So can you explain what's the difference between a condo and a townhouse? Is there almost no HOA with this, so you have to do a lot of repairs yourself? I have seen condos that look just like this(I know condos are usually multi story buildings).
That's a question I had to deal with when shopping.
In a condo you basically own the airspace inside the walls of the building, but not the land the building is on. The condominium association owns the outside in trust. In a townhouse you own the building (or your section of it) and the land it sits on, and possibly a small amount of yard space.
Both have an HOA of some sort, but they handle things somewhat differently because of the type of ownership. Both HOAs types will take care of things like lawn care, maintaining common areas, trash collection, termite control, etc. In a condo they will also be responsible for maintaining the outside of the buildings, so when it comes time to paint the outside or fix the roof they handle that. In rare cases they may be responsible for plumbing and wiring. In a townhouse, all maintenance on the building itself is the responsibility of the owner. Because of this, condo association fees tend to be higher because the association has to have more insurance and has to do more work. On the other hand your personal home insurance would cost less for a condo as it would need to cover only the inside of your unit. Condos have another drawback in that if the association does not have sufficient reserves to perform a repair or an upgrade it can charge all residents a judgement to get the cash. Condo associations also require special FHA approval status for someone to get an FHA loan to buy a condo, while a townhouse does not.
Also, a "condo" does not refer to a specific form of structure, but rather just the type of ownership, so a condo can be built in the form of a townhouse or even a standalone single-family home. In the same fashion, a townhouse can be in the same HOA as a standalone single-family home.
