourhood, there was a fair amount of chit chat with neighbours, but they weren't as invasive as when I lived in the wealthy detached house neighbourhood I moved from.

The high-rise I'm in now is even less invasive. Some people chat a lot, but most don't, and the chat is typically kept very minor. There's a certain respect for the fact that we all live tightly packed together, so we give each other respectful space unless the other person shows an interest in chatting more.

DH likes making friends in the building so he does. I don't, so everyone respects my boundaries.

As for the rules I mentioned, what I meant is things like what you said, someone will come and tell you to tidy your lawn if you don't, so there's no conflict with neighbours about messy lawns, or excessive noise, or improper parking, or aggressive dogs, or whatever. The condo board takes care of it by enforcing rules.

When we all have the same rules, there's less conflict compared to the raging conflicts my in-laws have out in the suburbs. It's unreal sometimes how heated those suburban subdivision conflicts can get because there's no condo board to keep everyone in line.

[GodlessCommie]

Naysayer here.  I grew up in the country on a three-acre property and never got used to people being everywhere.  I have lived in townhomes several times in my adult life for economic reasons and really dislike it.  After my divorce, I moved with my three late-teen kids into a three-bedroom townhome with fee simple ownership, meaning we owned the sliver of ground that our home stood on, and had a fenced-in back yard, rather than a condo situation.  We had adjacent neighbors with elementary-aged kids that were allowed to run wild.  I'd come home and find they'd been climbing in the small tree in the front of our home and broken branches that were left lying on the sidewalk.  Speaking to the parents did no good, as the mother would say she just didn't have time to watch her kids (!).  Neighbor on the other side would lie in wait for me to get out of my car so he could come out and jabber at me for half an hour when all I wanted to do was go inside, get out of my business clothes and make dinner.  Also be aware that if you are an owner, you can be assessed at any time that the board decides they need money for reserve or capital improvements, unlike owning a single-family home where you decide what improvements you wish to make and on what timeline.  My mother-in-law has lived in the same condominium townhome for more than 40 years and it used to be nicely kept and up to date, but lately the place has gone downhill and they can't find five people to serve on the board, so they are working with a couple of people and the property management company.  It's looking really sloppy there and shabby.  My husband likes to change the oil in the cars and wash them himself, and most HOA's will not allow that.  If you don't like outdoor work and don't mind taking the chance on getting obnoxious neighbors, then go ahead and get a townhome; but if you like your privacy and the freedom to do more with your property than the typical HOA allows, then I recommend strongly against moving into attached housing of any kind.

Problems with neighbors and with HOAs are not specific to townhouses. We live in a SFH, and for a while we had a similar problem with kids. A lot of newer SFH developments have HOAs, they can be a hit or miss, and they can go from hit to miss and back in a matter of years. We had some wannabe dictators running ours, and they weren't above settling personal scores with neighbors. They got voted out, and things are quiet and reasonable now. Not everything ends as well - a friend is in a very small HOA, 13 members or so. A majority of 50%+1 (which is a very small # of people) formed a clique, became impossible to dislodge.

3-acre lots are not that common everywhere. But if you have it - yes, your land acts effectively as a wall. It shields you from human interaction, both positive and negative. Also, places with 3-acre lots tend to be extremely car-dependent. As my friend with a large lot says, "to you, everything more than a 10-minute drive is very far; but to me, 10 minute drive is very close".

[Metalcat]

Naysayer here.  I grew up in the country on a three-acre property and never got used to people being everywhere.  I have lived in townhomes several times in my adult life for economic reasons and really dislike it.  After my divorce, I moved with my three late-teen kids into a three-bedroom townhome with fee simple ownership, meaning we owned the sliver of ground that our home stood on, and had a fenced-in back yard, rather than a condo situation.  We had adjacent neighbors with elementary-aged kids that were allowed to run wild.  I'd come home and find they'd been climbing in the small tree in the front of our home and broken branches that were left lying on the sidewalk.  Speaking to the parents did no good, as the mother would say she just didn't have time to watch her kids (!).  Neighbor on the other side would lie in wait for me to get out of my car so he could come out and jabber at me for half an hour when all I wanted to do was go inside, get out of my business clothes and make dinner.  Also be aware that if you are an owner, you can be assessed at any time that the board decides they need money for reserve or capital improvements, unlike owning a single-family home where you decide what improvements you wish to make and on what timeline.  My mother-in-law has lived in the same condominium townhome for more than 40 years and it used to be nicely kept and up to date, but lately the place has gone downhill and they can't find five people to serve on the board, so they are working with a couple of people and the property management company.  It's looking really sloppy there and shabby.  My husband likes to change the oil in the cars and wash them himself, and most HOA's will not allow that.  If you don't like outdoor work and don't mind taking the chance on getting obnoxious neighbors, then go ahead and get a townhome; but if you like your privacy and the freedom to do more with your property than the typical HOA allows, then I recommend strongly against moving into attached housing of any kind.

