Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Row Houses making a come back


Love them or hate 'em, row houses provide an affordable limited space that provides what many need in housing. Boston, Philly, and New York row houses demonstrate how well they can work in dense urban areas. The new craze is building this stock in other cities and even suburbs. This Chicago Tribune article talks about the new housing stock trend.


First-time buyers David and Jennifer Waxberg considered a single-family house. After shopping different new-home developments and various housing styles, though, they bought a rowhouse at The Plaza on New York in Aurora for three reasons, says David.

"One, it's a new house with an attached garage, but at a better price than most single-family houses. Two, it's low-maintenance and I am not handy. Three, no yardwork!" says David of the 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom rowhouse they will move into later this month. A condominium was out of the question, says David, because as renters they are tired of sharing walls and ceilings with neighbors and "hearing their babies cry and doors slam," he says.

"The rowhouse is nothing new, nothing novel," notes Friedman. "But it is appealing to more than the downsizing empty-nesters. It offers the green, walk-to-everything, more urban lifestyle that many buyers want. It's still a niche, but despite the recession, it's selling."

The row house is a good solution to creating more density and limited our footprint in areas and downsizing from super-sized houses.

2 comments:

Matty Lang said...

I do tend to like row houses. I prefer the style that's found in Chicago myself.

Matty Lang said...

Oops. That photo is of Chicago. I meant to say the older style such as is found in neighborhoods like Wicker Park, etc.