Townhome ownership

[alarmguy]

A lot of good posts in here. Things can vary greatly.
Typically, you will have a HOA/maintenance fee
This will take care of all yard maintenance and all exterior maintenance, including the roof
More or less all maintenance outside of the townhome

 

[Pew]

Yep, there seems to be no simple detached homes being built here either.
View attachment 333182
The one town near me has several blocks of something similar built in the 1980's or 90's. They are still well maintained and are doing the job of keeping people housed without a huge investment, or expensive maintenance.
Something like this, or turned sideways with the garage door under the gable end for a narrower lot frontages, should be able to be built well, for not very many man days, or waste material.
I can see from the developers end, that there's far more profit available on a $8-900k home than a $3-4-500k, but its pretty clear that market forces aren't creating much extra supply or lower cost detached homes.

Yea hopefully it's not me sounding pedantic and not evolving with the times but dang how I miss my childhood home. A typical 1800-2300sqft post-asbestos house was perfect for the typical family.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

There building hundreds of townhomes in my little area. Makes me want to move even more. I guess people cannot afford single family anymore - the wages just don't support it where I am at.

I have to believe there will be a glut at some point. Eventually I assume a lot of those folks will want to upgrade and there will be a surplus of old townhomes for sale. Gen Z is tiny, even compared to Gen X. Maybe mass immigration of potential townhome buyers?

Well one way to increase affordability is to increase density although I've seen some $1M townhomes.

Remember there has been a housing shortage every year since around 2010. This has a cumulative effect.

 

[Cropduster172]

We have lived in one for the last 12 years. Had a large single family home for decades. Once the kids got older and moved out. Townhomes worked well for us.
Our current HOA is $230/month. I'll gladly pay that to not have to cut grass, weed wack,edge, shovel snow, clean gutters, seal my driveway. Live on a golf course fairway. The view in the AM when drinking my coffee is outstanding. Development was built by Amish dudes in the late 90s. Solid construction. I've never heard a sound from either side. Bought the place in2020 for $503,000. Can sell it today for $750,000 or more. Convenient to everything but very private.

 

[PandaBear]

Maybe mass immigration of potential townhome buyers?

Typically it is local job growth and urbanization that leads to new development. Congratulation to your local area doing well.

 

[alarmguy]

1 million homes on the market for sale right now.
I don’t call that a shortage. Using those words is nothing but a media sensation put into peoples head.

Inventory was tight initially, as the pandemic ended, that was now a long time ago in a global shutdown worldwide.
If you can’t buy a house now you’re doing something wrong or need to move to an area where you can. Because like automobiles, there are homes for sale includingnew homes at reasonable prices.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ACTLISCOUUS

 

[PandaBear]

The word "shortage" "surplus" etc are pointless without "price" and "interest rate".

If price drop low enough and interest drop low enough I would likely upgrade from a 1250 sqft house to a 3000 sqft house. If I have a mortgage and lost my job for 9 months then run out of money, I likely would be foreclosed and just rent, and the bank puts my house back on the market as foreclosed or short sale property.