Single-family homes, duplexes, and laneway homes are all real estate kinds that you’ll come across when looking for new homes in California for sale. While certain home designs are quite popular, others may be less so. When browsing for real estate, you may come across five distinct types of homes.

Single-family Homes

Single-family homes are typically freestanding and detached, sitting on its own land (lot) with no shared walls or common areas. They also usually have only one address and aren’t connected to any other structures.

If you’re looking for new homes in California for sale, you can consider single-family homes in popular neighborhoods.

Condominiums And Apartments

Condominiums, often known as condos, are private apartments inside a multi-unit (or high-density) structure that are easily identifiable. Condominium buildings have several addresses inside a single structure, are managed by a strata organization, and are controlled by bylaws.

Condo buildings also feature shared (or ‘common property’) areas that are maintained by and used by the condo building’s residents. Though you’re correct in believing condominiums and apartments seem similar, the distinction is in who owns them, not how they look.

Apartment buildings, which are typically owned by corporations, do not contain separate units; instead, the entire building is owned by one entity, with each unit rented or tenanted.

Although condominiums and apartments are both available for rent, a condo rental is often supplied by a person (or a property management business) who represents that unit, whereas an apartment rental is provided by a corporation that represents the entire building.

Townhomes

Townhomes are single-family residences that are built next to each other and share walls. Townhomes typically have ground-floor entrance, may have their own parking garage, and run two to four stories vertically. Young families that are transferring (or upsizing) from condo life generally prefer townhomes.

At the foundation of many condominiums will be townhouses. As a result, townhouses with ground floor/street access attached to a high-rise may be townhomes, but condominiums built above could be condos.

Townhomes that are attached to a high-rise benefit from shared building facilities such as a gym, pools, guest suite, and residents club. Mammoth Realty Group can help you if you want to buy townhomes in California.

Duplexes

Duplexes are semi-detached residences that are separated into two units, each having its own entrance and address. In other circumstances, duplexes appear to be a single-family property with two drives and two front entrances slashed across the center.

A duplex’s two halves are frequently mirrored images of one another (though not always). Although duplexes are easier to recognize when they are built side by side, some duplexes are built up-down. Duplexes may provide a lot of rental revenue for investors.

Laneway Homes

Laneway houses, as the name implies, are often located in the backyard of a single-family home and are accessed by a lane or alley. Laneway houses vary from coach homes in that they are not stratified (i.e., they do not have their own legal title) and so cannot be sold separately.

In other words, laneway dwellings would be included in a single-family home transaction and sold as such. A laneway home may be an option for homeowners wishing to provide additional accommodation on their land.