What is a townhouse? An attached home, usually on two or three floors, sharing side walls with its neighbours.
A townhouse is a home that shares one or two side walls with the homes next to it, usually runs over two or three floors, and usually has its own front door to the street and a small yard or patio of its own. It is a building style rather than an ownership form.
That style is the trade. A townhouse gives more space per dollar than a detached home of the same standard, and the yard and the exterior maintenance shrink with it, which suits some people exactly and suits others not at all. The shared wall is a real consideration and the quality of its construction is worth asking about.
Almost all of them come with an association, because somebody has to maintain what is shared. Dues, rules and the reserve fund matter more here than on a detached home, and the resale package is where they are written down.
A worked example
A three-bedroom townhouse over two floors, sharing both side walls, with a patio and a two-car garage, at $340,000 and $145 a month in dues. The detached house of the same size two streets away asks $415,000 and has no dues and a lawn to keep.
Townhomes for sale in Las Vegas
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a townhouse and a condo?
Townhouse describes the building: attached, usually multi-storey, with its own front door. Condo describes the ownership: the unit is owned separately and the shared parts jointly. A townhouse is often owned as a condominium, so a home can be both.
Do townhouses hold their value?
They follow their local market like anything else. The figures that matter are the same ones: price per square foot against nearby sales, how long they sit, and how many are for sale at once. The association's finances are the extra one, because a reserve fund that cannot cover a roof becomes a special assessment.