Do you really like living in a NVA townhouse? (Lake Ridge: HOA, condo)

[snooper]

Relatives who visit me in Northern VA who live in quieter and less expensive communities are always talking about how many townhouses there are in Northern VA. They don't like them. The first thing they mention is the lack of trees in the development of townhouses and how close they are to the parking lots full of cars coming in and out at all hours. And how they have to share a wall with two neighbors.

But they keep building more and more townhouses and a greater percentage of Northern VA residents live in townhouses vs single family homes every day.

Do most residents who live in townhouses in Northern VA actually like them or are they stuck with townhouse living because they can't afford a single family home.

Please reply to my survey!

[FCNova]

I think the most popular reason people buy them over a single family home is cost. But townhouse living does have some advantages, namely less home maintenance. For instance both my front and back yard maintenance are covered by my HOA dues.

I also think they can be lucrative projects for developers, especially in areas where land isn't as readily available.

[brooklynborndad]

they also have lower heating/cooling costs, IIUC, typically less lawn/garden care (thats a feature for some of us). Having more neighbors close by can be a positive, though that not only will vary with your tastes, but with what your neighbors are like.

As for trees, that really varies quite a bit, with both TH and SFH areas - ditto for how noisy the parking is (it seems that you assuming a suburban TH development - in Old Town the townhouses have no parking lots).

As for what one can afford, since almost everyone who can afford a TH can afford a SFH if they go far enough out - another way to put it is that the advantage of townhouses over SFHs is that by enabling developers to put more units in a smaller area - they make it possible to live in a closer in neighborhood, potentially with more density related amenities, transit, etc than one could for the same price in a SFH. (of course a similar advantage goes to SFH's on smaller than standard lots - and a fortiori goes to multifamily housing)

To summarize - I live in townhouse, because my wife and I have not yet managed to move to a condo in the kind of area we really want to live in.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by snooper

And how they have to share a wall with two neighbors.

I picture someone walking over to their neighbors front door, and asking "Can I have the wall tonight? We're having a party and I need it"

"Sure, just bring it back on sunday morning, my son needs it for a class project"

Why is sharing a wall intrinsically an issue? I mean lots of folks value privacy, but thats a range of things - TH vs condo, end of group vs middle TH, SFHs with small sideyards, deep in the woods, etc. The common wall or lack isnt necessarily magic.

I suspect your relatives are from places where the detached house is the norm, and attached houses just seem weird.

Where I grew up an attached house WAS a single family house (as opposed to a two family house, a three family house, or an apt building) . Single family houses could be attached, detached, or semidetached.

[CaliTerp07]

We didn't want a townhouse when we were home shopping, but now that I've dealt with the maintenance of yard work and lots of trees and such, I would absolutely entertain a townhouse next time! I think I would want one that had a garage on the first level, so that I was guaranteed covered parking in the winter, but otherwise they are very appealing to me.

[scottfs]

Well I didn't take the poll as I have a SFH and never owned a TH, but there were many THs in my price range when I bought along with older SFHs when I bought. I went the SFH route as I value having a yard, space for me, my family, and friends to park, among other things. Many TH communities also had HOAs which I wasn't keen on. Also nice that my neighbors don't know when my wife and I are yelling at each other.

[kevbros]

We've lived two townhouses and two single-family homes here in NoVa. For us, the TH wins hands down and that's where we are staying. Yard work is a huge headache. Who wants to spend valuable weekend time cutting grass, cleaning gutters, or trimming trees and shrubs, or worse, hiring someone to do it?

Another great advantage of the TH are the low gas and electric bills. Two miles away, we were running $400 a month gas bills in the winter in our big house in a subdivision. Here we have only gone over $100 one month a couple years ago. Our summer electric in the last big house was $150-$200. Here during the really hot months we might come close to $100, but usually the summer bill is $60-$70.

Sure, we occasionally hear the neighbors yelling, we can't always park directly right in front of the house, and we have no garage. But who needs a back yard? The kids had the park with lots of space and kids. As the kids move out, we won't have to downsize. For us, our townhouse in a great location was the only way to go. There are a lot of benefits in higher density areas.

[queenswake]

One of the things that I don't like about them when I visit friends who own one is the lack of parking for guests. Many of them have driveways that hold at most one car. Many of them have no driveway at all. So the only option is to park in the very limited, always full guest parking. If you wanted to host a party at your place, you'd have to have them park at a store and bus them in! I'm sorry but when I'm paying 500K for a house, I'd hate to feel like no one could ever come over because there wouldn't be parking. Very isolating. I think cities have to get better about forcing the developers to put in a lot more guest parking.

[jillybean720]

We lived in a townhouse in Lake Ridge. Earlier this year, we moved to a SFH in Sterling. I will NEVER go back to a townhouse. Just a personal preference. In our townhouse, I had a great neighbor on one side and obnoxious neighbors on the other. Our HOA did not include yard maintenance, so that was still up to us. Even though we only had two exterior sides of the house and only lived there for less than 5 years, we ended up having to have all of our wood trim repaired/replaced/repainted. We also had to have our sliding deck doors replaced, which, of course, were not a "standard" size, so had to be custom ordered ($$). We had to replace our furnace and a/c unit, had to have ALL the plumbing in the house replaced (had the crappy 80s polybutylene - I know this wouldn't be an issue in a newer home)...all this to say that the maintenance costs weren't all that much lower in the townhouse versus SFH. Short of obvious savings like on roof or siding replacement, they still have most of the same upkeep issues/costs. And my townhouse community had AWFUL parking. I could NEVER entertain, as there was nowhere for guests to park.

Obviously, different units/communities will not have all these same issues, but, for us, moving to a SFH has been a vast quality of life improvement.

[BOS2IAD]

Our starter home was a 2 level townhouse in Sterling. At the time, it wasn't a bad alternative. However, these days I would think twice before buying a townhouse in LoCo or Fairfax County (unless it's an expensive, high end one). I will explain my rationale as this post progresses.

Older townhouses, before VA changed the law, have solid firewalls made of concrete. Sometime in the 80s, the law changed to allow just fireproof drywall to be used on common walls. I know some townhouses like our first home (built in '87) also have a sheet of metal between each unit.

Here's why I don't recommend townhouses these days in LoCo and Fairfax County --- Too many of them, due to lax overcrowding laws, have become places where 3 families live in a 3 bedroom townhouse. Not all townhouses are like that but enough are to be noticeable. Each townhouse either comes with a 2 car garage or 2 parking spaces, although some have 1 car garages but a second car can be parked in the driveway. So, where does the overflow parking go? It goes in single family neighborhoods. Or it ends up sometimes on busier roads that have a shoulder that doesn't have any "no parking" signs.

Now I live in a single family home that's surrounded by townhouses. We moved in here 15 years ago when such overcrowding was not a huge problem. Our community is now working to get permit parking as the situation has become untenable.

I would say that anyone who wants to live in a townhouse should do the following --- 1) If your budget can handle it, look for one in a pricey community. Those communities tend not to have the overcrowding issues. However, if you can afford an upscale townhouse, you can afford a single family home. 2) If you have your eye on an affordable townhouse community, be sure to check out the community during the weekdays, the weeknights and the weekends (day and night). It will give you an idea of how the parking situation is.

Just my two cents...