70% of Americans live in single-family homes. While it’s likely that that rate is not nearly as high in other countries, the single family detached reisdence is a very much sought after type of home.

A condominium is one home among many that are housed within a building or series of buildings on a given piece of land. Each condominium owner has the title to the unit, meaning that they own the unit.

An apartment is a group of housing units in one building, all owned by one entity. The units are then rented out to tenants. This is the key difference between a condo and an apartment. In a condo, individual entities (i.e. a person or corporation) own each unit, whereas with apartments, all the units in the building are owned by one entity.

A co-op is similar in physical appearance and function as a condo or apartment, but the financial and legal arrangement is quite different. In a co-op, each entity or person who buys in to the co-op doesn’t own a particular unit; instead, they own a percentage of the building. Co-op owners are akin to shareholders of an entire property, and technically lease their unit from the co-op.

A townhome is similar to a row home in that it shares one or two walls with other homes. Townhomes are usually two or three stories tall, but some stand even taller. These homes are different from condos in that owners of a townhome own both the interior and exterior of the unit

The word “bungalow” is derived from an Indian word for small houses, stemming from “Bengali house”. In fact, the bungalow was developed because the cottage style house with thick walls didn’t work in India, with its warm climate.