Town Houses (1 Viewer)

[Cjw_55106]

Anyone live in a townhouse? Im looking for the negatives. I obviously assume they arent as bad as a condo or apartment as far as nieghbors, but clearly not as good as a single family homes.

It seems you get more bang for the buck on the inside of the home, while losing outdoor space. Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[belljr]

It depends on your neighbors.

I had an end unit. I was responsible for my own yard. I'm sure this varies based on community as I did not have large association fees.

I couldn't play my surround sound because it rattled the shared wall

I'd recommend an end unit

 

[Sup_Yo]

I'm considering buying one as well. I am in no rush so I plan to wait for a great looking end unit.

I rent a middle unit now and it sucks sharing two walls. Especially having a neighbor with a very loud bed.

 

[Cjw_55106]

Unfortunately, you dont know the neighbors until its too late. Would you compare it to a hotel as far as how easily you can hear the noise?

 

[Wrigley]

HOA = PIA

 

[Cjw_55106]

I should mention that I would be renting, so the HOA, doesnt matter much to me.

 

[5-ish Finkle]

It depends on your neighbors.

I had an end unit. I was responsible for my own yard. I'm sure this varies based on community as I did not have large association fees.

I couldn't play my surround sound because it rattled the shared wall

I'd recommend an end unit

The bolded. Times 1,000.

I own/have lived in one for 11 years. Have regretted the decision weekly almost from jump. I'm going to paint with a very broad brush here, and I know it's not fair, buuuut.....by and large, most people are ignorant. EXTREMELY ignorant. They don't think about how their actions/lifestyle may interfere with anyone elses(e.g. their neighbor who lives less than 12" away from them.)

Between parking, noise, garbage area and neighbors attempting to treat the exterior of my unit as their own it's pretty much sucked. YMMV, of course, but if my work situation had allowed it we'd have sold this thing a year after we bought it and never looked back. I'll never get rid of it(we're going to rent it out to idiot college kids when we move. Gonna give the neighbors a taste of what it's been like. ), but I'd take a detached home over a townhouse 1,000 times out of a 1,000 after owning.

The "pluses" that sold us on the idea of this community(all exterior maintenance taken care of, including roof, etc) have not been worth it to me.

Buy a house. On about 7 acres. And build a wall. That's my advice.

 

[5-ish Finkle]

I should mention that I would be renting, so the HOA, doesnt matter much to me.

Well, it will probably matter to your landlord. If you don't want to get evicted, or have your rent double, you may want to give the covenants/by-laws the once over before you sign a lease. As a resident, you'd still be required to obey those.

HOAs are a pain, and generally worthless when it comes to enforcing jack, but if your landlord wants to be a stickler(and it'd be their right to be) it could bite you.

 

[Annyong]

I am currently in one. I want out asap and my neighbors aren't even that bad. I miss having my own yard.

 

[belljr]

It really depends on the community. I was lucky but our community was basically treated like single family homes but they were townhomes. (I owned)

Meaning I did maintenance on the yard (was decent size for a town home), maintain the back patio, our trash went out front on trash night, maintain the home. The only thing I didn't have to worry about was roof and exterior siding etc.

My neighbors were quiet and so were we so it was great BUT there were a couple neighbors we did want to strangle from time to time.

One neighbor would have someone come pick them, they pull up honk the horn, 1 minute later honk, this went on for 5 -10 minutes.

2 weeks later same thing happened again. I walked outside and knocked on the guys car window. Asked him to go knock on the door instead of honking every minute and waking people up. To his credit. He looks at me, then around the neighborhood and it "clicks". He apologizes and says he is sorry it didn't even register.

So some people are just clueless

 

[5-ish Finkle]

I am currently in one. I want out asap and my neighbors aren't even that bad. I miss having my own yard.

This too. Since we got a dog we've been looking for houses.

 

[Annyong]

2 weeks later same thing happened again. I walked outside and knocked on the guys car window. Asked him to go knock on the door instead of honking ever minute and waking people up. To his credit. He looks at me, then around the neighborhood and it "clicks". He apologizes and says he is sorry it didn't even register.

So some people are just clueless

I had a couple of people down the street that had to be in some sort of custody battle for a kid. He would come pick up the kid, and they would scream at each other for 10 minutes. All is good now though.

 

[belljr]

BTW - I would probably never do that now. 25 year old me was way less of a pus than the current me.

 

[NutterButter]

2 weeks later same thing happened again. I walked outside and knocked on the guys car window. Asked him to go knock on the door instead of honking ever minute and waking people up. To his credit. He looks at me, then around the neighborhood and it "clicks". He apologizes and says he is sorry it didn't even register.

So some people are just clueless

I had a couple of people down the street that had to be in some sort of custody battle for a kid. He would come pick up the kid, and they would scream at each other for 10 minutes. All is good now though.

Sounds like a perk. Set up a chair on the porch with your intoxicant of choice.

 

[Annyong]

2 weeks later same thing happened again. I walked outside and knocked on the guys car window. Asked him to go knock on the door instead of honking ever minute and waking people up. To his credit. He looks at me, then around the neighborhood and it "clicks". He apologizes and says he is sorry it didn't even register.

So some people are just clueless

I had a couple of people down the street that had to be in some sort of custody battle for a kid. He would come pick up the kid, and they would scream at each other for 10 minutes. All is good now though.

