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Ryan
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: townhome and townhouse |
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Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent listed some
as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused. Not that I knew the
definition of townhouse in the first place. Or can I say a condo is a
multi-level townhouse? Thanks! |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Ryan wrote:
| Quote: | Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent
listed some as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused.
Not that I knew the definition of townhouse in the first place. Or
can I say a condo is a multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
|
"Home" is estate-agentese for "house". In real human British usage
(and Aus, till a few decades ago), while there are such expressions
of approval as "this house really feels like a home now", "home"
usually refers to some kind of institution such as a cats' home, or
an old people's home.
A "town house" is British estate-agentese for a terrace house. Those
who misguidedly think "a home" sounds better will call it a "town
home". You may shoot them, and say it's from me.
Mike. |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Ryan wrote:
| Quote: | Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent listed some
as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused. Not that I knew the
definition of townhouse in the first place. Or can I say a condo is a
multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
|
"Townhome" is a (I believe relatively recent) invention of the Realtor(R)
profession; it is supposed to suggest "townhouse that one would want to
have as a home". The gist is that Realtors(R) think that if you call a
substandard dwelling a "home" you're more likely to buy it. (Same goes
for the rental market.)
I think in AmE Realtor(R)-speak, "townhome" (and the term it replaced,
"townhouse") tends to suggest a unit in a larger development that is
attached to other units horizontally but has no other units above or below
it (and probably has at least two storeys).
In *some* (= BizarroFrankE "some [unemphatically spoken]") places
"townhouse" is still the standard term in use and has much the same
meaning that it still has in BrE.
--
Steny '08! |
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Joe Manfre
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:05 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Areff (me@privacy.net) wrote:
| Quote: | "Townhome" is a (I believe relatively recent) invention of the
Realtor(R) profession; it is supposed to suggest "townhouse that one
would want to have as a home". The gist is that Realtors(R) think
that if you call a substandard dwelling a "home" you're more likely
to buy it. (Same goes for the rental market.)
|
I still can't get over that profession's use of "multifamily" to
describe apartment buildings/complexes. I keep waiting to be kicked
out of my apartment -- er, I mean, my "multifamily unit" (check out
that awful coinage! but it's in live use out there, meaning not "a
unit that houses multiple families" but "a unit in a multifamily
development") -- because I live here alone rather than with a whole
family.
JM |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:06 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Joe Manfre wrote:
| Quote: | I still can't get over that profession's use of "multifamily" to
describe apartment buildings/complexes. I keep waiting to be kicked
out of my apartment -- er, I mean, my "multifamily unit" (check out
that awful coinage! but it's in live use out there, meaning not "a
unit that houses multiple families" but "a unit in a multifamily
development") -- because I live here alone rather than with a whole
family.
|
I imagine you're still in Greater Laurel (FLMAIA). This reminds of me of
the time when I was in Greater Laurel earlier this year, chronicled to
some degree in this newsgroup. This, I can now reveal, was for a j*b
interview. So the interviews at this place are going okay, I thought,
and then I go to see this surly-looking fellow (SLF). And, get this, the
interview takes this turn:
SLF: Do you have a family?
Me: [PAUSE WHILE RECOVERING FROM SHOCK]
Um, what do you mean by "family"?
SLF: [VISIBLY ANNOYED]
Are you married?
Me: [PAUSE WHILE RECOVERING FROM FURTHER SHOCK]
Uh, no?
Thing is, that was the answer SLF was looking for, I think, because he
then uttered something about how, if you don't have a wife, you're more
likely to work late. You never know, though.
I didn't get the j*b (otherwise I'd probably be in Greater Laurel right
now), and I think it was mainly because of this [REDACTED] and
[REDACTED]-[REDACTED] guy, but hopefully for other reasons.
Anyway, that little bit of illegality there is the kind of thing
you expect to occur in shadier industries like medical equipment sales
proprietorships down Florida way, but this was a reputable organization in
Our Nation's Capital of the sort that might make Liebs semi-proud (and the
kind of place where you can be sure interviewers are drilled in the kinds
of questions you can and cannot ask under United States law [CUE
PATRIOTIC MUSIC]). To be fair, this fellow had spent a number of years
working over in Alexandria, so he'd never really learnt good manners.
Yeesh!
I thought of writing to his superiors, but decided against it.
(The BrE speakers are like, huh?)
-
Steny '08! |
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Bill Bonde ( ``And the La
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:07 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Areff wrote:
| Quote: | I think in AmE Realtor(R)-speak, "townhome" (and the term it replaced,
"townhouse") tends to suggest a unit in a larger development that is
attached to other units horizontally but has no other units above or below
it (and probably has at least two storeys).
So a townhouse is just a horizontally connected multi-occupant dwelling? |
Because I suggested something like a pentagon with each 'house' being
one section of the shape, the parking in the middle. Someone claimed
that was a 'townhouse'. I don't think it exists. |
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Steve Hayes
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:11 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 18:03:45 -0500, "Ryan" <Ryan@aol.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent listed some
as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused. Not that I knew the
definition of townhouse in the first place. Or can I say a condo is a
multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
|
Aren't there single level condos? Surely a condo is defined by the form of
ownership
(here we would say "sectional title) rather than the number of levels of the
dwelling?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
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Steve Hayes
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:12 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 23:12:31 -0000, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | Ryan wrote:
Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent
listed some as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused.
