What is a patio home?

Blaze, no, it has nothing to do with having a patio. "Patio home" describes a building style, not a type of ownership, and confusing those two is where people get into trouble. I hold the SRES designation, the Seniors Real Estate Specialist credential, and I see this term most often in downsizing and empty-nester communities, which is exactly where the ownership confusion causes the most damage. The style part is straightforward. A patio home is typically a small-footprint, low-maintenance house, often single level or with the primary bedroom on the main floor, built on a compact lot with an enclosed courtyard or private outdoor area instead of a conventional yard. Many are what builders call zero lot line, meaning one exterior wall sits on or right up against the property line, which is how you get privacy and usable outdoor space on a small parcel. They may be detached or share a wall. In western Pennsylvania you will hear patio home; a hundred miles away the same product is sold as a villa, a garden home, a courtyard home or a carriage home. Same idea, different marketing. Here is what actually matters, and what nobody has told you yet: the label tells you nothing about what you would own. The same "patio home" sign can sit in front of four completely different legal arrangements: Fee simple with your own lot, no association at all. You own the dirt, you handle everything. Fee simple with a mandatory maintenance association. You own the house and lot, but the association handles landscaping, snow removal and often the roof and exterior, and you pay dues for it. Condominium ownership, where you own the interior airspace and an undivided interest in the common area, and the association owns the structure. This looks identical from the curb and is a very different asset. Planned unit development, which is a hybrid with its own allocation of responsibility. So the question to ask is never "is this a patio home." It is: what does the deed convey, what does the association maintain, what do I maintain, and what are the dues and the reserve balance. That answer is in the recorded documents for that specific development, and no general definition can substitute for reading them. Practical checklist when you look at one in the Greensburg area: Ask for the CC&Rs, the bylaws, the current budget, and the reserve study. The reserve study is the one people skip and it is the one that predicts whether you are facing a special assessment for roofs in four years. Ask specifically who is responsible for the roof, siding, windows and the courtyard walls. Those four items produce most patio home disputes. Ask whether the community is age restricted. Some patio home developments are 55 and over and some are not, and the marketing brochure is not the authority. The recorded documents are. Age restriction also affects who you can sell to later, which is the part buyers never think about going in. Ask what the dues have done over the last five years. A flat dues history in an inflationary period usually means the reserve is being starved, not that the board is thrifty. My name is Zoltan Peresztegi, SRES, and I work in Los Angeles, the South Bay and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where the same product is usually called a villa or a detached condo, so I am not your Westmoreland County agent. If you want an introduction to a strong local agent who can pull those association documents for you before you get emotionally attached to a floor plan, message me and I will make one. Zoltan

A patio home is a single-family dwelling—often attached or built on a "zero-lot-line"—that is typically one to one-and-a-half stories high. Designed for low-maintenance living, these homes feature small yards, a private courtyard, or a patio, and are generally managed by an HOA that handles exterior upkeep and landscaping. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Real Estate Operations in ALL 50 States

The patio homes I am familiar with in the Myrtle Beach area have a small patio on the side of the home, under 2000 square feet have, no rear exit and very limited yard space. Many of them are also sold as maintenance free.

Patio homes are also detached, single-family homes, but with smaller yards. These compact backyards are perfect for creating patios, giving rise to the name, patio homes. A patio home is often a low maintenence detached home that is built upon a concrete slab versus a crawl space, and they usually have a fenced patio in lieu of a yard.

Hey Blaze, from my understanding it means an attached home, also know as carriage homes, garden homes, cluster homes, and courtyard homes.