Mary Pope-Handy and Clair Handy 408 204-7673 mary@popehandy.com

Selling a townhome

by , | Aug 7, 2025 | Selling Tips, Condos & Townhomes, PUD

Things to know when selling a townhome with three or more townhouses showing

Graphic image via ©Take Care Creative and Canva.com

If you’re planning on selling a townhome, there are things to know and do which are a little different than with other types of home ownership. Correct planning and execution may increase your return on investment. Two areas to research ahead of time are these:

  1. Correctly understand the type of ownership (many consumers and real estate professionals don’t) – it matters.
  2. Check into the HOA finances and learn whether it will influence your home’s value positively or negatively.

Both of these should influence your pricing strategy.

1 Selling a townhome and understanding ownership types

The most important and unique thing about a townhouse sale is understanding the type of ownership for the unit, as there’s a lot of confusion about this, even among real estate professionals.  We’ll explain that below.

A townhouse or townhome is an architectural style (think shape of the home), and usually it means no other units above or below it. There can be some exceptions, but that’s not common in our experience.

A townhome is a type of housing in a Common Interest Development or CID, and could be held in these ownership types:

  • Condominium or condo
  • Planned Unit Development (PUD)
  • Co-op or Cooperative (there are only a few of these here in Silicon Valley)

Condominium ownership

Most townhomes in Santa Clara County seem to be held in condo ownership.  With that type, unit owners directly own the interior of the unit (as in the airspace between the walls) and they also own a fraction of the common areas. If there are 100 units, they might own 1% (or it could be based on square footage or bedroom size). If there are garages, balconies, or patios, those may belong to the homeowner’s association, but the resident has the exclusive right to use those areas. They don’t own the balcony, garage, etc. in the majority of cases.

There’s good and bad to every ownership category. The good thing about the HOA owning a deck is that if there’s dry rot and an expensive repair, the HOA will pay to fix it (but also you pay a portion of your own plus anyone else’s rotted deck).
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Rose Villas III – Cambrian PUDs

by , | Jul 13, 2024 | Neighborhoods in Cambrian, Cambrian Park (SJ), PUD, Townhomes

Rose Villas III sign along Branham Lane in San Jose CA 95118Rose Villas III is a pretty Spanish style community of townhomes which are PUDs or Planned Unit Developments, not condominiums (an upgrade!). They are located along a private road but have an address of anywhere between 1634 and 1644 Branham Lane, San Jose CA 995118. The common areas offer a surprisingly abundant amount of guest parking as well as a pool and patio for the enjoyment of the residents.

Both the individual homes and the community as a whole are thoughtfully laid out and very attractive. It’s also a convenient location for commuting on Camden Avenue (which becomes San Tomas Expressway) or accessing Highway 85. Shopping and restaurants are nearby: it’s a highly convenient location.

Upstairs, many of the homes enjoy at least partial views of the hills.

And to top it off, this community enjoys highly regarded Union Schools.

What are the homes like at Rose Villas III?

There are 48 townhomes in this community. They were constructed in 1977 and feature stucco exteriors and concrete tile roofs.

The layout is thoughtful with a powder room and living spaces on the first floor, as well as the laundry closet (which is close to the front door and the access to the garage from inside). Upstairs there are two bedrooms and a bathroom between them, which is wonderful for improved privacy. Both bedrooms include two closets each and also large windows.

Upstairs view of part of the Rose Villas III community in the Cambrian area of San Jose

All floor plans the same, unless altered by the home owner:
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What Is the Difference Between CID Ownership in a Condo, Townhouse or PUD?

by , | Oct 16, 2023 | Buying Tips, Condos & Townhomes, Home Types, PUD

Is this a PUD, a condo, or a single family home? You must read the Preliminary Title Report to know what it is. Are you considering purchasing a PUD, or wonder how it’s different than a condo? They could look the same!

