Apartment, condo, walkup, flat, townhouse – what are all of these things? Whatâs the difference between them? Can an apartment be a condo? Can a condo be a townhouse? What is a flat anyway?!? There are so many different types of rentals!
In all the years weâve been looking at rentals, weâve seen very little consensus on these definitions, but weâre going to try anyway – perhaps just to settle some debates around the office.
Hereâs our attempt to classify the major categories of rentals. We canât promise your mother or your friend whoâs a real estate agent is going to agree with you, but hereâs what we think. Ready?
Most Common Rental Types:
Apartment
This is where most people live. This is what we all know and love. If you live in an apartment, you have neighbors in the same building – upstairs, next door. Your building may be one story tall or 40, but you still live in an apartment.
Condo
Strictly speaking, condominiums are a particular form of ownership – generally when someone owns a part of a larger building. In the rental market, it generally means two things.
First, the finishes are nicer than average – stainless steel appliances & granite countertops, perhaps, or genuine hardwood floors. Second, the owner is usually an individual who owns just that unit, instead of a person or company who owns the entire building.
You may often see a rental marketed as âCondo specâ – that usually means it may or may not be an actual condo, but it does have fancier finishes – and usually a price to match!
Townhouse
This type of rental is probably tougher than most of these – very little in terms of a definition for a townhouse, unfortunately.
In some places, it means that the rental is in a row of houses that are attached to each other. Often, it means a rental with multiple levels – two or three most typically. It can also mean that the rental has itâs own private outdoor entrance/exit, so you donât have to go through the buildingâs lobby or hallways.
Walkup
In some places, like New York or Chicago, thereâs a ton of two or three story streetfront rentals with stores on the first floor and apartments above. Thatâs usually what walkup means.
Flat
Letâs be honest. If you see someone advertising a âflatâ for rent in the U.S., it generally means they spent some time in the United Kingdom and would like you to know that. Not judging – the U.K. is a wonderful rentersâ market!
Flat is the generic British term for apartment. Itâs hardly used, if at all, in the U.S.
House
Did you know that about one third of the rentals in the U.S. are houses – single family homes? Believe it or not, itâs one of the biggest groups of rental types in the whole country. This part is pretty easy to classifyâŚitâs a house. Not attached to anything else.
Well, there you are â the Dwellsy teamâs attempt to settle the debate over some of the most common terms used to talk about the different types of rentals.
Now, it’s time to go browse Dwellsyâs deep inventory of listings and find your own apartment, condo, house, or townhouse to rent âŚbut no flats on offer here!
Check out these renter tips and then visit Dwellsy.com to find a rental and make it home.