What’s so bad about living in a townhouse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a rowhouse and as a house, it's totally fine, but I hate the lack of outdoor space. (I have a postage stamp yard small enough that we cross the street to use the school field to play soccer or Frisbee, and no off street parking or space for a shed.)

But you don't have to mow or pay to have the lawn mowed and deal with weeds and vermin. Win win!

That's what my husband said. But I have to deal with SO MANY WEEDS because we have brick sidewalks and a stone patio, old enough that there are constantly weeds growing in the cracks. It's super annoying and I would probably prefer mowing.

[Anonymous]

I love our rowhouse/townhouse. Small enough yard that it's easy to manage. But space to grow things, or turn into a parking space if we really need it.

No HOAs to deal with! We can walk to all the amenities, and more. We feel safe, secure, and the home is manageable.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. The only way we'd go for a SFH is if it were somewhere beautiful with a fabulous view. A SFH on a cul de sac would be miserable for us. We've done condos - never again.

[Anonymous]

I'm single and the kids are grown I love my townhouse. It's 3,000 sq feet and every bedroom has its own bathroom. My community has walking trails, tennis, golf and pools. All my outside is taken care of. I never hear my neighbors.

[Anonymous]

I lived in one with my ex-husband for six years. I associate the lack of window layout with the feelings I had when we were getting divorced. Specifically, years after leaving my ex and our rented condo, I visited my mother in her vacation town house and all the negative feelings returned and I felt claustrophobic as it had the same layout and triggered these emotions. I had to leave and it had nothing to do with my mother.

Regarding noise, My ex told me not to use the treadmill because the sound might bother the neighbors.

[Anonymous]

I live in a rowhouse. It's quite nice, 1920s vintage, good architectural elements, lovely neighborhood and close to amenities.

But it is also like living in a fishbowl. I really would like outdoor privacy and not always feel that my neighbors are peering out the windows every time I go outside.

It is convenient and easy to maintain (mostly) and heating/cooling costs much lower than in a SFH. All in all, I'd rather have a SFH and will move when the time comes.

[Anonymous]

I don’t like hearing loud music and I don’t care for smelling weed smoke.

[Anonymous]

Having neighbors that connnnnnnnnstantly smoke weed. It will make your life a living hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a rowhouse and as a house, it's totally fine, but I hate the lack of outdoor space. (I have a postage stamp yard small enough that we cross the street to use the school field to play soccer or Frisbee, and no off street parking or space for a shed.)

But you don't have to mow or pay to have the lawn mowed and deal with weeds and vermin. Win win!

That's what my husband said. But I have to deal with SO MANY WEEDS because we have brick sidewalks and a stone patio, old enough that there are constantly weeds growing in the cracks. It's super annoying and I would probably prefer mowing.

Yeah I hear you. Pull the weeds as much as you can and spray whatever's left - they will wither down to the roots (if you can't get the roots out).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like hearing loud music and I don’t care for smelling weed smoke.

All depends on construction quality. Solidly built townhomes will have walls in between that are insulated enough to not hear anything from your neighbors, or at the very least, you will hear more sounds through your windows from distant neighbors than you will through your shared wall. But, then again, a lot of places cheap out on construction. Same is true with apartments. I have lived in luxury apartments that were much quieter and peaceful than my SFH in Chevy Chase was. I have also lived in apartments where you can hear people having orgasms through the wall. You can't just make a blanket statement about SHF vs. TH vs. apartments. The loudest house I ever lived in was my damn chevy chase SFH. Ugh I still have ptsd from it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a rowhouse and as a house, it's totally fine, but I hate the lack of outdoor space. (I have a postage stamp yard small enough that we cross the street to use the school field to play soccer or Frisbee, and no off street parking or space for a shed.)

But you don't have to mow or pay to have the lawn mowed and deal with weeds and vermin. Win win!

How much work do you think mowing and pulling a few weeds is? Seriously.

This whole thread is pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like hearing loud music and I don’t care for smelling weed smoke.

That's not restricted to townhouses. It's more correlated with socio-economic factors. I live in a rowhouse neighborhood where we're all educated professionals and houses aren't cheap, and I never, ever, smell weed in the neighborhood.

Mind you, I'm not wild about people's outdoor fire pits. Seems like when we have a glorious evening in the fall or spring, I can't throw open the windows without the reek of smoke coming in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:too many stairs

This. And unless you live in the Pacific Palisades, they don't really appreciate financially.

Ummm wrong. They definitely appreciate well. Not as much as SFH, but I’ve known people who had 200k+ equity grow in their TH’s in 5 years

[Anonymous]

We love our townhouse that we bought last year. Don't hear the neighbors (not sure if it is because they are particularly quiet but I've only ever heard very faint sounds of someone walking, never TV/music/talking). We got a townhouse because the alternative was a smaller, much older and more expensive SFH. Our TH is 30 years old instead of 80 years old, and the bedrooms are large and have large closets. I am grateful not to worry too much about yard maintenance though we do want to redo our patio.

I will say there are some downsides:
- No decent outdoor space for large groups
- Parking is limited so people do have to park a little further away
- There is always the risk of a terrible neighbor. Our HOA has had to deal with some very irritating conflicts. Of course you can have a terrible neighbor in an SFH but there will at least not be a shared wall or shared driveway.
- I am very envious of people who have natural light in their dining rooms because ours has none, even though we have an end unit
- I do think there might be some people who look down/pity us for living in a TH but I am not too worried.

So I do get why people want SFHs

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 4. We live ina TH and honestly, we rather have this over a SFH. One key factor is maintenance and dealing with a yard. SFH an are more money and wasteful for the environment. Our carbon footprint is much smaller.

We have a 4 story home and we had family over during the holidays and we had a ton of space. What I like is that each bedroom (4 total) has its own full bathroom. Something that the single family home is actually lacking, family will have to share a bathroom. We also have a garage as well.

There are many TH’s that are as big or if not bigger than SFH’s. We have about 3000 Sq ft and it’s the right amount of space where we don’t feel crammed at all. Especially during the pandemic when we were all home. But we actually prefer our TH to a SFH. SFH are nice on paper, but owning one is $$$ and a PITA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love our townhouse that we bought last year. Don't hear the neighbors (not sure if it is because they are particularly quiet but I've only ever heard very faint sounds of someone walking, never TV/music/talking). We got a townhouse because the alternative was a smaller, much older and more expensive SFH. Our TH is 30 years old instead of 80 years old, and the bedrooms are large and have large closets. I am grateful not to worry too much about yard maintenance though we do want to redo our patio.

I will say there are some downsides:
- No decent outdoor space for large groups
- Parking is limited so people do have to park a little further away
- There is always the risk of a terrible neighbor. Our HOA has had to deal with some very irritating conflicts. Of course you can have a terrible neighbor in an SFH but there will at least not be a shared wall or shared driveway.
- I am very envious of people who have natural light in their dining rooms because ours has none, even though we have an end unit
- I do think there might be some people who look down/pity us for living in a TH but I am not too worried.

So I do get why people want SFHs

NP. Pretty much same story here. We bought our TH new construction a few years ago and it seems pretty solid. We occasionally hear the neighbor kid practicing a musical instrument, but no other sounds. I love the low maintenance and probably would not use a yard here since I don't like the weather most of the time and hate bugs. Our house is really well insulated and energy costs are low.

That said, I don't particularly like the long and narrow shape. I would love a wide rectangular shaped house with windows all the way around it for more natural light. I would love a screened in porch/deck to sit "outside" without bugs. Those are the reasons I would consider moving but obviously don't care that much or I would've moved by now.