Is it so bad living in a townhouse when you have kids?

[Anonymous]

I moved from a TH to a SFH when my child was 2.5. I liked the TH, but the commute to DC was a killer, so I wanted to get closer to work. I also thought that maybe I needed a real yard since I had a kid.

I miss that townhouse! I miss the smaller mortgage payment and the cute little yard that took about 5 minutes to mow. I miss the modern bathrooms and the big walk-in closet. I had to give all of that stuff up to afford a marginally bigger place with a yard. And we never use the yard - my daughter prefers the playground where there are other kids.

I do like my neighborhood and the schools, so I don't regret the move. But if you have those things, don't trade them because you think you need a big yard. If you have a little outdoor space and can walk to a park with a playground, that's probably all you need.

[Anonymous]

I think people care too much what others think. There is no right or wrong, and frankly I think kids care more about where they live relative to where their friends live. I was raised in Brooklyn, all of my friends were pretty much raised in apartments, that is just the way it was and we never thought anything of it. We played in Prospect Park in the summers and went to Coney Island. My brother is a lot younger than me and spent his childhood/teenage years in a SFH in Florida with a yard and a pool, living the way I did is completely foreign to him and he has since relocated to Dallas for a similar lifestyle.

I lived in a large SFH with ok lot sizes and you never really saw kids outside playing even with all of the outdoor space. We moved to an area that has more THs (though we are not in one) and the tot lots and play areas are ALWAYS busy if the temperature is above 60 degrees. I personally like a private lot for myself more than for my kid (I do a lot of projects that require outdoor space). But I prefer cul de sac living for my son because he can ride his little bike, play ball, draw on the sidewalk, etc. without through traffic, however that is a function of the location of your home versus the type of home for the most part.

Personally, we are looking for a raised rambler type of home now because we want more one level living but I would also move into a nice TH in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parks and playgrounds are so much better than yards anyway.

I agree!

You can't dig a hole at a playground or plant a garden. I get that playgrounds are nice. But there are neighborhood (like mine) where kids play outside all the time (sfh) or we all walk to school (where there are play structures) and there are side walks and pick up soccer games and everything else. I sometimes think fondly of not having a yard to rAke or mow, but really, there is no replacement for having your own space. Kids outgrow playgrounds. Unless they are using them to sneak cigarettes after curfew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parks and playgrounds are so much better than yards anyway.

I agree!

You can't dig a hole at a playground or plant a garden. I get that playgrounds are nice. But there are neighborhood (like mine) where kids play outside all the time (sfh) or we all walk to school (where there are play structures) and there are side walks and pick up soccer games and everything else. I sometimes think fondly of not having a yard to rAke or mow, but really, there is no replacement for having your own space. Kids outgrow playgrounds. Unless they are using them to sneak cigarettes after curfew.

You can dig a hole in a TH yard, though, you don't need a quarter acre for that. How many holes is junior gonna dig?

When kids outgrow playgrounds, there are other benefits to being in more walkable places.

Now I am not saying SFHs don't have their merits for kids (a big yard can be a great place to have a party) but they are far from essential, and have their negatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a big deal...kid's don't "need" a yard. Especially not this generation.

LOL, so true. Need an IPAD. That is all.

I completely disagree. However kids do not need a SFH. My kids are outdide every single day for hours with the neighborhood kids. We have a basketball hoop and i cannhear the ball bouncing outside and hittingbthe rim exactly rught now, wven though it is lousy outside. My kids are 7&10.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I am just a closed minded person, but raising children in a tiny urban apartment seems pretty undesirable. We do t live in NYC, where everyone does it. We live in DC, plenty of nice sfh and THs for the taking. Only the very poor or very rich would choose to live in an apartment.

[Anonymous]

Townhouse in civilization = fine.
Townhouse in the burbs = family slum.

[Anonymous]

My husband grew up in a town house with 3 siblings and doesn't feel like he missed out on anything. I grew up in the country and ran around in the woods all summer, so I'm sad my kid is missing out on that, but you don't get DC jobs in the country.

We are raising our kid in an apartment. Gasp! If we waited until we were ready to buy (financially and career wise), age related fertility might be an issue, and I wasn't willing to risk that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I am just a closed minded person, but raising children in a tiny urban apartment seems pretty undesirable. We do t live in NYC, where everyone does it. We live in DC, plenty of nice sfh and THs for the taking. Only the very poor or very rich would choose to live in an apartment.

Yes. You are a close minded person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a serious question? Some kids live in apartments ya know; expensive ones at that!

Yeah. I'm sure my kids hate condo life with playgrounds, pool, and parks on their block. So terrible.

[Anonymous]

I am raising two, soon to be three, kids in an apartment in the city. Our "yard" is the city. Look around the world. Kids don't need a yard.

[Anonymous]

I live in SFH. But townhouses are just fine if you find one you like. Where I was looking, I saw little to no savings on getting a townhouse vs. a SFH. I think maybe the townhouses were more updated with bigger bathrooms or whatever and people preferred that. Or they were 0.75 miles to the metro instead of 1.25 (not a big deal for me, I don't have the time to walk that much in the morning anyways so I just bike / take the bus / drive instead). But in other areas the townhouses can be 1/2 the cost for the same square footage. If that was the case, I'd be all over them.

Raising more than 1 kid in an apartment is tough, I think, unless it's at least a three bedroom and three bedroom apartments in good school districts are not cheap from what I can tell. Again, in some other countries large 3-4 bedroom affordable apartments are more common, but not here.

That being said, I love the amount of natural light we get, we are on a cul-de-sac and kids are out playing in it all the time and our kids do like the yard, as do we.

[Anonymous]

We have two kids and live in a townhouse. We have a small yard, but there are three playgrounds and one huge park in walking distance - our kids have more outdoor play space than many others. In the summer, we walk to the pool that's part of our HOA dues. Yes, it would be nice to have a little more room, but we love our neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to hear other prospectives!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Townhouse in civilization = fine.
Townhouse in the burbs = family slum.

Townhouses in the better close-in suburbs often cost more than houses in DC. Better schools.