Condominiums versus townhomes

Condominiums and townhomes – the general public seem to be always confused as to what the terms mean and how they are different if they are different at all. Well, in technical terms, they are different, though the building structures sometimes appear more or less similar.

Condominiums and townhomes are individually owned houses attached to one another.

Townhomes are attached in a row, and together they form one whole building complex. In a condominium, houses may be adjacent or stacked upon one another. The houses may be single story, or 2 or 3 story units or they can be units in a high-rise building. There is also a type of condo more recently developed where houses are built in a cluster as detached or freestanding houses.

A townhome owner owns the house and the land. He or she also owns the garage, the yard and the roof of the dwelling unit. But a condo owner does not own the land on which his or her home stands. They only own the dwelling unit, that is, the inside of the dwelling unit in structures where the houses are attached. All the common areas including the yard, stairs, walkways, amenities, etc. are owned, shared and maintained by all the owners of the condominium.

Both condos and townhomes have homeowners’ associations which take care of the maintenance of the common areas and the amenities and structures within the common areas. For this, each owner or resident pays a fee to the association usually on a monthly basis.

As the owners of both condos and townhomes own the space inside their respective dwelling units, they can do maintenance and improvements within that space as and when they wish. Walls inside the living space can be painted as, when and how they wish. However, it should be noted that they do not own the walls of their homes, so the owners have the privilege of painting, repairing and improving only in the space within the walls of their homes.

Each association may have its own set of rules and system of functioning. They are generally similar though there are slight variations among associations. Residents or owners will have to follow the guidelines set by their associations as regards ownership and sharing of costs and responsibility of maintenance of common areas and amenities. All of these factors are closely scrutinized by the appraisal company while valuing a condo or a townhouse.  

 

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