I realize a condominium is legally a type of ownership in which the homeowner holds title to an individual dwelling unit, an undivided interest in common areas of a multi-unit project, and sometimes the exclusive use of certain limited common areas.

In my market a condo is usually just a single floor "apartment" While a Town House is a multi floor unit and attached to other similar units.

Can someone else help me out with a better description?

Also which usage of the word is correct?
Townhouse ot Town House?

I used wordtracker to show me that "townhouse" is searched more than twice as often on the search engines as "town house" but my spell check tells me "town house" is the correct usage.

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The true meaning of townhouse (I spell it as one word) is that the owner also owns the land under the unit. However, the word "townhouse" in our MLS is thrown about to mean any kind of multi-story unit or like a unit I'll be listing shortly which has a private entrance with an attached garage and you enter into the foyer on the main level. You walk up the stairs to the rest of the "ranch style townhouse." However, it isn't technically a townhouse because they don't own the land. But every listing in that subdivision calls these townhomes (they have two-story & ranch styles). Makes it confusing sometimes.

With many true townhomes the monthly maintenance can be lower if the owners have decided to take care of their own lawns and other maintenance. However, it doesn't mean you have the right to do anything you want because there are still usually rules for the subdivision just like single family subdivisions with a homeowner's association.

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Michael,

Unfortunately nowadays people tend to use condominium and townhome interchangeably but your descriptions are relatively accurate. A condominium is the ranch of attached building living where everything is on a single floor and the home can be on any floor of the building with the exception of the roof where it earns the status symbol of being a penthouse. A townhome can be attached on either one side (end unit) or both sides (center unit) and the home will have anywhere from 2-4 floors of living space. I've seen townhome communities where there is no HOA but I've yet to see a condominum building without one since the entire building needs to be maintained for all.

Whenever I use spell check it tells me that it should be town house and that townhouse isn't a real word. I think it's doing this just because the correct word according to spell check is "townhome" but we all tend to use townhouse without thinking twice. I'd stick with townhouse since it's a more well known term in society as opposed to the less flexible dictionary.

Edit: Judy beat me to it! Judy brings up a good point that I neglected to mention which is that townhome owners will own and sometimes maintain the property behind their home but I'm finding that this is less common in today's communities. Also, I wanted to make note of a new exception to the townhome/condominium rule which is being done by Orleans Homes here in Orange County. They are building an active adult community of ALL single family units but it's classified as a condominium association and all of the green space will be maintained by the HOA.

In our area we have some true ranch townhomes where there are no stairs at all. So multiple levels is not the deciding factor of whether it is a condo or a townhome - only if you own the land is it a true townhouse.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

A townhome is a loosely defined architectural style. Usually a one- or two- (sometimes more) story house that's attached to another similar unit. I've also heard of hybrid schemes, where you own a separate house, but only own the land directly under it, and belong to the HOA. A true condominium is where you only own the inside space of the unit and everything else is in common.

First of all, a condo refers to ownership of an individual unit which is part of a larger complex of units. There are many types of condos - low/high-rise apartment style, townhouses, villas, even SF detached dwellings (bareland condos). What they all share in common, and what makes them condos is that the "common area" is shared by all owners. Cost of maintaining this common area (as well as exterior maintenance & upkeep) is shared by all owners and is distributed by means of the unit factor of the condo (unit factor is normally determined by dividing the size of a particular unit into the total size of all units).

Townhouses in Calgary are, for the most part, condos. They normally refer to attached 2 & 3 storey buildings that usually have an attached garage. They're also know as "town houses" or "townhomes".

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I agree with judy. Townhomes are usually fee simple where the owners belong to a "homeowners association". Condos are not fee simple and owners belong to a "condominium association". Townhomes that are not fee simple are usually part of a condo assoc john

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