What are the risks and gotchas of buying a Townhouse? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Pete - thanks for chiming in. I've been reading your other thread about buying a house in cash (color me envious -- but I may get there one day).

Freedom is an issue. I was looking at the association rules, and there are limits on the amount of pets (1 cat and 1 dog). That makes me wonder about limits on other things that I might care about.

And Peter - if you want all those pets, check out the book "Enslaved by Ducks" by Bob Tarte. It's light, amusing, and tells tales of joy and woe from cantakerous pets.

I'm still considering things. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I don't consider home ownership a good investment -- I'm dubious people can really make money on it. But it may still be cheaper than renting overall, sSo I need to explore my budget more carefully.

 

[Bryan_K]

Now is the time to buy or refinance. Rates are cheep. (i don't know exactly how cheep) We bought our house 2 year's ago (Oct 2002) when interest rates were at a all time low.

We fortunately found a home with NO HOA, & payed under 200k but its appraised at 260k. (the guy Needed to leave MN do to insurance fraud) My sister bought her house about 10 years before i did & her house is valued at almost 400k. But is paying about $400 cheaper in mortgage a month.

So you see reel estate values are going up "IMMENSELY" Buy now, ore i'm afraid you'll suffer sticker shock in the future.

 

[JonZ]

Having lived in a few in my life, my biggest complaint has always been privacy, quiet and your closeness with your neighbors.

I live in a duplex right now - my neighbors think they own the driveway and theyre the nosiest peopel in the world. The only good thing about that is Im able to blast music and movies without them complaining.

But I also have to hear every fight they have - which is often.

If theyre A-holes, youll be miserable.

 

[Joe Spratley]

I have lived in a rented end unit townhouse for 6 years now. The first 4.5 years I had no problems and enjoyed the place. Then trailer trash neighbors moved in. I constantly hear their crappy HT setup. They have no respect whatsoever for my space or property. A major confrontation ensued back in Oct. They would tie their dogs out on the front sidewalk. It's a shared sidewalk leading to the front door which means anyone coming over would be jumped on. Not to mention the possibility of stepping in crap. Also I have a statue of a lion that they would pee on every day. Finally one night my GF told them to keep their dogs on their side and the drunk woman said F*** you bitch. I went out and a major shouting match started that ended in 5 police showing up. Even after this they refused to stop. Talked to animal control and the police and they couldn't do anything. Finally had to put the complaints in writing and give it to the rental office. It's stopped for now not sure if the rental place told them or if its just because of winter. Not a good situation to be in. Once you have these neighbor problems you have to live with them every day. Hoping to buy a standalone house sometime in the near future.

 

[Peter-PP]

Dave,

Thanks! I checked out that book, looks very good and I can relate to owning animal stories, joy and sad tears go hand in hand.

Ever since I had posted that message "Buying house with cash" here and on mortgage forums, I have been bombarded with messages/offers from real estate agents, mortgage brokers and investment agents. Something I had never even expected, quite overwhelming!.

 

[DaveF]

Peter - If you get the book, I hope you enjoy it. I've read the first quarter and it's enjoyable.

I guess I'm not surprised you're bombarded by people looking for your business. Buying with cash suggests (whether true or not) that you've got substantial assets and will buy an expensive home. That's big money in commissions to an agent -- and they're all looking for easy money.

Joe - you reminded me that I'll need to ask whether any of the units are rentals, or if the neighborhood convenant prohibits renting units. Renters are not inherently evil -- I'm a renter -- but the assumption is the an owner will care more about the neighborhood and his property than renters will.

This weekend I need to do some planning and see how the townhome fits into my future.

 

[James Gillespie]

Things to consider? PARKING PARKING PARKING
My wife and I had a townhouse (purchased by me when single). It was a garage unit, so we had two parking spots, one in the garage, the other in the driveway. We had something like 6 visitor spots for 30 some houses, and residents usually parked in them anyway (against HOA rules). Royal pain when we wanted to have family or visitors over. Ended up moving to a single family within two years of getting married.

 

[DaveF]

James - I've checked parking a little bit: two car garage with two spots in front of it. There is scattered visitor parking around the complex. But I hadn't thought about the problem of residents also parking in those spots. And with our snnow those spots are even more limited in the winter.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Parking was terrible in my townhouse community, too. It's usually awful - if you want to have guests they will have to walk.

 

[Philip_G]

ohhhh Yeah, parking sucks here.
I have a 2 car garage but no driveway to speak of, so while I'm working on my spare car with the engine scattered about the garage we're both parking in visitor, much suck.

 

[Eric Kahn]

I own a 2 family house that was originally single family, talk about hearing the neighbors, no sound proofing at all
if you are like me and seem to collect cars (5 right now and 3 motorcycles in the garage) parking is an issue, I have a 2 car garage, it has 1 car and 3 motorcycles in it, my driveway can only hold one car unless you park with 2 wheels on the grass (going to make it wider this summer) and my pickup truck is now parked on my back patio for all to see since I have a corner lot, got a ticket for leaving it in one spot too long on the street, which I think is a crappy law in a community where half the houses don't even have driveways
my brother owns a townhouse in WI and his Drug dealer neighbor (who is renting from whoever owns it) makes all kinds of noise but complains if my brothers computer beeps too loud the builder cheaped out and put like next to nothing between the units. I wish I had seen it before he bought it, I would have told him not to because of the lack of a masonry or concrete wall between the units