Oakville Property Definitions

We've put together a guide to Oakville property definitions as when searching for a home to buy it’s always a good idea to know exactly what you’re looking for. Knowing what all the real estate terms mean, especially when you’re a first time home buyer, can be challenging, and it’s easy for us agents to forget that not everyone knows what the terms we use mean!

Houses, Condos, Apartments

When you’re starting out on a home search you may be tempted to say you’re looking for a house, but the question is, what kind of house are you looking for?! A house is simply the general term for a building that you live in so we need to get more specific when we conduct a home search for you. So here goes with some of the most common Oakville property definitions…

Detached Home – a detached house is one that stands alone on its own lot. There are no other homes or buildings attached on either side so you could argue that detached homes give you a greater amount of privacy than other home types. There are many detached homes in Oakville, from mansions on vast lots to attractive family homes on more compact sized lots.

Semi-Detached Home – a home that’s semi-detached means it is attached to another house on just one side. So on one side you have another home, while the other side of the house has an external wall with no other property adjoining it.

Link Attached Home – homes that are link attached are often essentially detached homes but they may share just a small amount of common external wall with the neighbouring property. For example, maybe the garage is attached to the neighbour’s garage.

Duplex – a duplex can resemble a detached home from the outside but inside it has been split (or was purpose-built this way) into two single-family homes, one located above the other.

Townhouse – you can call them townhomes, row houses, or townhouses, it means the same thing. A townhouse will usually be one of several identical or similar looking homes standing in a row and they are all attached together, sharing common walls. Townhouses are very popular as a more affordable alternative to detached homes.

Bungalow – bungalows can be detached or semi-detached but what sets them apart from other homes is that everything is on one level: the living room, kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms are all on one floor. Of course, a bungalow can also have a basement that provides extra living space.

Two-storey – different to bungalows, two-storey homes have a ground floor where the living areas area, and an upper floor with the bedrooms. Often these will have basements too.

So those are the Oakville property definitions for the types of homes most commonly found in the town, and below are a few more definitions you may find helpful when buying real estate:

Title – this refers to your ownership of the land. With a freehold title you have exclusive ownership of the land and the building on it for an indefinite period (i.e. until you sell it). A leasehold title gives you the right to occupy and use the land and building for a specific period, which can be extended on agreement of the leasehold owner and yourself.

Condominium – also known as strata, this is a different kind of ownership in that you own your personal unit plus a share in common areas of the overall development, be it a townhouse, high-rise, or low-rise.

If there are any Oakville property definitions you’re unsure of, or that we haven’t covered here, please send us your question and we’ll happily respond.

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