The condo you once thought of as a dream come true — your own place — now feels too much like an apartment and just not enough space. Now it’s time to make a decision: a single family or townhome.
Why choose a townhome? It is an opportunity to have the space and amenities in a younger home affordably priced. It can offer limited or extensive maintenance, depending on the type of ownership. With fee simple ownership you own the land and the building; with condominium ownership only the interior walls are owned, offering more services by the association besides common area, snow and trash removal, blanket insurance and capital fund. Very often recreation facilities are also included besides the building exterior. Along with these services covered by a monthly maintenance fee, there can be a special assessment for capital improvements in the community for sidewalks, roads, roofs, siding, railings and fences, and water and sewer lines beyond normal occurrence, as well as excessive snow removal. The benefit to the owner is that these routine expenses are bought in bulk at a much-reduced fee than would be available to an individual. Although one may look at this as a loss of control, these routine expenses are necessary occurrences and not optional, in order to protect the investment and maintain the integrity of the community. The benefit is that someone else will handle the logistics.
One can expect a townhome to be younger, with more amenities than a singlefamily home, in the same price range, and yet provide a spacious living area and the freedom from the chores.
East Brunswick experienced a proliferation of townhome developments starting in the early ’80s and continuing well into the 2000s, and they provide a variety of styles on multiple levels, and amenities from the very basics to homes with garages and basements as well as yards. Now add to this the easy lifestyle of some country club amenities such as pool, tennis courts and club house. Sounding better? If a move is in your forecast, don’t overlook the many benefits of the ease of townhome living.
Jane Mueller is an agent with RE/MAX First Realty, 385 Route 18, East Brunswick. For more information, call her at 732-257- 3500.