If you're looking into purchasing a home,
you've probably seen ads for new townhouses or condos and wondered what the
difference was. A townhouse is a type of single-family home that shares at
least one common wall with another home. A condo is more like an apartment,
with many units in a single building. As you can imagine, there are many
similarities between the two types of homes.
Both townhouses and condos will give you access
to shared spaces and amenities. Common exterior areas might be grassy spaces
for barbeques or swimming pools, while other developments also have common
interior spaces, like meeting rooms that you can reserve for your use. These
developments or buildings will also be governed by a homeowner's association.
Your homeowner's association (HOA) will have rules that will dictate things
like whether you can have pets and if so, what kinds, as well as what the
exterior of the home has to look like. You will also have to pay monthly or
yearly dues to the HOA. The advantage of a HOA is that they often provide
services to the common areas. Some HOAs also provide services to residents,
like maintaining your front yard for you or clearing snow in the winter.
Where the two differ is in how much you're
buying. If you buy a condo, you'll only own the interior of the unit, and
perhaps have a stake in the development or building that the condo is in. If
you buy a townhouse, you're buying the land, too, not just the home. Some
townhouses also entitle you to a percentage of the total development, but this
isn't true of all developments. See the best developments at this page: BWPark.ca.
Should you consider a townhouse or a condo
instead of a detached single-family home? Price-wise, a townhouse or condo will
usually be less expensive. Many experts argue, however, that this type of home
presents more a challenge to those who want to sell the property in the future.
Is there a reason to choose a condo over a
townhouse, then? If owning land is important to you, a townhouse is the right
choice. If you'd rather not deal with yard maintenance at all, no matter how
minimal, a condo is the better choice. Basically, if you like apartment living,
a condo will be much the same as that, only you'll own the apartment in which
you live. Townhouses, on the other hand, are more like single-family detached
homes for those who want something with a bit more privacy. More facts can be
found at the http://bwpark.ca website.
