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Condo vs townhouse vs single family house | Differences with the pros & cons of buying - YouTube
Channel: Homebuyer's School
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This video will look at the differences
between a condo, a townhouse, and a
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single-family home. What are the pros
and cons of buying, and when should you
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buy one? That's starting right now.
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– Welcome to Homebuyer's School,
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brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
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– Hi everyone I'm Karl. Welcome to
another Homebuyer's School video,
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a channel where I get the latest strategies
tactics and tips from home buying
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experts – and remember this is your
first time on this channel and you want
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to get the latest strategies from the
experts, hit the subscription button
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below, hit the little notification bell
so you don't miss anything. So today I'm
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joined by Kevin French, a realtor with
Re/max Realty, and the question we're
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going to answer today is,
what's the difference between a condo,
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a single- family home, and a townhouse?
So Kevin, what are those differences?
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Let's go with that one first.
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– A condo is a type of ownership.
So it's not actually necessarily the
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property, it's an ownership type.
But typically in Calgary you are going
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to see apartment style condominiums
and then townhouse style condominiums.
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So row towns would have their own
entrance and exit. Apartment style
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condos would have common areas such
as hallways. Often they have elevators.
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And then the other two property types are
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semi-detached or duplex homes,
and then single-family homes
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which are of course fully detached.
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– So from I guess the condo and
the town home perspective,
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when we typically say condo,
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it's apartment style so it's like usually
typically higher right? You don't really
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see that many townhouses that are
multiple levels. Or do you?
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– No. It wouldn't be classified
as a townhouse then.
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– Okay. So it's just like one house
but it's all connected I guess.
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– Yeah, well you can. There are some
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townhouses within Calgary that are you
know, three or four levels but they'd
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have a walk-up from the outside. So you'd
still have your own front door that you
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enter and exit from that doesn't go into
a common area other than just a stairway.
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– And you mentioned semi-detached
versus single-family, what's kind of—
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can you explain a little bit the
difference between that?
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– Semi-detached is basically a
single-family home that shares a party
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wall with the neighbour. So you have a
wall that divides the two spaces making
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them legally different properties.
Typically price points of course a bit
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lower, and then detached—is fully
detached so it's a standalone property.
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– And are there specific scenarios when
you would buy one over the other?
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I know you mentioned lifestyle,
and that's probably one thing
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that you want to definitely consider right?
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– Yeah, lifestyle is obviously
a big factor there.
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Condominium living is typically for
those who want maintenance-free
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lifestyle. They want to be able to lock
and leave. So an apartment style condo
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gives you the comfort of having attached
neighbours, common hallways, a lot more
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security comfort there. And then a
townhouse gives you more privacy. So it
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allows you to come and go as you please.
You don't have to see people in common
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hallways. You don't have to take care of
general areas in the building which
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would be included in your condo fee.
So of course those always have to get
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cleaned, lights have to be on and paid for,
and then there's often elevators which
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are costly for condo buildings as well.
And then semi-detached living would be
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those who want a detached home or
more of a private lifestyle where they
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have a private backyard and they're own
space but it's at a lower price point.
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– And if you want to know more about the
difference between a duplex, or a
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semi-detached home, or a single-family
home, watch our video above and in the
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description below. So what are some of
the pros and cons I guess of buying one
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over the other? Because I know we talked
about with the scenario where you buy
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one, but like what are some of the pros
and cons—I think you mentioned from
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a condo like, you know you're living with
a lot of different people kind of in one
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space right, versus a
single-family home where
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it's yours but you have to do a lot more
maintenance. But then you have the
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condo fees versus singlefamily home. Although you also have the HOA fees.
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– Yeah. A condo—the advantages
would be you know, if you were
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talking apartment style,
everything's included in there so you
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have your heat, utilities—often you pay
for your own electricity, but other than
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that you'd pay for your reserve fund
contributions, the snow removal, the lawn
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care, the elevator, the building, the lobby, any amenities it would have would be
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included. That's all in one condo fee in
addition to of course your mortgage.
