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My sister in law is considering buying one side of a duplex. I don't know their finances, but it appears to be at the very top of their budget. Her and her fiance are both in their early 20's with a 2 year old child. My wife, my father in law, and myself don't see the appeal of a duplex, the only selling point we believe they're stuck on is that it's a newer construction (mid 1990s), when the majority of single family homes in their budget would be much older, probably mid 1900's.
So does anyone here think it would be a good idea to buy? I could understand if their idea is to buy the other half if it comes on sale and rent it out, but I'm 100% sure that would be out of their budget. Having just bought our first single family home ourselves, I just don't get it...does anyone here?
I have one half of a duplex as my top choice in my search. It is cheaper, lower property taxes, and I feel more comfortable living in a building with other people. Also, I think the houses are attractive.
Everyone has their own preferences. I think they would be a risky buy without some sort of covenant protections as in a condominium type of project made up of duplexes, to rein in a bad neighbor. Unlike the former poster, I'd stay far away from them preferring an older single family house to the nicest newest half of a duplex...
This must be another of those "different areas, different names" thing. In my area it is legally not possible to buy 1 half of a duplex. Duplexes are two units on one lot, and thus, by definition, always owned by the same person.
I'm guessing you are referring to what, in my area, is called a townhouse. It looks like a duplex, but has different building codes, and each unit is on its own lot. I live in one of these myself, and because of the way mine is built, it is just like living in a normal single family house (including noise level), except one side of the house has no windows.
This must be another of those "different areas, different names" thing. In my area it is legally not possible to buy 1 half of a duplex. Duplexes are two units on one lot, and thus, by definition, always owned by the same person....
I suspect it is what I would refer to as a "twin" or "gemini" home (that's how we designate them in our MLS).
By contrast, a building comprising two attached units on two distinct properties is typically considered semi-detached or twin homes but may also be referred to as a duplex.
We have townhouses out here but not those. Rjrcm, I can see in an area with a large amount of retirees that they would be popular due to the small yards and the fact that they are less expensive.
It depends on so many factors. Until 11 years ago, I would never consider anything besides a SFH for personal or investment property. Then, shopping for an investment property to live in while my personal residence was on the market, I obtained a "townhouse" -- which was really duplex style -- because it was in a very desirable market and this house looked out over a canal. Since it was 2-story - it had great views and was also in a very highly desirable school district. I moved in and lived there for about 9 months. Just loved it. It totally changed my mind about considering multi-unit living. In the case of this particular property, it was legally a "condo" and there is a fairly minimal HOA monthly that covers the groundskeeping and shared pool. I barely heard my neighbor on our shared wall and never noticed lack of windows on one side due to a good design. This experience opened my mind to a variety of housing and today I own 2 more similar properties. In deciding what to buy and where to live style of house is variable and even duplexes will have many differences among them - you just have to look at the actual property and learn about the community amenities & rules - but 3 things will always primarily drive desirability: location, location, location
What's wierd about buying one side, I would find it wierder to buy both sides.
A. Not everyone wants to be a landlord let alone live next to their tenants.
B. Not a lot of 20 year olds have the funds to buy two places let alone one.
C. As for mortgages even if they could get approved for say a 200k place and a duplex were 100k for eac place most mortgage companies would not do two loands for 100k or even one loan for 200k to buy both places. Especially if they are going fha or va where the second woudln't be a primary residence.
As for why to buy a duplex. Lowr property taxes, dont need that much space, smaller yard. Only share one wall as opposed to a TH where you normally share 2 unless your an end unit. And in my case no association fees. At first I was happy about this as I dont need to pay $200 a month for somene to shovel my one car driveway and mow my 20' of lawn however where associatins come in handy is with outdoor repairs like roof, siding, etc that are normally covered where as I have to pay to fix that stuff.
I live in a semi-detached single-family home. It's no different from living in a fully detached single-family home. I have my own yard, my own driveway, my own porch (my own real estate tax bills ...). I simply share a firewall with the house next door.
Many of our areas have side-by-side townhomes which effectively is the same thing. Upside - not a condominium so you own your land. They hold their value a bit better because you don't have 'dues' to pay and a board to satisfy. The only downside is hoping your direct neighbor takes care of their 1/2 of the building and landscape - oh yeah - we have that problem with houses too! We own one of these townhomes and I gotta tell - it's a great rental property - less maintenance for us landlords and the tenant loves it! Not a bad choice in my book.
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