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old house vs new townhouse

old house vs new townhouse

  • old house

  • new townhouse

Results are only viewable after voting.
N

nageov3t

Lifer
purely hypothetical... which would you rather deal with:

a) older house on a nice-sized plot of land (say, built sometime in the 1920's or 30's), with all the potential issues an older house might suffer from (wonkly electrical work, possible work not done to code, drafty windows, wood-paneled rooms, etc) and out-of-date design/finishes, versus...

b) new townhouse (<5 years old) with a small plot of grass outside. no upgrades/major work required to make it move-in ready, but you'd be looking at an HOA fee in perpetuity (otoh, the place may also feature a pool, gym, and/or close proximity to a walkable downtown)

let's assume that the actual square footage of the insides of the houses are more-or-less the same and that a new-er stand alone house (+1950's) would either be significantly smaller or prohibitively more expensive.
 
I live in a newer townhouse and dont like it. Neighbors too close, they can hear you, you can hear them.
You need permission from everyone before you can do any kind of work.
HOA always nitpicking bullshit but they never deal with assholes on the street.

Small house with decent land is SO much better for a variety of reasons.

Also, 3 levels really suck when moving furniture, or when you get home late and are dead tired. Also really bad when you are stuck in bed for some reason and you've gotta go up and down stairs all the time just to eat or answer the door.
 
Depends.

If I am picking a place that I know I will be in for probably 10+yrs, then the older home. Reason being is that I can likely get equity on top of any money I put into it for fixes and upgrades. Even if that equity doesn't actually happen for a while. Eventually, I would make money on it. Also, it would be to exactly my tastes.

If I was looking for something where I may only live there <10yrs, then definitely the townhouse. Essentially, it's good for all the reasons the old home might not be; no repairs/surprises and won't take huge chunks of cash out of your pocket immediately. It won't probably result it much profit, but you probably won't lose much money either. It may also not be 100% to your taste, but you also didn't have to invest much either.
 
The HAO fees would not make sense from a investment pov, but if you are looking for luxury the town home is better
 
You need to check how bad the hoa is first from other people as not all are that bad and if they extras it provides are worth it.
 
I live in a 1915-ish house, not mine, thank goodness. Issues:

- No insulation = cold + high heating/cooling cost.
- If furnace and duct work old and crappy, uneven temperature.
- We had knob and tube up until a few years ago. No ground.
- Depending on renovations, house survived through the lead paint, lead pipes, asbestos eras.
- If previous owners were cheap, no updates were made, may need a full gut to redo wiring and insulate.
- Sewage and water supply pipes may be ancient. We had a cast iron pipe with holes in it that drained a toilet up until a few years back -- always wondered why a room smelled like shit.
 
Sadly, there is little difference in potential problems between new houses and old houses. I have seen many new house constructions where stupid shortcuts were taken because the builder just doesn't care. The disadvantage older homes have is the greater opportunity for bad renovations done by homeowners without permits. Every house is unique, you can't base your decision on "old vs. new."
 
Old house, even though it is not up to code the crappy construction of my 2003 built townhouse makes me leary of a townhouse. My townhouse had 2 exterior and 2 interior walls yet my new single family home costs the same to heat, WTF!

You can fix the old house, the HOA will not let you fix the townhouse.
 
shortylickens said:
Also, 3 levels really suck when moving furniture, or when you get home late and are dead tired. Also really bad when you are stuck in bed for some reason and you've gotta go up and down stairs all the time just to eat or answer the door.
Click to expand...

I used to think that, but now I think stairs in the house is the best decision I have ever made. My wife's ass is amazing now thanks to them (no pics).
 
Old house without question. They can cost more money for various reasons, but they have more character, and feel more like home. New houses look like generic Ikea displays.
 
after living in a condo for 6 years and having my subwoofer in the closet the whole time, then putting a home theater in the basement of my first single family home, there is not a chance i would ever go back to shared-wall living unless i had to.
 
Depends on what my commute would be from each place. I work a lot and having to drive to work an hour each way every day would seriously diminish any enjoyment I would potentially get out of a nicer house.

KT
 
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KeithTalent said:
Depends on what my commute would be from each place. I work a lot and having to drive to work an hour each way every day would seriously diminish any enjoyment I would potentially get out of a nicer house.

KT
Click to expand...

would likely be equal, plus or minus a few minutes (based on the towns where we're looking, a townhouse would probably be closer to a train station if we're commuting into NYC, while a detached house would be closer to highways)
 
House in this case. I haven't seen more than a handful of town homes (that weren't pre-war) worth a shit.
 
loki8481 said:
would likely be equal, plus or minus a few minutes (based on the towns where we're looking, a townhouse would probably be closer to a train station if we're commuting into NYC, while a detached house would be closer to highways)
Click to expand...

This is highly dependent on the particular town. Maplewood, NJ, for example, has mostly houses near the train station. Montclair, Bloomfield and Glen Ridge are similar with the added benefit of buses into NYC.
 
loki8481 said:
would likely be equal, plus or minus a few minutes (based on the towns where we're looking, a townhouse would probably be closer to a train station if we're commuting into NYC, while a detached house would be closer to highways)
Click to expand...

In that case, if you are willing to put in the effort and the cash for upgrading and maintaining the old house, I say go for that. At least that way you are putting the money into something that is wholly yours and you can generally feel every penny spent, while paying out HOA fees in perpetuity is kind of a hard pill to swallow unless you get some incredible facilities (which you actually use!!) out of it.

KT
 
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