Problems with neighbors and with HOAs are not specific to townhouses. We live in a SFH, and for a while we had a similar problem with kids. A lot of newer SFH developments have HOAs, they can be a hit or miss, and they can go from hit to miss and back in a matter of years. We had some wannabe dictators running ours, and they weren't above settling personal scores with neighbors. They got voted out, and things are quiet and reasonable now.

3-acre lots are not that common everywhere. But if you have it - yes, your land acts effectively as a wall. It shields you from human interaction, both positive and negative. Also, places with 3-acre lots tend to be extremely car-dependent. As my friend with a large lot says, "to you, everything more than a 10-minute drive is very far; but to me, 10 minute drive is very close".

Not always even.

My mom has 30-40 acres and she still has huge issues with her neighbours. Far more than I do sharing 5 walls.

[the_fixer]

We have been in ours for 6 years went from a huge 4800 sq ft house on acreage to townhouse that is 1690 sq ft

Make sure you understand who takes care of what. Some communities take care of everything except interior maintenance items while others it is more like owning a single family home and they maintain very little.

Read the reserve study and look at the finances to make sure the HOA is in good shape.

Understand the HOA rules and make sure that you are ok with them. For example we looked at some that would not allow you to have a BBQ and that was a big deal to us.

Ours is built really well, we do not hear neighbors

We do plan on selling someday as we age due to the stairs. Otherwise we would keep it forever.

We love our place, they do everything except interior maintenance everything else is taken care of including shoveling snow. We get out and play much more as we do not have to worry about maintenance or leaving the house.

My HOA bill is $157 month and that includes trash, a clubhouse, 2 gyms, 1 pool, 2 hot tubs, outdoor fire pits and community BBQ grills. I feel like we save money over maintaining a single family home in the end.

Our gas / electric bills are super low I attribute that to having a unit on each side of us so we really only have exposed surfaces on the front, rear and roof that are all minimal.


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[Evildunk99]

I have lived in a rowhome for the past seven years (similar to townhome but no HOA or sub-development). 

Pros: 

- Location is amazing, can walk to the train, trail network, shops/restaurants/retail, and a 2 minute drive to major road connections
- Price:  rowhomes/townhomes make fore great entry level properties.  The square footage is usually a bit lower than detached singles.  This aids a mustachian lifestyle, as you should be able to increase your savings rate. You may not make as much money on a sale due to HOA, assessments, lending terms, and general stigma about townhouses.
- Maintenance:  I have a small back yard and patio that I can manage with a weed whacker.  It's big enough for a dog or small child to play in, but not so big that you need a shed and riding mower etc.
- Neighbors:  You generally get to know those living around you more so than a detached single. 

Cons:

- Anything related to cars.  It's a little harder to move things in and out of the house, especially if you only have street parking.   for those with a dedicated spot, it might not be an ideal location or cost extra $$.
- Neighbors:  this is both a pro and con because your neighbors can be annoying or really great.  The demographics of the town may aid in what to expect (incomes, density, age, kids, etc.)

Best of luck!

[beekayworld]

The HOA hugely affects the experience.

I've had two vastly different HOA experiences. One was in a single-family detached house where there were four houses on 7.5 acres behind a gate on a cul-de-sac.  Because it was so small, we didn't have meetings. We just used group emails or individual chats for issues which seemed like it would since we were all friendly, reasonable people.

Wrong.
The President of the group (he owned the original house and subdivided the remaining acreage to build 3 additional houses) treated the place like his kingdom. He broke rules left and right but there was nothing we could do. 

The rules had hours for landscapers to work but he had a man with a  leaf blower out at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday as he wanted his house ready for a group to come over after church.  He sent an email afterwards to apologize for the noise and explain.

The city had monthly bulk pickup days and I was allowed to put my sofa out the Thursday before the Tuesday pickup. He didn't like the way it looked and asked if I could have someone haul it to the dump. I told him the rules. He said "I know you CAN put it out, but I just think it looks bad" and kept on about how his gardener was coming and had a truck and I could pay him $50 to haul it.

There were issues with his dog barking, but no way to anonymously handle it so we took turns sometimes asking him to check on his dog, but didn't like being confrontational.

Then I moved into a high-rise condo with 117 units across four towers. We had staff that handled all issues. I never heard any dog, but know the rules stated that if someone's dog barked too much, the manager or assistant manager handled it. There were levels of consequences beginning with "first warning".

We had cleaners who removed our trash and recycling from the service hallway twice a day and we could call for a pickup if we wanted the garbage out immediately.

The landscaping was professionally handled and scheduled for afternoons.

There were rules about parties. We had to be done by 10:00. We had to pay for an extra valet parker for every X number of guests above 3 cars.

It was heaven!! Everything ran smoothly because there were rules, people to enforce them, and consequences.

Once in a while I wished I could do something not allowed, like grill on my balcony instead of having to go down to the community grills by the pool, but the trade-off was never having any issues with neighbors.

[former player]

I was going to post that I am surprised so many people have had issues with their neighbours: I have never had issues with my neighbours and have had some lovely ones.  But on balance that probably makes me the problem neighbour.