What are some of the pros and cons of living in a townhouse?

I would love the idea of someone else clearing the driveway and keeping the grounds up.
Mostly, though, I probably wouldn’t like it much. I am loud, my dog is loud. I like having my own yard for a garden and the dog.

I rented a townhouse years ago. The BIGGEST PRO is that the lawn is so small it only takes 10 minutes to maintain it!!! In the same vein, the biggest con is you don’t have much lawn space with which to enjoy!!! Another con is that everything is narrow & going up. The steps become a challenge as you get older!!!

I found it to be better than living in an apartment because there was NOBODY over me to run through the place at 3:00am & there was NOBODY below me blasting their music at 4:00am!!! Still noisy next door neighbors can be a problem IF the walls are thin & you’re unlucky enough to have 2 uncaring neighbors. IF you’re lucky, you can find one with decently constructed “common walls” or you can get the “end unit”!!! Another drawback is that you need to be more careful of the time of day that you do certain activities because you might be waking a neighbor.

I later discovered that living in a duplex is much better as the yard space is larger & you only have ONE neighbor to contend with!!! I don’t see many duplexes now days so I’m assuming that they’ve gone out of favor. Still, I enjoyed my time in the duplex much more than the townhouse!!!

Pros – Someone else takes care of outdoor maintenance. Less work for you.
Also, usually cheaper upkeep.
Friendliness is community is a nice one. Neighbors to call on for help.
Possible community pool or gym facilities.
Possible lower taxes insurance costs.

Cons – Possible noisy neighbors. Living in an end unit helps.
Regulations may not be to your liking such as not hanging clothes on a line or a limit on the number of pets..
May get charged assessments for maintenance work.

We had a townhome in Florida for a while and I enjoyed it very much. Not sure if I would like to live it in full time but could have.

Lived in a Townhouse and was happy with an End unit as it jutted out away from back neighbors. Had only one side neighbor while others had neighbors on all sides except there entrance!
Cookie cutter style..everyone had same look. Only way to make different was yard plants and inside wall paint colors and adding main floor bathroom in what was originally a closet!
We fixed up the basement into a recreation room , adding gyp-rock foundation walls to look like upstairs living area. We broke the basement steep stairway by having a landing half way down.( to avoid falls for guests, and children etc) We did not wall in the staircase as later it was useful to move or remove fur nature and washer/dryers etc.
We separated the furnace area in its own small room plus separate room for laundry machines etc.
All this worked to our advantage when years later we were the first to sell out townhouse as it was practical and updated so that the new owners did not have any upgrades to add etc
It was this selling feature that made it a quick and easy sale: that it was an end unit, upgraded and landscaped simply and easy to look after etc
The biggest con was that the Complex mgmt decided ( they voted) that in front of our Town-home we bought it because it had an open field ( small) instead of looking directly into anthers home or the Office etc But this mgmt team voted that a “Shed for lawn equipment etc) be erected in that open space! Realize that Mgmt can vote anything to obscure your view. We had a lawyer send them a notice that we will sell the Town-home well before they erect that ugly shed! A stay on that building was put into place as it contravened our original purchase agreement and thus that was the whole reason for deciding on that Town home in the first place.
If I had to do it again I would purchase a Duplex or a single small house.

2 negatives

1) if another unit catches on fire, your unit may go up in flames

2) homeowners regulations – what you can put in your windows, whether you have park inside or outside, and so on.

I grew up in a townhouse half of my childhood, my parents still live in that house. I’ll address some points above and some others not covered.

We took care of our own lawn, but it was a very small lawn. Neighbors actually have done it for my parents as a favor for the last 30 years. My mom does compensate them for doing it, but they aren’t charging her anything. Lawn care being included or not has to do with the specific community. Same with whether exterior paint and roofing is covered or not.

Since we were part of a master planned community/town there was well planned green spaces, community pools, walking and bike trails, and part of the trade off was the houses didn’t have much land. It was great as a kid, and my parents liked not having to care for a big property.

We never heard our neighbors through the walls. I’m pretty sure we had fire protection if some sort between the houses, I think it was a state or county building code. Not that the fire can’t jump if there is one.

It can be more risky to live in a townhouse regarding property value if your area is mostly single family homes, unless there is a specific advantage, like an incredible location. Walking distance to downtown, or an incredible view on the water, etc.

A townhouse can be a way to live in a great area for a lower price, because typically the thing that makes prices high is the land value. Where I grew up there was a lot of townhouses. I’m not sure if the ratio of townhouses to single family homes. The whole town (I think there is 40,000 people living there now, it’s not small) is in a downward turn right now of it’s life cycle, but hopefully it revives again. It’s still beautiful, convenient, and most towns go through this sort of thing.

My parents home is 50 years old, they have lived there for 41 years. With a townhouse you can’t easily tear down and rebuild like you can a single family after many years, so I’d say think twice before buying a very old townhouse, but as far as living in a townhouse I had no problem with it.

If it’s a townhouse or attached villa specifically for active adults, and one story, I think there is going to be more and more market for that.

One of the pros is you can replace the word downtown in the song Downtown with the word, well…
—————

When you’re alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go townhouse
When you’ve got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know, townhouse

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares

So go townhouse
Things will be great when you’re townhouse
No finer place for sure, townhouse
Everything’s waiting for you

Don’t hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows townhouse….