Town homes are like houses.
TRUE… but they are legally condos.
You may not have neighbors upstairs or downstairs, you may not even have any attached walls with the neighbors, but it still may be a condo. Many buyers think that a town home is a single family home.
It is not, in fact it has CCRs (the covenant, conditions and restrictions, or rules to the building/community), they usually have an HOA fee and management company unless they self manage, group insurance, and if they don’t have enough reserves or too many renters, the value of your unit can go down.
Even if it looks like a house, check to see if the unit is a CONDO (town home) or a PUD. These have very different ownership rights. This is especially important in Orange County where a home can look like a house with no attached walls with the neighbors but actually be a town home (condo).
When getting a mortgage loan, the rate you get on a condo with 20% down is higher than the rates you get on a PUD or house with 20% down.