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So that's a lifestyle where
if you had a gym in the building,
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maybe a pool in the building,
you don't have to leave for a lot of
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things that you may use on a daily basis.
Going to a townhouse style, you're going
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to have similar fees but they're not
going to include the utilities. So you're
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going to pay for your own hot water tank,
your own furnace, and you're only going
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to pay for the utilities to use. So the
fees are of course lower on a price per
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square foot basis, but you have two
different styles – an apartment style
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condominium you can leave and it's fully
included, but you pay—let's say you pay
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$500 a month—you pay $500 a month
and you're gone for 6 months, it's all the
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same. So a townhouse, though you pay
for the utilities that you use—so it might
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be $150 a month for your fees
—and then you leave, and then
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then your utilities would decrease
significantly if nobody's occupying the
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property. You also save on not cleaning
the general areas of the common areas of
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the building, and then the snow removal
of course would be dependent on the
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property.
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– And then for I guess, for a
single-family home, pretty much you're
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responsible for everything but
you have full customization.
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– Single-family and side-by-sides, or
duplex properties, they're going to be
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within—and all the responsibilities are
going to lie on the homeowner.
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– The one thing I wanted to ask
with duplexes though is,
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is there specific—I wouldn't say
requirements—or like let's say you
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wanted to paint one side of house blue
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and the other person wanted to paint it
green, like is there sort of an agreement
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that you kind of want the house to
kind of look the same? Like, are
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there agreements in terms of house
maintenance or like yard maintenance
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that like, you can't have one looking
totally disheveled, and one pristine right?
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It doesn't kind of make any sense.
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– You can.
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– Oh, you can?
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– That's the realities of owning a
detached home, and you got to think
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about it in the future. So there's one
property that I discourage—which is built
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throughout the city—that I discourage
buyers from buying is attached homes
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that don't have condo fees but they have
6 units typically. So it's basically a
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townhouse building but it doesn't have
condo fees. So imagine in 15 or 20 years
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when we need to replace the roof and you
need to get 5 other neighbours on board
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the exact same time.
So that's what you're dealing with.
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– With the duplex, it's just you and
one neighbour so usually people
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can work together and you know,
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one person cuts the lawn, or paint
together, or replace the roof together—
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but that's not necessarily the reality.
Each property is individually
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owned and they can do what they'd like.
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– Do you have anything else to add
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in terms of the differences, and the
pros and cons of the three?
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– Yeah, I would say that it all comes down
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to what the buyer's needs are and the
lifestyle, but detached homes
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has weathered the storm the best
across the board without a doubt in
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the last handful years when property
values have been decreasing.
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Apartment style condos, one of the
reasons for them being so
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negatively affected, and the negative
statistics around them that are
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shared through all the media, is based on
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the fact that when you start—let's say a
30 story condo building—when you start
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that, it takes years and years from the
initial design stages to the actual
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development, the sales, and then the
building, and then the occupancy—and
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when you're building something over
3 to 5 years, the market can change
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significantly. So you might buy at X
price today and it might be worth
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significantly more or significantly less
when you go to purchase.
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Detached homes are of course, people
like to own land, so having the ability to
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own their own property and/or duplexes
in the similar category, those have
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maintained their value more—and of
course the values for those properties
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have adjusted and floated with the
market. So it only takes you know 6 to 8
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months to build one of those homes, so
it's pretty fair market value at the current
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time that you're purchasing, versus
purchasing for the unknown that you
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occupy in 36 months.
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– Got it. So the question of the day I
have for you is, which did you buy—
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a condo, a townhouse, or a single-family
—and why? Let us know in the comment
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section below.
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If you want to know more about
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home buying, check out these videos and
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don't forget to hit the subscribe button
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and the notification bell, just so you get
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information straight from the experts.
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Thank you for watching, and we'll catch
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you next time.
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