One thing to really keep in mind and investigate thoroughly is that not all townhome communites are created equal...

Not all, but some associations' fees pay only for maintenance of common areas - mowing of common greenspaces and boulevards but not the little yard that comes with the townhouse; plowing of streets but not sidewalks. Roofs, painting, and exterior home maintenance, builder grade landscaping, etc. is often owner responsibility.

If the TH doesn't have a garage, there should be assigned parking for each house. Nothing worse than a neighbor with several cars hogging all the spaces leaving you and any guests you might have with a hefty walk.

Common walls - no problem when people are considerate and just engage in normal living activities. Nothing worse than someone's stereo cranked up to rock concert level. Look at TH floorplans; are adjoining units set up to have stairwells, closets and other assorted deadspaces abutting yours? This is a good sound buffer. Stairs - lots of THs now are high and narrow, can't get anywhere without going up a flight of stairs.

I lived in an upscale TH community back East. My association fees paid for street lights, road plowing, and maintenance of common areas only - oh, and lights for the tennis courts, pools, walking trails and all the other type of ammenities people find attractive. Everything else, we bit the bullet for.

It was large - 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath brick colonial, full basement. For the most part, it was quite pleasant. And it sold in 24 hours at the height of the housing boom when I knew I'd be able to take early retirement and move back to Minnesota to look after elderly parents.

Now I'm in a two story single family home with a little better than 2/3 of an acre. Nice old neighborhood with nice neighbors. True, I do have crews for snow removal and grass cutting - a small price to pay for some space. I take routine maintenance in stride and I don't plan on giving this up until some unforseen circumstance makes it necessary or I reach a point where I can no longer maintain this level of independence.

Given my druthers, and having experienced it from both sides, I'd always be more interested in a small, single family home or a nice independent living one or two bedroom apartment in a seniors complex in lieu of the TH.

The difference between a townhome and a single family home is whether or not you share a wall with neighbor(s). Nothing else.

The HOA determines what you get for the fee. I lived in a townhome community with no assigned parking, no pool, no clubhouse, no maintenance. All we got for the money was someone telling us what we could and could not do to our own home. It was the same in our first single family home.

Now I live in a single family home with no HOA and I couldn't be happier. Yes, I do my own maintenance, but I didn't have to ask anyone's permission to plant a pansy.

The difference between a townhome and a single family home is whether or not you share a wall with neighbor(s). Nothing else.

There is a lot more to it than that. Duluthinbloomz4's post gives a good overview.

Anytime you buy into a situation with extensive common maintenance issues, which is typical with condos and townhomes, you have to be extremely cautious. Some are not well managed and do not have adequate reserves for major repairs.

You do not want to buy into one of these communities only to be hit with a large assessment because something like the roof needs replacing, and the association does not have the funds to cover it.

Some states are better than others at mandating associations properly manage their finances, including maintaining adequate reserves. Due diligence is needed when checking out a prospective property. Don't expect the real estate agent to do it for you.

I've done both and if I were ever single again I would live in a townhouse in a second. The HOA's never covered maintenance in the HOA fee, just upkeep in the common areas and plowing the road. So I could either pay for that myself in either situation or do it myself. I can handle the maintenance of a townhouse with a little yard, but I would not want to do the maintenance on a house. That is just me, I do no like yard work.

Also around me, DC metro, the house would be much much older than a comparably priced townhouse. I could have a new well insulated townhouse or a 1950's ranch in bad need of updating. I am also not handy!

The better investment would probably be the single family home, just because the land has most of the value.

My DH would never live in a townhouse or any house with an HOA again. He doesn't like rules or close neighbors. He is very handy and doesn't mind yard work or maintenance. Different strokes for different folks, you have to find what balance works for you.

We are in the same situation. Our house closes next month but we decided to rent a townhouse, rather than buy. We are not sure if we want to stay in the area after my husband retires so we will rent for a year. We've been looking at condo's and townhouses and decided on townhouse for space. If we got a 2 bedroom condo we'd have to put all our 'stuff' in storage which would cost about $500.00 a month. Townhouses are larger and have basements and garages. We can store everything there until we move permenantly. All have multi-levels. Our present house has stairs and we are used to that. We are used to a large house and townhouses give you space. If I were buying, I'd buy a townhouse.

Jane

We lived in a townhouse for our first house. The fees were dirt cheap and did not even pay for watering the lawns. Since we were new at this, we didn't know any better. The maintenance was slow, and the roofs were replaced two years later than they should have been. One tenant had an interior leak to deal with while the board dithered over whether to do the roof that year or not. And yes, we paid a special assessment for the roof. Although we loved the location and the townhouse itself, we did not like not having total say over basic maintenance.

"If the TH doesn't have a garage, there should be assigned parking for each house. Nothing worse than a neighbor with several cars hogging all the spaces leaving you and any guests you might have with a hefty walk.

Ounds great, except that in some states (Virginia is one) if you have assigned parking spaces you cannot turn over maintenance of that poirtion to the state (like most roads in Virginia).

The owners are left with maintenance on the parking spaces.

There are all sorts of level of service included (and omitted) from the monthly fees.

It all depends on how the HOA was set up.

As others have said, the difference is going to be the HOA. Some people are fine living within the strictures of an HOA, others chafe at the control others have over your home and how you use it.

Most HOAs are fine, but when they go bad, they can really go bad. If a bad apple gets on the board they can make life miserable. Also, while the law differs from state to state, they generally favor the HOA and the homeowner will likely lose in court should a dispute arise (and losing probably means being responsible for the HOA's attorneys fees).

So the advice is to do research on the rules of the development and the character of the HOA before committing, and don't take the real estate agent's word for it.

When you look at buying a townhouse in a planned community, you first have to know what you're buying - how the house is deeded.
There are two types of ownership...

1. Fee-simple. This is the type of deed 98% of single homes have. The deed covers both the land and the structure.
Many townhouse communities have HOAs (Home owners Association), and membership in the HOA is specified as mandatory in the deed.
Fee-Simple HOA.

You are responsible for all repairs to the exterior of your house...because you own the outside of the structure.
The HOA usually owns common ground outside of homeowner boundaries, either open space or often things like a pool, tennis courts, playground. These facilities are run by the HOA, and your HOA monthly dues pay for expenses, wether you use those facilities or not.
Also, the HOA may or may not have blanket contracts for things like landscaping, trash collection and snow removal.
The HOA may also have architectural guidelines that specify what you can do outside of the house(yes, on your property) as to plantings, paint colors, additions, etc.

2. Condominium.

Your deed gives you ownership of the interior of your house...from the studs in. The Condo association owns the land and the outside of the house..roof, decks, patios and outside walls.

The condo association, which you automatically belong to, collects fees and negotiates contracts for all common areas and things like the pool, etc.

One of the big differences, as far as quality of life, is the fact that your front and back yards are common property in a Condo - and people can and will walk through your yards.

Monica said what I was trying to say much better.

You can have a single family condo with an HOA in which case you pay the condo or HOA to maintain the outside of the home and common grounds. You can have a townhouse without an HOA and no condo in which case you are responsible for all exterior maintenance and there are no common areas.

It's not the style of the house that determines your maintenance responsibility, it's the ownership type of the home you buy.