Not that I knew the definition of townhouse in the first place. Or
can I say a condo is a multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
"Home" is estate-agentese for "house". In real human British usage
(and Aus, till a few decades ago), while there are such expressions
of approval as "this house really feels like a home now", "home"
usually refers to some kind of institution such as a cats' home, or
an old people's home.
|
Surely "home" covers both a house and a flat?
| Quote: | A "town house" is British estate-agentese for a terrace house. Those
who misguidedly think "a home" sounds better will call it a "town
home". You may shoot them, and say it's from me.
|
Here a "town house" used to be called a "duplex" (a flat with an upstairs and
a downstairs). Now estate agents call them "townhouses", presumably because it
sounds posher.
"Townhome", on the other hand, suggests the kind of thing one reads about in
uppper-clas twit novels, about people who have a town house and a country
house. The town house is, of course, in London. If such people have a third
house, in a city other than London, it is a "villa".
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:12 am
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Steve Hayes wrote:
| Quote: |
On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 18:03:45 -0500, "Ryan" <Ryan@aol.com> wrote:
Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent listed some
as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused. Not that I knew the
definition of townhouse in the first place. Or can I say a condo is a
multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
Aren't there single level condos? Surely a condo is defined by the form of
ownership
(here we would say "sectional title) rather than the number of levels of the
dwelling?
|
Most dwellings owned in condo form in the US are single-story
apartments. I own (with appropriate assistance from financial
institutions) two such myself, one in Greater Laurel and the other
on the northern Jeysey Shaw. The former is in a building of
approximately 550 units, the latter in a 12-unit building.
Townhouses have party walls but individual rooflines. The rooflines
differentiate them from rowhouses, which share roof as well.
If I were to encounter "town home" in the wild, I'd think of a pied
a terre, not a townhouse. Perhaps I need another think coming.
--
Liebs
Now accepting offers for the place in New Jersey -- must be
considerably above market |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:11 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Steve Hayes wrote:
| Quote: | Surely "home" covers both a house and a flat?
|
In Realtor(R)ese it certainly does (and also does in the case of the
rental-industry counterparts to the Realtor(R)s).
| Quote: | A "town house" is British estate-agentese for a terrace house. Those
who misguidedly think "a home" sounds better will call it a "town
home". You may shoot them, and say it's from me.
Here a "town house" used to be called a "duplex" (a flat with an upstairs and
a downstairs).
|
That's what a "duplex" means in New York (Largest City in America). As Erk
or Coop will tell you, however, "duplex" has a different meaning in other
places.
| Quote: | Now estate agents call them "townhouses", presumably because it
sounds posher.
|
A New York "duplex", note, could and usually will exist within a
multi-storey apartment building, so it wouldn't be confused with a
"townhouse".
--
Steny '08! |
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Ryan
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:11 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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"Ryan" <Ryan@aol.com> wrote in message news:30sfeiF347286U1@uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: | Are 'townhome' and 'townhouse' the same thing? I saw same agent listed
some as 'townhome' and some as 'townhouse' and was confused. Not that I
knew the definition of townhouse in the first place. Or can I say a condo
is a multi-level townhouse? Thanks!
It's getting interesting and even confusing. Is it possible to have |
definitions that can distinguish these terms? Trying not to complicate the
already complicated issue, shall we assume it is in the US, but not peculiar
NYC?
1) Townhouse
2) Townhome
3) Duplex
4) Condominium
5) Rowhouse
6) Terrace House
7) House
 Flat
9) Villa |
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R H Draney
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:11 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Areff filted:
| Quote: |
I think in AmE Realtor(R)-speak, "townhome" (and the term it replaced,
"townhouse") tends to suggest a unit in a larger development that is
attached to other units horizontally but has no other units above or below
it (and probably has at least two storeys).
|
I've got one of those, and it's still called a "townhouse" on all the documents
save the one that describes the form of ownership as "condominium"...as to
another term mentioned in this thread, mine's a septiplex....r |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:13 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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Ryan wrote:
| Quote: | It's getting interesting and even confusing. Is it possible to have
definitions that can distinguish these terms? Trying not to complicate the
already complicated issue, shall we assume it is in the US, but not peculiar
NYC?
|
Now that was cruel and uncalled-for.
See Liebs's definition, which is as good as you're gonna get. I'd say
this is an urban "house", no unit above or below it, at least two storeys
(probably at least three but no more than four), attached to other
buildings horizontally but, as Liebs says, not having a common roof
themwith. It also tends to suggest (or used to suggest) a certain amount
of prosperity and bourgeosity.
Probably something as likely to be in a suburban as an urban setting.
Might be similar to a townhouse. But I've also seen this term used to
describe something like the New York "duplex": a two-storey apartment
within a larger, multi-storey apartment building. (I've seen this usage
in Chicago and Seattle, frecks.)
