If you live in a townhome--few questions:

[Anonymous]

Also, check out the amount of guest parking. It is very annoying if there's a small amount of guest parking.

THIS. I lived in a TH community that had about, oh, i don't know, 8 spots for a TH community of about 40 houses. Street parking strictly forbidden (all houses had a one car garage and a TH). I too had people turn around and leave a party that I was throwing because they could not find parking, and to add insult to injury, all of the neighboring communities had contracts with towing companies that would have you hooked up and gone before you could even come in the door of my house. NIGHT. MARE.

I would also recommend that you check with neighbors about the homeowner's association ... mine would literally come around and measure the grass in the front yard and bill me $10 a day for every day it was over 2 inches, or something. Horrible.

[Anonymous]

Parking is a big deal. What if (for example, ass PP mentioned) the SFH neighborhood decided and successfully petitioned for no on street parking? Then you'd be screwed for options.

[Anonymous]

We have assigned parking (2 spaces) in our TH community and enough street and guest spots that parties have not been an issue. Even the swim meet with dozens of cars is doable but this is becuase we have ample street parking options nearby in the neighborhood (and we are at the end of the TH seciton that's nearest to the largest open street parking sections). i would count assigned spaces as essential, particularly given the risk that a house is home or or rented by someone where multiple (more than 2) drivers would live there and so regularly take up "extra" spaces.

To the PP with the HOA that measured your grass - how horrible! That sounds like a beautiful neighborhood yet one that would be totalitarian to live in.

[Anonymous]

Having a guranteed space for my car (whether driveway or designated parking spot) is a deal-breaker for me.

I'm not treking across the street from a SFH neighborhood, I'm not walking down the block to my house, I'm not going to be forced to parallal park on a side street, etc.

You're paying big $$$ for a house - the least you should have is your own parking spot!

[Anonymous]

I would not live in a TH development without assigned, enforced parking. Period.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on your townhouse community. We live in Reston, and our cluster does not have assigned parking. There is enough parking for 2.5 cars per townhouse and the cluster asks people to be considerate. For the most part, people are. Our particular townhouse is in a cul-de-sac - 10 townhomes (in this culdesac) and about 20-22 parking spots. Most of the folks have 2 cars. It's interesting. When you drive into the cul-de-sac, there is parking on the left and right sides. On the side I park, although our spots aren't assigned, everyone parks in the same spot all the time. On the other side, the parking changes all the time - but it's a row of only 8-9 spaces, so even if you're at the end, it's not a far walk.

When I have a lot of company (more than one car), I ask them to park out on the street, not in the cul-de-sac. No one ever seems to mind. If my parents visit, I let them use my spot and I park at the end of the cul-de-sac in a spot that is usually empty.

We've had some parking issues (too long to explain here) a couple of years ago - but for the most part, it's never been an issue.

[Anonymous]

"I would also recommend that you check with neighbors about the homeowner's association ... mine would literally come around and measure the grass in the front yard and bill me $10 a day for every day it was over 2 inches, or something. Horrible. "

Your HOA fees don't include grass cutting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I would also recommend that you check with neighbors about the homeowner's association ... mine would literally come around and measure the grass in the front yard and bill me $10 a day for every day it was over 2 inches, or something. Horrible. "

Your HOA fees don't include grass cutting?

Not this poster, but ours doesn't. They cut the common areas, but not the patch in front of our house, along the side (we are an end unit), or our bit of backyard. We are resposnsible for that. This is our 3rd townhouse and it has been true for all the HOAs we lived in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I would also recommend that you check with neighbors about the homeowner's association ... mine would literally come around and measure the grass in the front yard and bill me $10 a day for every day it was over 2 inches, or something. Horrible. "

Your HOA fees don't include grass cutting?

Ours never did for the property which is part of our residence -- in front and in back. Only the communal areas were mowed.

[Anonymous]

I think I would try to find a home with at least one reserved space. That way the person who comes home first can park in a non-reserved space and save the reserved space for the person arriving home later. That's what most of my neighbors do. I think it would be kind of a pain to have no assigned parking, especially if some of your neighbors are renters and might have multiple cars. (My next-door neighbors have 4 cars. they take up nearly all the guest spaces, which is kind of annoying, but oh well.)

[Anonymous]

I would NEVER buy a townhouse that didn't have two assigned parking spaces. We looked at a TH in Reston and it had only 1 spot and that was a walk around from the TH - not even in front. We said "no way." We don't have any visitor parking in our cul-de-sac but usually alot of street parking and our pool w/ parking lot is a quick walk. It's a pain for visitors/family but we have to deal with it. It's usually just our two cars so not a problem for us. We do have problems w/ people parking in the fire lane (directly behind our spots so we can't back out very good). The HOA hired a good towing co. to tow these people. And when we get really ticked we call the non-emergency police line to ask the cops to come ticket these people! Drives us bonkers sometimes. They're too lazy to walk down the street to park the right way.

[Anonymous]

I would NEVER buy a townhouse that didn't have two assigned parking spaces. We looked at a TH in Reston and it had only 1 spot and that was a walk around from the TH - not even in front. We said "no way." We don't have any visitor parking in our cul-de-sac but usually alot of street parking and our pool w/ parking lot is a quick walk. It's a pain for visitors/family but we have to deal with it. It's usually just our two cars so not a problem for us. We do have problems w/ people parking in the fire lane (directly behind our spots so we can't back out very good). The HOA hired a good towing co. to tow these people. And when we get really ticked we call the non-emergency police line to ask the cops to come ticket these people! Drives us bonkers sometimes. They're too lazy to walk down the street to park the right way.