This video will look at the differences between a condo, a townhouse, and a
single-family home. What are the pros and cons of buying, and when should you
buy one? That's starting right now.
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– Hi everyone I'm Karl. Welcome to another Homebuyer's School video,
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below, hit the little notification bell so you don't miss anything. So today I'm
joined by Kevin French, a realtor with Re/max Realty, and the question we're
going to answer today is, what's the difference between a condo,
a single- family home, and a townhouse? So Kevin, what are those differences?
Let's go with that one first.
– A condo is a type of ownership. So it's not actually necessarily the
property, it's an ownership type. But typically in Calgary you are going
to see apartment style condominiums and then townhouse style condominiums.
So row towns would have their own entrance and exit. Apartment style
condos would have common areas such as hallways. Often they have elevators.
And then the other two property types are
semi-detached or duplex homes, and then single-family homes
which are of course fully detached.
– So from I guess the condo and the town home perspective,
when we typically say condo,
it's apartment style so it's like usually typically higher right? You don't really
see that many townhouses that are multiple levels. Or do you?
– No. It wouldn't be classified as a townhouse then.
– Okay. So it's just like one house but it's all connected I guess.
– Yeah, well you can. There are some
townhouses within Calgary that are you know, three or four levels but they'd
have a walk-up from the outside. So you'd still have your own front door that you
enter and exit from that doesn't go into a common area other than just a stairway.
– And you mentioned semi-detached versus single-family, what's kind of—
can you explain a little bit the difference between that?
– Semi-detached is basically a single-family home that shares a party
wall with the neighbour. So you have a wall that divides the two spaces making
them legally different properties. Typically price points of course a bit
lower, and then detached—is fully detached so it's a standalone property.
– And are there specific scenarios when you would buy one over the other?
I know you mentioned lifestyle, and that's probably one thing
that you want to definitely consider right?
– Yeah, lifestyle is obviously a big factor there.
Condominium living is typically for those who want maintenance-free
lifestyle. They want to be able to lock and leave. So an apartment style condo
gives you the comfort of having attached neighbours, common hallways, a lot more
security comfort there. And then a townhouse gives you more privacy. So it
allows you to come and go as you please. You don't have to see people in common
hallways. You don't have to take care of general areas in the building which
would be included in your condo fee. So of course those always have to get
cleaned, lights have to be on and paid for, and then there's often elevators which
are costly for condo buildings as well. And then semi-detached living would be
those who want a detached home or more of a private lifestyle where they
have a private backyard and they're own space but it's at a lower price point.
– And if you want to know more about the difference between a duplex, or a
semi-detached home, or a single-family home, watch our video above and in the
description below. So what are some of the pros and cons I guess of buying one
over the other? Because I know we talked about with the scenario where you buy
one, but like what are some of the pros and cons—I think you mentioned from
a condo like, you know you're living with a lot of different people kind of in one
space right, versus a single-family home where
it's yours but you have to do a lot more maintenance. But then you have the
condo fees versus singlefamily home. Although you also have the HOA fees.
– Yeah. A condo—the advantages would be you know, if you were
talking apartment style, everything's included in there so you
have your heat, utilities—often you pay for your own electricity, but other than
that you'd pay for your reserve fund contributions, the snow removal, the lawn
care, the elevator, the building, the lobby, any amenities it would have would be
included. That's all in one condo fee in addition to of course your mortgage.
So that's a lifestyle where if you had a gym in the building,
maybe a pool in the building, you don't have to leave for a lot of
things that you may use on a daily basis. Going to a townhouse style, you're going
to have similar fees but they're not going to include the utilities. So you're
going to pay for your own hot water tank, your own furnace, and you're only going
to pay for the utilities to use. So the fees are of course lower on a price per
square foot basis, but you have two different styles – an apartment style
condominium you can leave and it's fully included, but you pay—let's say you pay
$500 a month—you pay $500 a month and you're gone for 6 months, it's all the
same. So a townhouse, though you pay for the utilities that you use—so it might
be $150 a month for your fees —and then you leave, and then
then your utilities would decrease significantly if nobody's occupying the
property. You also save on not cleaning the general areas of the common areas of
the building, and then the snow removal of course would be dependent on the
property.
– And then for I guess, for a single-family home, pretty much you're
responsible for everything but you have full customization.
– Single-family and side-by-sides, or duplex properties, they're going to be
within—and all the responsibilities are going to lie on the homeowner.
– The one thing I wanted to ask with duplexes though is,
is there specific—I wouldn't say requirements—or like let's say you
wanted to paint one side of house blue
and the other person wanted to paint it green, like is there sort of an agreement
that you kind of want the house to kind of look the same? Like, are
there agreements in terms of house maintenance or like yard maintenance
that like, you can't have one looking totally disheveled, and one pristine right?
It doesn't kind of make any sense.
– You can.
– Oh, you can?
– That's the realities of owning a detached home, and you got to think
about it in the future. So there's one property that I discourage—which is built
throughout the city—that I discourage buyers from buying is attached homes
that don't have condo fees but they have 6 units typically. So it's basically a
townhouse building but it doesn't have condo fees. So imagine in 15 or 20 years
when we need to replace the roof and you need to get 5 other neighbours on board
the exact same time. So that's what you're dealing with.
– With the duplex, it's just you and one neighbour so usually people
can work together and you know,
one person cuts the lawn, or paint together, or replace the roof together—
but that's not necessarily the reality. Each property is individually
owned and they can do what they'd like.
– Do you have anything else to add
in terms of the differences, and the pros and cons of the three?
– Yeah, I would say that it all comes down
to what the buyer's needs are and the lifestyle, but detached homes
has weathered the storm the best across the board without a doubt in
the last handful years when property values have been decreasing.
Apartment style condos, one of the reasons for them being so
negatively affected, and the negative statistics around them that are
shared through all the media, is based on
the fact that when you start—let's say a 30 story condo building—when you start
that, it takes years and years from the initial design stages to the actual
development, the sales, and then the building, and then the occupancy—and
when you're building something over 3 to 5 years, the market can change
significantly. So you might buy at X price today and it might be worth
significantly more or significantly less when you go to purchase.
Detached homes are of course, people like to own land, so having the ability to
own their own property and/or duplexes in the similar category, those have
maintained their value more—and of course the values for those properties
have adjusted and floated with the market. So it only takes you know 6 to 8
months to build one of those homes, so it's pretty fair market value at the current
time that you're purchasing, versus purchasing for the unknown that you
occupy in 36 months.
– Got it. So the question of the day I have for you is, which did you buy—
a condo, a townhouse, or a single-family —and why? Let us know in the comment
section below.
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