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House VS. Townhouse
Currently, we are debating between a single family home and a townhouse. We have found 2 that we really like. For the most part, they are the same price (with the HOA fees on the townhouse and the price of the single family house the monthly payments would be the same). Both homes have exactly what we are looking for. We made a large pro-cons list but still cant decide.
Our debate comes down to location. I know location is everything and the townhouse location is WONDERFUL with a great school district. It has a ton of stores within walking distance and they are building a new shopping center right at the end of the road.
The single family home is not in the best area but its not a bad area by any means. The school districts are a 7 compared to a 10 with the townhouse. There isn?t much in the neighborhood to do and we would have to drive about 5 minutes to get to all the stores.We had made an offer on this home about a month ago and came to a $4k standstill. So while we were holding out, we looked some more.
We don't know if we want to cave and get the single family house or start putting in offers on townhouses instead. Would you rather have a single family home or a townhome?
FWIW - We wouldn't buy a townhome in the location of where the single family home is. We can't afford a single family home is the location of where the townhome is.
**FIRST TIME MOM**
Re: House VS. Townhouse
If we could find a townhome with a three car garage, I'd own a townhome over a single family home in a second. We are busy, like to travel, don't like yard work etc so for us a townhome would be preferable.
That said, we will never live in one because they just don't exist with three car garages, so we will always have a single family home.
I'm 29 and 4 years ago I would have loved a townhouse. Actually when we bought our first house DH was on the House track and I was on the townhouse track. I'm glad we went down the house track then. Now, I would hate a townhouse. We are in a different part of our life now. We want a big yard for our kids to play. I wouldn't want to share walls with other people and have to listen to their loud music or tv's at 1am. I wouldn't want to deal with townhouse parking when guests come over.
It totally depends on what you and your priorities are, but I'd also think long-term on if the townhouse will fit your lifestyle in a few years.
Thanks for all the input.
It actually turns out, the townhouse we are looking at would tech have a bigger yard then the house. The house has a huge patio but the rest is all unlevel and full of large trees. The townhouse actually backs out onto a golf course and from what others that have said that live in the area - you can actually run around on it when its not in use. (After 6pm). We don't have any kids right now. And when the time comes, there is a playground right up the block (from both places).
Privacy was a concern of mine but the house is somewhat close to everyone else. In this area, none of the newer homes have a larger property and everything is built on top of eachother. The older homes have more privacy but are so out of our price range.
Shared walls don't bother me. I grew up in a rowhouse and our first house that we owned for almost 9 years was a rowhome too. every once in awhile, we'd hear our neighbors, but not enough that it was an issue.
So that being said, from everything you describe, I'd probably go for the townhouse.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Ditto---if it puts you in a better school district and the monthly cost is the same...we hate yard work, and like the fact that an HOA is some assurance that the neighbors won't stop mowing their lawns/let their house go to crap...
Five minutes isn't far at all. I'd go with the SFH. More space and privacy are way more valuable than proximity to a mall for me. I think that it's fairly likely that in 5 years you would have wished you opted for the SFH with more space.
We have a TH and love it. Similar to what you've described, the SFH's don't give us that much more yard, DH and I are busy and don't have time to manage a large yard, and we got more square footage than we would have with any SFH in our price range. We purchased a TH with a nice driveway/garage so DS has a place to ride a bike, etc when he gets a little bigger.
Given what you've described, I would definitely choose the TH over the SFH. A 10 is a big difference from a 7 (it also says something about the kind of people that live in that neighborhood vs. the other). And, as someone who left a walking-distance-to-everything for a further-out suburban existence, I really miss being able to walk down to the Whole Foods to grab something fresh for dinner! Sure, I can get in my car and drive for 15 minutes, but it was nice to put DS in the moby wrap and go for a stroll.
We rarely hear our neighbors. TH's are usually designed much better than apartments, we have an end unit and the way our layout is, there are 3 walls (1 in my office, one in the living room, and one in the basement) in the entire house that are empty and shared. Other walls have stairs/bathrooms/closets. I can sometimes hear them slamming cabinets in the kitchen, but they have to really be slamming them hard and it doesn't happen very often.
pinterest
It looks like you might be right in the same area we are in. We are in MD and looking in AA county.
Since typing the org post this morning, the sellers for the SFH came back and accepted our last offer. (after going back and forth for a month) Now we really have to decide what we want!
Since you don't have kids and aren't even pregnant yet, I would not consider the schools in your decision. A lot can change in a single year, let alone 6+ years. I would have ranked DS's school as an 7 last year, but this year it's a 5 thanks to a really crappy new principal. And this is in the best school district in the state. So schools can change very quickly in one way or the other. If you had an immediate need for schools, it would be appropriate to consider them. But since you don't, it's really not a relevant factor.
Choose which house and lot you like the most, and which has the highest likelihood of staying nice. Remember, once the original owners start moving out of a townhome community, renters will start moving in at a faster rate than they would in a single family home development, and at a higher density. While I have nothing against good renters, I have seen first hand, both in my old neighborhood and in our current one, what happens when a neighborhood goes rental, and how that change affects an owner's ability to sell.
We own a town home and we love not having yardwork, etc. We love the amenities of our neighborhood, and its location to things around us. We really like the fact we got more space for our $$$ by purchasing a TH vs a SFH for the area we wanted to live. TH living suits us in many ways.
However, we are itching to move as we are very tired of the 3 story layout of our unit. I am so freaking tired of the stairs especially with kids (i.e., carrying a sleeping 33 lb 2 year old from the garage on the 1st floor to their bdrm on 3rd floor has gotten old). The other huge downfall of our unit is no private outdoor space. We have a small front porch but no yard or real play area for the kids. If I had a 2 story TH with a yard, then I would have no desire to move.
The new build we are trying to buy is a townhome. We are choosing a townhome because we can get way more space for the price than a SFH. We can get a large townhome in a great neighborhood with lots of amenities. If we were to buy a SFH, it would cost more, be much smaller, and need many updates.
However, I live in a big city and it's not unusual for people to live in condos or townhomes (there are no stigmas attached to townhomes like in some places). I think you need to consider which home will work better for your family - ignore whether its a townhome or single family just think about what space works best, and what location is best. If you plan to resell soon and single family homes sell better in your area, that would be a key factor but if you plan to live there for a long time and the townhome has everything you need, sounds like the best choice.
Funny - I used to live in AA County. I owned a TH in Piney Orchard. Not sure what school districts you are looking in (I graduated from SPHS so I biased toward that school) but I would vote for the TH in the good school district. It will be easier to sell down the road, if you decide you do want to move to a single family home.