# Townhouse v Apartment



## tamiami (Jan 23, 2015)

I'm still spending hours looking at properties in the Costa Calida area.

I think I've ruled out an apartment after feedback, does anyone have any advice regarding a townhouse?


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

tamiami said:


> I'm still spending hours looking at properties in the Costa Calida area.
> 
> I think I've ruled out an apartment after feedback, does anyone have any advice regarding a townhouse?



Apartments can be noisy, communal areas dirty and the communities can never agree. You are so right ruling out an apartment.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

You do get a bit of private outside space with a townhouse and of course, cos they're on two + levels there is more room inside

Jo xxx


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Yes I agree with Hepa about an apartment .

When you say town house do you mean on an urbanisation or traditional old town house ?

We have friends that live in an old traditional town house , and the like the fact that they are in walking distance of everything they need , but they say it can get noisy come the Fiestas ! a case of if you cant beat them join them .

Any way good luck with your search , its a great time to buy , so much choice and bargains to be had + strong pound !!

Cheers Tony , Agost Alicante


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## tamiami (Jan 23, 2015)

Do townhouses give the feel of an apartment but on 2 levels. Is a house the best way to go do you think. I have a small dog and cat as well.

I'm looking at an urbanisation really or somewhere close to schools etc. with multi national residents.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

jojo said:


> You do get a bit of private outside space with a townhouse and of course, cos they're on two + levels there is more room inside
> 
> Jo xxx



Most of the townhouses around here do NOT have ANY outside space - don't assume they do when looking.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

It depends what you have been used to. When we first came to Spain we rented an apartment on an urb. After a week, we both hated it. It was noisy, you never knew who your neighbours were as many apartments were on short-term holiday lets and we didn't like being so close to other people. We were on the ground floor and had a private (sort of) garden but after five months we left. 
In the UK we lived in an eighteenth century detached cottage with extremely thick chalk and flint walls. We were some distance apart from our neighbours. So it was quite a change of lifestyle and it might have been our sensibilities more than the urb and the piso that prevented us from settling.
I have a feeling that a townhouse wouldn't have been that much different.
We moved into a non-urb house, six years ago and are very happy. I shudder to think what would have happened had we bought that first piso. 
With the £ so strong and prices so low buying or renting a house could be a viable option.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Town houses are only as good as your neighbours. Ok. as a second home only. Slightly better than an apartment if it has it's own garden. Have seen some with a small swimming pool.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

tamiami said:


> Do townhouses give the feel of an apartment but on 2 levels. Is a house the best way to go do you think. I have a small dog and cat as well.
> 
> I'm looking at an urbanisation really or somewhere close to schools etc. with multi national residents.


I have a more or less detached, 8 room old bungalow, with a garage, laundry room, huge outside store room, 1500 square metres of terraces, and 2 wells, right in the middle of the capital. Go for a house if you can, sounds like you will need the space now, but more so in the future.


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Isobella said:


> Town houses are only as good as your neighbours. Ok. as a second home only. Slightly better than an apartment if it has it's own garden. Have seen some with a small swimming pool.


Yes neighbours can be a problem , that is one of the main reasons for me coming to Spain and buying a Finca with no close Neighbours , 

I can also play music at Full blast ( if I want to ) with out annoying anybody !!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Impossible to compare really, there are so many variables which are down to location and what you can afford. I wouldn't mind a luxury penthouse! For me, the advantages would be security (less chance of break-in), the view, the reduced street noise, and (if I wasn't living there full time) no garden and exterior walls to maintain.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

We have a village house on five levels (including the attic [used and lived in] and patio with workshop and wood store attached) It was originally built about a hundred years ago and rebuilt with block and beam in 1962. We don't have a garden, unfortunately, but I would say go for a proper house (not a lego one on an urb) in town or village where you may well have a community of locals and a few foreigners. Get to know everybody and you will find that everybody will be supportive when you need help - the unwritten contract is that you are supportive towards them as well.

Warm summer evenings, neighbours will sit out in the street and share chit-chat, maybe a glass of wine, what ever somebody has baked, etc. It is much rarer to find this on an urb.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

tamiami said:


> Do townhouses give the feel of an apartment but on 2 levels. Is a house the best way to go do you think. I have a small dog and cat as well.
> 
> I'm looking at an urbanisation really or somewhere close to schools etc. with multi national residents.


a townhouse is usually what you'd call a terraced house in the UK

they can be actually in towns, or on urbanisations

they are sometimes also known as _adosados, _especially on urbanisations


as snikpoh said, don't count on there being private outside space unless it's specified - they don't all have this

some apartments do have private internal patios, though


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## tamiami (Jan 23, 2015)

Which areas do you all live in please? I've been looking at the golf resorts and Camposol. Don't want to spend too much to start with so am thinking maybe 2 bed villa to use as a holiday home, but with the flexibility to move there full time eventually, hence needing a local school for a 10 year old.

There are so many areas it looks confusing, I will be coming out to have a proper look in a few months but wanted to narrow down my search a bit beforehand.

Thanks for your replies.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

tamiami said:


> Which areas do you all live in please? I've been looking at the golf resorts and Camposol. Don't want to spend too much to start with so am thinking maybe 2 bed villa to use as a holiday home, but with the flexibility to move there full time eventually, hence needing a local school for a 10 year old.
> 
> There are so many areas it looks confusing, I will be coming out to have a proper look in a few months but wanted to narrow down my search a bit beforehand.
> 
> Thanks for your replies.


it you look at top right of each post, most of us say where we're living


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I have a traditional townhouse but it's not attached to other houses on either side - only by the rear wall of the patio to the house behind. We have a ground floor patio plus a good sized roof terrace with panoramic views, enough outside space for me because I am no gardener. We're a 5 minte walk away from all the shops, etc in town but far enough away, on a hill above it, to avoid any noise from fiestas or other events. One downside is the amount of exterior painting that needs to be done, as part of the house and all of the patio walls are 3 stories high. However, it's good not to have community fees to pay or problems because some property owners in a community don't pay.

I don't think I'd like to live in an apartment but wouldn't mind an atico as long as it had decent sized terrace and preferably a decent view.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Actually townhouse covers a multitude. There's one for sale not far from me which has 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a 9mx5m swimming pool in the back garden and a basement garage for 5 cars. There are also some with about 4 rooms in total none of which are big enough to swing the proverbial cat in.


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