So, this is my first post on this board as...(long)

someone looking for a house! I never thought this day would come, but JT and I are officially looking for something to buy
Now, we're torn as to what we want to do. My sister and my aunt live in a fabulous townhouse community that we already know we love. We'd get three bedrooms, one full bath, two half baths, a basement and a garage. Updated units with new bathrooms and new kitches, etc. are still very affordable. I like it because you have a backyard, albeit small, it's still yours. They have a clubhouse you can use or rent out for parties, a pool, playgrounds and it's built into the woods, so you're not on a treeless lot. But, it's still a townhouse connected to someone else's living space. But a bonus would be not having to keep up the property since they take care of the outside.
On the other hand, we have a child now, and I really always envisioned putting up our own swing set in our own backyard and having big barbeques and basically everything about having our own house. We don't have a lot of time together as it is, so having to rake and mow and weed and all that stuff on the weekends isn't really something we want to do, however, we want to have another baby after we buy something, and I really don't want to feel like we're living ontop of each other.
I'd like to stay where ever we buy for at least 5-10 years.


Please give me your pros and cons of having a house and having a townhouse. I need some other opinions because everyone in my family lives in a townhouse now, so they're obviously bias.
TIA! (Sorry so long!)

Re: So, this is my first post on this board as...(long)

Welcome to the home board and the exciting world of home buying, LOL!

As for pros and cons of living in a townhouse- I don't have any experience living in one, but I think you have stated all the pros and cons.
Pros: having all the outside maintenance taken care of
Cons: sharing wall(s) with neighbors, not having a whole (or any) yard to yourself - also you have to pay a common charge in a townhouse.

Good luck on your search!!

Re: So, this is my first post on this board as...(long)

Well, I think that it will vary from community to community but my husband had a townhouse and I had a condo prior to us buying our house. Neither of us particularly liked "community" living though it did have some advantages. In his community everyone was in everyone else's business. Everyone complained about everyone else. It was really annoying. I guess that comes with living in such close proximity to others. But, I did like the facilities - communal swimming pool, tennis courts, playground, basketball court, security. And the external upkeep was invaluable..... But still, I think I prefer having house, knowing that you own the land etc even if it means not having the facilities is better. I cant really explain why.

Re: So, this is my first post on this board as...(long)

We were in the same situation as you just a few months ago (minus the child). We had our hearts set on buying a condo - we thought for sure that this was the way to go for us. We rent now and thought that this would be a great homeowning transition for us bc you have the responsibility of ownership, but without the headache of a yard, etc. We looked and looked at condos and I realized that with the fees of condos and 3 bedrooms, we would expand our search to houses in the same price range. We did this hesitantly and half heartedly.....well low and behold we have found a house that we LOVE. It is not a house that we would stay in forever, but it is a starter home that would technically be out of our price range if the market hadn't come down so much in the past year.

Anyhow, my advice is to look at houses and just keep an open mind. There are tons of SH*T houses in a starter home price range, but the prices are definitely coming down and there are homes that are out there.

Good luck - I know first hand how stressful and time consuming this process is....and how many times you question yourself throughout the process.

Re: So, this is my first post on this board as...(long)

Thanks for the input! I definitely want to look at houses now. I mean, I never even consider them as an option until recently because we couldn't afford anything decent. Now, for the same price or a tiny bit more, than the townhouse we are looking at, we could have a full house and a yard, etc. So we definitely need to look. Also, we are very private people and do not like living in an apartment complex, so it does worry me to be living ontop of other people in a community. The only good thing is that I know it's a pretty private place since my sister already lives there. Oh, and that's the other thing, I ahd really wanted to live in the same place as my sister and her and BIL really want us to move there. But I just don't know anymore. I guess it's going to take looking.