Condo vs. Townhome - The Domino Effect

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Condo vs. Townhome The Domino Effect
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Are you confused about the differences between a
condo and a townhome? You're not alone! It used
to be that condos were apartments owned by the
person who lived in them. A townhome, or
townhouse, was one of several connected dwellings
lined up side by side.
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Today's definition of condo means any
individually owned subdivision of a larger
structure owned by another entity. There are
apartment condominiums. There are townhouse
condominiums.
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Let's talk about the pros and cons of each of
these, and to make it easy we'll just refer to
them with the good old-fashioned words, condo and
townhome. But it's so hard to choose between them!
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If you buy a condo, you are basically buying the
living space. You won't own the walls-because the
walls are part of the exteriors that are owned by
another party. The most expensive condos are
those on the top floor of the building because
then you have no neighbor above you.
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Almost equally desirable is any unit on the
bottom floor of the building, because there's no
one below you. Because one person's floor might
be someone else's ceiling, condo rules often call
for noise restriction. Sometimes you have to
cover a certain percentage of your floor space
with carpeting.
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If you buy a townhome, you're buying a dwelling
from top to bottom. On your sides, the walls are
considered to be the property lines. It extends
in the front and back to its property lines.
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Condos tend to be a little more restrictive about
pet ownership. Many condominium developments
identify some units for pet owners and others for
non-pet owners. That means you have to decide
before you buy if you want a pet or not.
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Part of the fee goes toward insurance just like
townhomes, but it's usually a bigger fee. Condo
buildings offer laundry facilities, party rooms,
exercise rooms or saunas, or other amenities that
are fee-for use, but which have to be covered in
the event of disaster.
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Both townhomes and condos come with association
fees. Potential buyers need to consider that
those fees take the place of maintenance costs
they would incur if they owned a
house. Association fees charged to townhome
owners are generally less. They cover things such
as snow removal or lawn care, trash removal, and
a fee for hazard insurance in the event that some
catastrophe ruins the entire complex of homes.
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Fees paid by condo owners are a little higher
because they cover everything we mentioned plus
heating, water, and sewage. They cover
maintenance of shared amenities such as a pool or
tennis courts.
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Making your decision really is a process of
narrowing down what you want, because for each
pro that you identify you also get a con. Your
choices affect one another like dominoes.
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• What's your available money? The purchase price
  of a condo is generally less than that of a
  townhome. And that relates to...
• Space
• The condo is smaller. A townhome has two or
  three levels.
• A condo has a storage bin.
• A townhome usually has a basement.
• Even when the square footage is just about
  even, the concept of having multiple stories
  just seems like more of a luxury.
• Association fees
• The condo comes with higher fees. And this
  correlates with...

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• Maintenance responsibility
• The townhome has more maintenance responsibility
  to offset the lower fees.
• Autonomy
• The townhome wins here if you want to defer your
  decision on pet ownership, or if you don't want
  someone dictating your floor or wall covering
  choices.
• And that ties into...
• Amenities
• You have more autonomy with a townhome, but you
  won't get the amenities of a condo.

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Our recommendation? Look at several properties,
and consider the above six points as they relate
to each property. Ultimately, the choice is yours.
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For more information about Colorado real estate,
please check out Fort Collins real
estate.www.AutomatedHomeFinder.com