There’s quite a bit of confusion around the difference between common interest developments (CID) , condominiums, and planned unit developments (PUD). What do these labels mean, and how does anyone know which one is which? Where do townhomes fall in this list? And more importantly, why do they matter?

CID, PUD, and Condo: Ownerships Explained

Part of the confusion stems from the fact that there are two things to consider: the architecture of the buildings and the type of ownership.

  1. What is a condominium or condo?  A condominium is a type of ownership of the real estate, not an architectural style.  Condo ownership means that the purchaser has 100% rights to the unit and a percentage of ownership in the common lands (fractional ownership in common areas). Buyers of a condo are buying the space between the walls (and have some ownership in common areas).
    • Condos can architecturally be a unit that resembles an apartment (what we colloquially refer to as a condo), a townhouse, or even a house.
    • With a condo, owners share ownership of the common areas, usually reflected as a percentage of ownership.
  2. What is a townhouse (or townhome)?  A townhouse is a type of building or architectural style, not the type of ownership involved. A townhouse could be a planned unit development (PUD) or it could be a condominium.
    • Townhouses are often 2 stories and attached on at least one side, but they don’t have to be. They could be one story and they could be detached.
    • A townhouse that’s a condo can look exactly the same as a townhouse that’s a PUD.
    • In our area, most townhomes are held in condo ownership.
  3. What is a PUD?  A planned unit development or PUD is architecturally either a townhouse or a house in which 100% of the unit plus the land under it is owned and the ownership of the unit also provides for a membership in the homeowner’s association or HOA.  The HOA in turn owns all the common elements (such as private roads and amenities such as a pool, tennis court, parking lots, etc.). With a PUD, homeowners have an easement and rights to use the common area through their HOA membership.
  4. What is a CID?  A common interest development, or CID, is a general term meaning the ownership of property in which there are “common areas” such as private roads, a pool, parking, tennis courts, utility rooms etc. These could be condo complexes or home owners associations with houses, townhouses, or other types of homes.

Local examples: In Los Gatos we have some freestanding houses (or properties with the only common wall being at the garage) which are in condo ownership on Ohlone Court.  Same with the beautiful Villas of Almaden community. Both have “common areas” and mandatory membership in the home owner’s association.

 

 

How can you tell if the townhouse is in a PUD or Condo CID?

Sometimes the info is right in a property profile, which is very easy for most real estate agents to obtain through their preferred title company.  More often, though, to be certain of the ownership type it’s necessary to review the preliminary title report.

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Understand the Pros and Cons of Homeowners Associations in Silicon Valley

by | Jan 13, 2020 | Condos & Townhomes, Contracts & Forms, PUD

Homeowners Associations (HOAs) are created to oversee condominium complexes, townhome communities and planned unit developments (PUDs) on behalf of their members. These are non-profit organizations whose purpose is to manage common areas, enforce neighborhood rules and standards, and often, unofficially, to foster community unity too. In most cases, they collect fees from members and have local authority. In other words, if you do not pay your homeowner association dues, or abide by one of its rules*, the HOA can and usually will fine you or even foreclose on you!

There are loads of HOAs in Silicon Valley. As with all organizations, some are better run than others. Its a little different than owning real estate outside of a homeowners association.

What are the pros and cons to Homeowners Associations?

At their best, Silicon Valley HOAs keep the communities they manage beautifully landscaped and maintained, they hire good providers for needed improvements, and minimize risk to all the members. By having reasonable rules and community buy-in, the neighborhood can look inviting and property values can be better maintained.

At their worst, HOAs can be unresponsive to members needs, erratic, arbitrary and irresponsible. They may, by poor planning, cause huge assessments to be necessary or raise HOA dues so that they are very high – to the point where they make homes hard to sell. Not only are those an unhappy occasion, they can also make it hard to sell a home with a special assessment looming. Fortunately, this is seldom the case in most areas – but if the HOA has a high number of defaults due to owner bankruptcy or inability to keep up with mortgage, property insurance etc. it can cost all of the members eventually.

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