Townhouse plat vs townhouse? (agent, fees, condos, legal)

[Seattler123]

When I look at town houses, for some of them, the entire community appears as one unit in the county (King county in my case) assessor map while for some others each townhouse, even though it is attached, shows up as separate unit.

What is the difference? Does it matter? For both cases, the town houses are attached homes.

[RoamingTX]

One could be a condo arrangement? Where there’s a shared interest in the common grounds - while the other doesn’t have any common area and thus no shared interest?

[TarHeelNick]

Many townhome communities are "condos" legally. That means each unit owner is essentially a "stakeholder" in the land for the whole development. This is usually meant for flat-style condos but can also apply to units that most people would refer to as "townhomes".

In "townhomes" that are legally defined as such; each unit owner actually owns the plot of land that their unit is built on independently.

Seems like semantics but there are a few differences.

I originally learned this about 2 years ago when I was homehunting for a condo/townhome in my area and my real estate agent explained it to me. Biggest noticeable difference is that HOA fees in "condo" are typically higher.