Moving Out Monday: Types of Housing

Ready to buy your next home? Do you know what style home you want? Houses can be built in a large variety of designs. There are differences between detached single-family homes, semi-detached dwellings and multi-user dwellings. Each configuration varies based on size and accommodations. Many of the homes listed below vary based on style.

Detached Single Family

-       A-frame: a steep roofline; named based off the appearance of the structure

-       American Colonial: a traditional style home, originating in the east coast

• Other types of colonials include:
  • Georgian Colonial
  • German Colonial
  • New England Colonial
  • Spanish Colonial

-       Bungalow: a simple, single-story house without a basement

-       Cape Cod: a popular design, originated in eastern Massachusetts

-       Cottage: a small country dwelling

• Weavers’ cottage: 3-storied townhouses
• Craftsman Cottage: a classic storybook charm and stone features

-       Dogtrot House: two houses connected by an open breezeway

-       Farmhouse: a house built with the type of style that is the main residence on a farm

-       Gable-front house: generic home with a gable roof facing the street

-       Linked Houses: semi-detached houses linked at the foundation, above ground they appear to be detached houses

-       Log Cabin: built of solid, un-squared wooden logs

-       Mansion: a large, luxurious detached house

-       McMansion: exaggerated suburban home with references to a mansion

-       Manufactured House: a prefabricated house that is assembled on a permanent site

-       Split Level Home:

• Back split: multi-levels that from the front looks as though it’s a bungalow
• Front split: multi-levels that appears to be a two-story in the front and bungalow in the back
• Side split: multi-levels that the different levels are visible from the front elevation view

-       Victorian House: known for its diversity, rich ornamentation and craftsmanship

-       Villa: originally an upper-class country home; originating from Roman times the function has evolved over time

Semi detached dwellings

-       Duplex: two separate residences, attached side by side; sometimes used to describe stacked apartments (typically in urban areas such as New York)

-       Two-family Home: generic term for a small apartment house that has two dwelling units

-       Semi-detached: two houses joined together by the foundation (see linked houses)

Attached multi unit

-       Apartment: self-contained housing unit in a building; rented by a person, family or people sharing a lease

-       Apartment Building: multi-unit dwelling made up of several apartments

-       Brownstone: a reddish-brown iron rich sandstone used for building; row-house

-       Condominium: a type of ownership of individual apartments and co-ownership of common areas such as grounds of the buildings

-       Garage-apartment: an apartment over a garage with its own entrance

-       Loft: an apartment building where a unit consists of a bedroom and level bath is divided vertically within the structure; usually supported by columns and bearing walls

-       In-Law Apartment: small apartment either on the side, back or basement of the main house with a separate entrance

-       Penthouse: top floor of a multi-story building

-       Row-house: in New York and Boston, Brownstones are row-houses

-       Studio Apartment: a suite with a single room that doubles as a living room and bedroom with a kitchenette and bathroom squeezed off to one side

-       Townhouse: similar to a row-house, often stacked units with direct access to the outside

For more information on types of houses contact Bailey Group Real Estate.