And though that often means less upkeep than in a fully detached home, you’ll still likely do more maintenance than in an apartment.
“I would say, on a personal level, it’s more upkeep than apartments, since you can call your super for any issues [in an apartment],” Bullock says.
Finally, and perhaps most critically, you’re going to have to learn to be friends (or at least not enemies) with your neighbors.
“While we have no legal relationship to our townhouse neighbors, we have to navigate building issues with them often,” Thompson says. “We’ve built strong relationships with the adjacent owners, so when it’s time to replace a falling-down fence or deal with a gutter issue, we’re well-positioned to work out a fair split of money and effort.
Or, as Janka puts it: “If you’re not a social person, you may not enjoy the closeness of your neighbors.”
Are townhouses easier to sell or buy than regular houses?
Because real estate markets can vary so profoundly between, say, New York City and the Texas exurbs, and because even the term “townhouse” can validly be applied to entirely different kind of structures, from a 19th-century Brooklyn brownstone to a 2023 condo an hour outside Dallas, it’s impossible to say how a townhouse would sell differently than a detached home in a given area. As always, pay attention to the essentials, like the location, square footage, neighborhood, curb appeal, its financials and so on.
FAQs
What is a townhouse?
A townhouse, or townhome, is a multistory, (usually) single-family dwelling that shares at least one wall with a neighboring home. Shared walls between townhouses are called party walls.
What’s the difference between a townhouse and a rowhouse?
Rowhouses are a subset of townhouses in that they and their neighboring homes always share certain distinctive characteristics, whereas other kinds of townhouses don’t necessarily have to look alike.
What’s the difference between a townhouse and a condo?
A townhouse is an architectural definition of a structure. It’s a name used to describe a physical building with specific characteristics, chief among them that it’s multistory and shares at least one wall with a neighbor.
