Thoughts on townhouse living?

[tny915]

We've been looking for a few months now for a more family-friendly home in the 'burbs to move into. We live in a major city and want to find a place where we can feel more comfortable walking around the neighborhood and where DD can play outside without my fear of drunks or bums strolling on by.

Well, we just saw a townhome just outside the city that has a lot of what we're looking for in neighborhood and size. It lacks a front or backyard but has several decks. Living in the city, I've grown accustomed to houses built almost wall to wall, but I don't know what it would be like to be in a townhome where my wall and my neighbor's wall are one and the same.

Anyone care to share your experiences on living in a townhouse? Pros and cons? Things I should be aware of or ask about regarding the homeowner's association?

TIA!

[crayonblue]

We live in a townhouse and love it. We have an end unit with lots of windows so that helps make it very bright.

We do have a small backyard, but honestly, I don't go out there much. We have a deck where we put a slide/fort for Lauren. The community has a playground in front of our house, so we go to the playground to play.

I don't mind sharing a wall with our neighbors. Fortunately, they are super cautious about making noise and have actually called and asked if Lauren is asleep because they didn't want to hammer something and wake her up! I recognize not all neighbors are this super polite. We owned another townhouse before this one and had the same experience of very, very quiet neighbors.

Good luck!

[abigailsmom]

I just sold my towntome and boy do I miss it!!! We had wonderful neighbors and it is a dream for upkeep. I would try and make contact within the neighborhood and get the real low-down on neighbors, noise and parking issues. I didn't have any of these problems because I was an end unit with great neighbors and extra parking because of an overflow lot, but parking can sometimes be an issue if is not marked.

On HOA's, I would just make sure that the covenants in place are reasonable and are helpful in keeping the property value up. I rented a townhome in a community that had done away with the covenants and it made for a more hodgepodge neighborhood. I found that with the covenants we had in place, it helped everyone maintain property value. You don't have to worry about your neighbors lettin' the place go!!!

Feel free to e-mail me with any other questions that you may have!
abigailmom2002 at yahoo and then you know the rest! ;)

Hope that you have great luck with your house search!!

Robyn
Mama to my precious little Pooper, Abigail

[Momof3Labs]

I lived in two different townhouses before getting married, and loved them in many ways. Loved the minimal outdoor upkeep and convenience. But parking was an issue at the first townhouse. And both associations were VERY disfunctional (though I still took the time to serve on both, glutton for punishment), though it didn't impact the property value of the second one at all (may have impacted the first a bit). I didn't have many noise issues in either, definitely less than in an apartment.

Get a real estate attorney who knows a LOT about HOAs and will request the appropriate paperwork, including info on operating budget, rules, etc., and will know what to look for. And stick with HOAs that have a good reputation and good price appreciation. A real estate agent can help you with this.

One thing I noticed in both was that I didn't know many of my neighbors very well - except for the ones that also had dogs! Though there weren't many kids, so maybe I would have seen more people out and about if they were playing outside with their kids. But for everyone else in a condo/townhouse, there isn't much of a reason to go outside. No lawn to cut, no snow to blow, etc.

[aliceinwonderland]

If there is a way to "interview" the condo association, I would do that first and foremost. We lived in a townhouse in Boston and the only thing we did not like was the way the association was run...It was just this one couple that was the issue, but never underestimate how much people who live in close proximity can affect your quality of life.

At any rate, it was one of the main reasons we moved, other than that, it was the perfect living arrangement for us, we had a beautiful garden (!!), a sun room, etc.

And parking was always always an issue too, but so it is in every major city everywhere in the world :)