Michael T. Burns

The question was posed, what is a “Twin Home”?  I have decieded to take this chance to define the common types of homes in Utah.

“Single Family Home” - This is the traditional freestanding house.  It often includes a one or more car garage.

“Twin Home” - This is the same as a single family home, but features a “Zero lot line” meaning that the wall the houses share IS the lot line.  This results in two homes attached to one another even though each has a seperate yard.  You will often see a fence in the back yard that comes right to the middle of the building.

“Mobile Home” - Also known as the “Manufactured” home.  This is completely built offsite and trucked to the lot.  It may have more than one peice, which are joined on the lot.  Most of these are located in “mobile home parks” where you own the unit, but rent the lot.  There are some on their own property, but cities have become much more restrictive about allowing these

“Town Home” - This is actually a style of home.  Usually two stories, attached to the neighboring homes.  This looks like a “Row house” in other parts of the country.  These properties are either set up as a PUD or a condo.

“Condo” - If referencing the style of home often means a multi-story building where each unit is a portion of one level.  More importantly this is a type of ownership.

“Condo” - This is a form of ownership in which the owner of a unit officially owns from the paint on the walls and ceiling inward.  In reality you own the airspace of your unit exclusively, and have an undivided ownership with all the other members of the condo association.

“PUD” - This form of ownership results each owner of each unit owning their structure as well as the ground it sits on, or possibly a slightly larger piece than the actual structure.  Sometimes these developments have an association and share many practical similarities with condos.  The difference is in the way the property needs to be insured.

I hope this helps