There are town-homes, town-boxes, and even town-ruts ... Make sure yours is a "townhome"!

It's bad enough that the world is diluged with what my neighbor calls "snout houses", but now we have these townhome developments where all you see are garages as you drive into the development.  Do you want to get to the front door, on foot?  Well, you'll have to park some long distance away,  then walk all the way around to the back side of the building, which for some reason is where the developer and the city decided a "front" door ought to be.  D'oh!     

Not so bad most days, but did the local permit department forget that this home is located in Iowa -- where we have 30 mph winds and -10 weather?  It's probably not all that bad most days, but if you're the middle unit in a 5-plex, stretched over a 200' long lot, it's quite the hike to get to the front door.  And, where do you park in these developments?  This can be a real challenge.  Pity the fool who has to carry something heavy to the front door, like your newborn child, dead asleep after your night on the town.  Of course, there is a garage, on the north side, where it's prone to freezing shut a couple of times each year.      

Fortunately, some of these complexes do have a lot to offer (pun intended), so townhomes are usually a nice step up from a condo (we're talking about the entry level stuff here).  Truth be known, these types of homes do seem to have market demand, particularly when they are brand new.  It's when you go to resell them -- that's where the 'gotcha's' in the fine print comes back to haunt you.     

There are lot of townhomes on the market today.  There are even some bargains!  Yet when you buy, just make sure your townhome is not a townhut -- especially one which magically transforms itself into a townrut just about the time you want or need to sell!