What's the deal with "TWIN" homes??? (real estate, apartment)

[anil]

I'm from Toledo, OH and the concept of a Twin Home is alien to me? Is this a duplex? Are there association fees?

What is better - a twin home, town home or a condo?

I would really like to get a Single Family home but don't know if I can find one in a safe area for my 150K budget.

[DaninEGF]

While I am not a real estate expert by any means, I do live in Minnesota. In my area, a twin home is usually two "units" which have one commom wall between them. They can be many built in one area, but usually do not have association fees. Meaning that you are responsible for cutting your lawn and shoveling snow. Townhomes can be twin homes, but usually are more than two units built together. They would usually have association fees for mowing, snow clearing, etc. Condo is a condo, more like an apartment in a large building with association fees.

I have visited the cities, but honestly do not know about the prices down there too much. I hope this helps.

[T.S.]

Twin Home is just a fancy name for a Duplex.

[anil]

Is it a good idea to get a twin home? Does anybody have any bad (or good) experiences to share owning one? I have a budget of 150K and semms like that will barely get me a twin home (I'd ideally like a single family home as I have two big dogs and two cats).

Are these harder to sell? Do they depreciate in value? How are these as an investment?

[restlessinmn]

I came from the east coast and never heard of the term "twin home" before moving to the midwest. It's the same thing as a duplex. I think that the two homes are identical, hence the name "twin home". So, instead of the homes being mirror opposites of each other, they are the same layout side-by-side.

We lived in a twin home for awhile and found it to be very pleasant. Surprisingly, we never heard our neighbor who taught music lessons out of his home. I think that is because our main living area was to the outside wall while our bedroom was to their main living area. Their bedroom was to their outside wall while and away from our main living area. So, during waking and sleeping hours we weren't disturbing each other. Of course that only works if both households have 9-5 working hours.

[drhell2pay]

My favorite twin home benefits:

My next door neighbor burned his half down (which spread to my half)
My next door neighbor had a 16 year old that loved bass and spending his allowance on stereo systems that put out a lot of bass
My next door neighbor let his dog share his half of the yard AND my half!
My next door neighbor loved to let his grass grow all year round!
My next door neighbor loved to have sex at 2 am with his headboard on the same wall which was adjacent to my bedroom.

Other than that, they rock!!!