Sounds like a perk. Set up a chair on the porch with your intoxicant of choice.

It was entertaining for me, but my 2 year old was confused.

 

[Bonfire]

As far as neighbors go, I like to come back to location after realtor or whoever is gone and simply knock on the doors of each neighbor. Just them answering the door and speaking for 2 minutes can tell you a lot about them. I just ask about neighborhood etc, introduce myself, blah blah, but its all about them.

Had a guy answer the door and I could clearly see a ton of DJ equipment and a woofer the size of a tank in the living room. Glad I found out before I moved in next door.

 

[Mr. Ected]

HOA = PIA

Wouldn't have the HOA affect the decision too much. You can buy a house in a more populated area and have an HOA too.

 

[DCThunder]

Maybe I've been lucky, but I've lived in a townhouse since 1999 and am really happy with it. It's an end unit with a 2 car garage. I have a side and back yard (fenced) and beyond that is common area and a street. Out front is common area with some tall trees. I've had two neighbors next door and they've both been quiet. While a townhouse, it is not a condo. We do have an HOA, but the unit itself is totally mine. I had to replace the roof myself for instance. We do have some architecutal covenants, but they aren't of the chart. While there are a couple of ##### bag othe residents, by and large they don't bother me or other residents too much.

 

[Todem]

My first home was a new construction townhome in a gated community with single family homes. I had to maintain my front yard as well as back yard (we had a little back yard as well which was fenced wood fence to be specific). We also owned our lot fee simple as well as our portion of the roof. I bought a corner end unit so I only shared one wall. My neighbor thank god was great. She was a single mom who was a flight attendant. The crappy part was our neighbors behind us. They were awful. Just awful. I had to constantly call the police to break up parties that went on till 2-3 in the morning with no regard for anyone.

If you can afford a single family home.....go that route. Townhome living is a high end apartment. Our townhome was gorgeous. 1800 under air 3/2.5 single car garage etc. Great place. Lousy neighbors though will drive you insane.

The first 5 years we loved it. Then when the owner behind us sold...the new neighbors were a living hell for the last 5 years (lived there 10 years before we built our dream house in 2009 at depressed values...great move). We made a good amount of money on our town home (65% return) but that was pure luck. We bought in 99. Typically you should be happy to break even on a townhome, and also your probably better off renting it if you do not need the equity to flip to a down payment on a new home. In my case the equity was well worth the price to sell it and invest it in my new home.

Bottom line.....I think Townhomes stink for a long term investment and life style. For a first time home that you only plan on being in for 5 years or less...not a bad option. Better than an apartment or a condo.

 

[belljr]

HOA = PIA

Wouldn't have the HOA affect the decision too much. You can buy a house in a more populated area and have an HOA too.

I was dead set against buying our house because of HOA but the wife wanted the house. I pay 200 for the year.

After talking to people before I bought everyone said it's not a bother. The people are really good. They are just there to stop people from painting houses bright orange. I know it sucks having to answer if I want to change my fence but overall no complaints

They allow things that are technically against the HOA rules (basketball hoops for example).

 

[cstu]

Buy a house. On about 7 acres. And build a wall. That's my advice.

Braces on the inside.

 

[cstu]

My first home was a new construction townhome in a gated community with single family homes. I had to maintain my front yard as well as back yard (we had a little back yard as well which was fenced wood fence to be specific). We also owned our lot fee simple as well as our portion of the roof. I bought a corner end unit so I only shared one wall. My neighbor thank god was great. She was a single mom who was a flight attendant. The crappy part was our neighbors behind us. They were awful. Just awful. I had to constantly call the police to break up parties that went on till 2-3 in the morning with no regard for anyone.

If you can afford a single family home.....go that route. Townhome living is a high end apartment. Our townhome was gorgeous. 1800 under air 3/2.5 single car garage etc. Great place. Lousy neighbors though will drive you insane.

The first 5 years we loved it. Then when the owner behind us sold...the new neighbors were a living hell for the last 5 years (lived there 10 years before we built our dream house in 2009 at depressed values...great move). We made a good amount of money on our town home (65% return) but that was pure luck. We bought in 99. Typically you should be happy to break even on a townhome, and also your probably better off renting it if you do not need the equity to flip to a down payment on a new home. In my case the equity was well worth the price to sell it and invest it in my new home.

Bottom line.....I think Townhomes stink for a long term investment and life style. For a first time home that you only plan on being in for 5 years or less...not a bad option. Better than an apartment or a condo.

SFR > Townhome > Condo

Caveat is I'd rather live in a condo with great neighbors than a SFR with bad neighbors.

 

[cstu]

2 weeks later same thing happened again. I walked outside and knocked on the guys car window. Asked him to go knock on the door instead of honking ever minute and waking people up. To his credit. He looks at me, then around the neighborhood and it "clicks". He apologizes and says he is sorry it didn't even register.

So some people are just clueless

I had a couple of people down the street that had to be in some sort of custody battle for a kid. He would come pick up the kid, and they would scream at each other for 10 minutes. All is good now though.

Sounds like a perk. Set up a chair on the porch with your intoxicant of choice.

It was entertaining for me, but my 2 year old was confused.

Could be an educational moment. "This is what happens to families when kids don't do what they're told."