What is the difference between renting an apartment and renting a townhouse?

packrat: What is the difference between renting an apartment and renting a townhouse?
I’ve been noticing that many townhouses seem to be more affordable to rent than an apartment, and they also have more square feet. Why?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Del Piero 10
Further out of town maybe.

Answer by Steve S
nothing really but the price, some aprtments have utilities included, i am not sure about town homes, but town homes are much larger…. and better in my opinion… people ever rent whole homes….

Answer by jennie m
townhouses are usually more expensive & rent goes by square feet & mostly location so check the location

Answer by DJ B
Most apartment buildings provide one level living, where as a Townhouse may provide two levels and sometimes three if it has a basement. Townhouse feel more like a home and some have small yards for the kids, if you have them. You have a front step, that you don’t in an apartment… So you decide which one you’d like.

Answer by Mike
Because so many people bought townhouses for investments, and they need the rental income to pay the mortgages.

Supply and demend. There is over-supply of townhomes for sale and for rent, so the price comes down.

When you rent a townhome, you are renting from an individual, not a corporation as well…

Answer by constantreader
A lot of townhouses are designed with 2 floors…bed/bath upstairs, etc…and depending on location, can be good value and usually more like a real house. Some have fireplaces and patios…so go check out your area and see where the best deals are for the amount of space you want.

Answer by Jason J
Renting an apartment is renting space inside the walls. Renting a townhouse also includes the common space outside. Several factors can affect the rental value difference. Apartments may rent for month to month where as townhouses usually require a lease. The affordability might be caused by the multiple unit income to the owner of an apartment house where one vacant unit is a percentage of income. A townhouse owner who depends on one unit income will have a 100% vacancy thus highly motivated to rent it.

Answer by John Chalinder MT USA GMT -7
Townhouses are predominantly rented by groups of college students who can band together to share the rent. They are typically two or three stories with kitchen, living room and water closet on the main floor; two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs; and room in the basement for another bedroom and water closet. In college towns these are usually a bit more expensive than an ordinary apartment and ask for the largest deposit the law will allow to cover for the damage they know the students are going to do (lots of parties). Also townhouses are built pretty much to a standardised pattern and are usually constructed of the cheapest materials possible without actually breaking any saftey laws. Finally, most agencies that rent out townhouses usually have a large number of them built all at once and are counting on a large cashflow to offset the lower rent in areas that they are not predominantly for college students. You might also want to see if the difference in rent is due to the non-inclusion of utilities.

Answer by hj_thorne
Some townhomes are privately owned and thus rented out by the owner for additional income. The difference between that and an apartment is with an apartment you get things fixed quicker with a management company always on staff at no additional cost, also utilities are usually included in the rent, water, electricity and sometimes basic cable and some offer internet access, plus any amenities that the apartment complex provides, club house, pool, fitness center, you end up paying for thoes in the price of your rent.

If you’re renting a townhome the Landlord will usually charge you the cost of his mortgage plus the Home Owners association fee, utilities are additional, you pay for your own electricity, cable, and internet. When you add up the utilities to that it comes out to be about the same amount. However, if anything goes wrong with the townhouse it might take a bit longer to get the items repaired. Some landlords add in to the lease that the tenant is responsible for the first $ 100 for the cost of repairs to prevent from being nickeled and dimed to death so be sure to read the fine print and ask about that up front prior to signing any lease, you wouldn’t want to be surprised by that if the stove breaks.

Be sure to weigh both options before deciding.

Good luck