The non-New-York definition seems to be something like the semi-detached
house (or semi-attached house). Two integral "houses" attached
horizontally. No?
This properly refers to a form of ownership where you own your individual
dwelling unit but the larger complex within which the unit is situated
contains portions that are held in common (and the underlying land is
probably held in common or as a long-term leasehold or something along
those lines). Equivalent ownership types are given nize Anglo-Saxon
pseudo-feudal names in BrE. A condominium unit can be of any number of
types. In urban areas of bigger cities they tend to be
apartments in apartment buildings (i.e., multi-storey buildings containing
apartment units on each floor). In suburban areas they tend to be
ugly-looking prefab things (NTTAWWULPT), often of the "townhome" variety.
Sometimes the units are entirely detached from one another.
I think there are people who misuse "condo" to mean a particular type of
unit in a multi-unit complex, regardless of ownership form, but I don't
entirely understand this.
See Liebs's definition -- like the townhouse but there's a common roof.
"Rowhouse" tends to suggest relative lack of prosperity. If there's
prosperity it probably won't be called a rowhouse.
I think this is specific to BrE and its post-18th-century cultural
offspring. It might be related to the rowhouse concept without the class
connotations.
To me a house strongly implies a standalone dwelling grander than a shack
or hovel. Bonus points if it has a pointy roof. Actually, in my dialect
that's a "private house". In the same dialect, "my house" means "my
dwelling" regardless of form.
| Quote: | Flat
|
Once used commonly in AmE. Now mainly used in BrE and its
post-18th-century cultural offspring, to the point where "flat" is thought
of by the AmE as the translation of "apartment". I assume that "flat"
implies "single-storey unit" somewhat more strongly than "apartment" does.
"Railroad flat" and "cold water flat" are still meaningful in New York
English, but you don't care from that. As I recall from our many previous
discussions of these issues, in some AmE regions, including the so-called
Bay Area, "flat" has a special meaning (I think, in houses that have been
converted to or built for multi-unit occupancy, where a floor comprises a
unit, a flat is one of the floors, as it were).
This describes the ostentatious estates that abut golf courses in certain
parts of Florida and, I would think, Southern California.
--
Steny '08! |
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Robin Bignall
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:10 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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On 28 Nov 2004 00:33:58 GMT, Areff <me@privacy.net> wrote:
[snip job interview detail]
| Quote: | I thought of writing to his superiors, but decided against it.
(The BrE speakers are like, huh?)
|
What on earth does that last comment mean, Areff? I can think of
several interpretations, none of which apply to BrE speakers.
--
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Hertfordshire
England |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:11 pm
Post subject: Re: townhome and townhouse |
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On 28 Nov 2004 00:33:58 GMT, Areff <me@privacy.net> wrote:
| Quote: | SLF: Do you have a family?
Me: [PAUSE WHILE RECOVERING FROM SHOCK]
Um, what do you mean by "family"?
SLF: [VISIBLY ANNOYED]
Are you married?
Me: [PAUSE WHILE RECOVERING FROM FURTHER SHOCK]
Uh, no?
|
One of the many reasons that I'm glad that I sold my business is
represented above. The idea that it is shocking for an employer to
ask if the interviewee is married or has a family is absolutely
ridiculous.
I can see the problem of an employer discriminating against a person
by not hiring a person that is or is not married, or does or does not
have children. But, I see absolutely no reason that an employer
should not want to know a certain amount of personal information about
an potential employee. In a small to medium sized business, hiring a
person is almost like taking a person into a family.
Yes, the employer should be mainly concerned with the interviewee's
ability to perform the tasks of the job, but the employer is also
concerned about how the interviewee will fit into the organization.
The personality of the interviewee is very important to the
businessman.
The potential employee that registers shock at being asked if he - or
she - has a family is not likely to be an employee that will fit in
many businesses. It would be a huge red flag to me. The red flag
wouldn't be based on the person's status as a family person, but based
on the person's shock point. Anyone that is shocked by this type of
question is bound to have a number of other quirks that would make the
person a difficult employee to work with.
If I was hiring, say, a person to work as an Accounts Receivable
clerk, I would like to hire a person that has some experience in
collecting over-due accounts. Frankly, though, experience in that
area would be a small part of what I'd look for. The actual job
function skill is something that can be picked up in short period of
time. My decision to hire or not hire would be based on how I thought
the interviewee would fit into the overall scheme of things.
Interviewing is a tough process. Unless you're hiring someone with
highly specialized skills that over-ride other factors, the interview
is one step in determining what the interviewee is like and how that
person will be to work with and how that person will affect the rest
of the workforce. Some discussion of non-job-related subjects allows
the employer to judge the interviewee as a person and not just someone
to fill an open slot.
If the employer is restricted to asking questions only about the job
skill, the employer has no ability to get a feel for the person on the
other side of the desk. In small to medium sized businesses, we don't
hire based just on bare-bones resumes. We hire individuals that we
hope will contribute both to the job and to the overall work environ.
If Areff can't handle a question like "Are you married?" without going
into a huff and wondering if he should report me to someone, I don't
want him around. |
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