Shopping for a home these days almost requires a graduate degree in real estate terminology.
The words that describe residences can be bewildering and even contradictory. For example, would you say that a villa is a palatial mansion on the French Riviera, or is it a fancy name for a condo? What is a volume ceiling? A great room? A palladian window? An entertainment zone?
What`s the difference between a rowhouse and a townhouse, between an attached single-family home and a detached single family home, between a custom house and a semi-custom house?
What follows is a glossary of some of the words that should aid buyers-especially first-timers-in wending their way through the housing market maze. In compiling the list, help was provided by architects, builders and real estate agents.
Let`s first take a look at architectural designs. Homes may be in one of these styles:
Bungalow. An American classic, a one-story home with a gently pitched roof, an open or screened porch and a chimney of cobblestones or rough-faced brick.
Cape Cod. A 1 1/2-story New England cottage with shingled or clapboard siding.
French chateau. A castle-like residence characterized by steeply pitched roofs, turrets, tall chimneys and a massive appearance.
Colonial. Typical of homes built during America`s Colonial period. However, in the current housing market it is usually a two-story, often with columns at the entrance, and built of brick and horizontal siding.
Georgian. Yesteryear`s move-up mansion. A style from England that denotes wealth and power. With a formal, symmetrical facade and classical details, the Georgian in the 18th Century represented a higher style than earlier Colonial homes.
Greek Revival. A temple-like appearance with classic Greek columns, it was extensively used in Southern plantation mansions.
Italiante. An almost square two- or three-story home with a low-pitched roof, frequently topped with a cupola, and very wide eaves.
Prairie style. Developed by Frank Lloyd Wright and other Chicago area architects, it was inspired by the flat prairies of the Midwest and is characterized by low, horizontal lines with bands of windows and a low-pitched roof with projecting eaves.
Queen Anne. What most people call Victorian, these homes are asymmetrical with towers, turrets, gables, porches, encircling verandas and gingerbread decoration.
Tudor. Distinguised by exterior walls with half-timber construction, massive chimneys, arches and high-peaked roofs. Tudor has its roots in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance in England, and is regaining popularity in modified forms.
Today`s housing falls into two basic categories-single-family and multifamily. But myriad subcategories often blur the distinctions between the two. In the single-family homes, you may run across these types:
Ranch. Basic shelter. A simple and convenient one-level home.
Bi-level. As the name suggests, it has two levels, usually with the living room, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms on the upper level, and a family room and garage on the lower level. It also is called a raised ranch.
Split-level. This type also can be called a tri-level. It often has the living room, dining room and kitchen on the main level. A half-flight of stairs takes you to the bedrooms on the upper level. The family room is on the lower level.
Clustered homes. Separate homes built surrounding a cul-de-sac. They have small yards in front but the pie-shaped lots open up in the rear, providing large back yards.
Single-family detached and attached homes. The traditional home is single-family detached; that is, a residence standing alone on one lot. But gaining popularity in more densely populated areas is the single-family attached home, a grouping of homes with a common wall.
Custom home. A unique home built at a buyer`s request, usually a top-of-the-line residence with an original architectural design.
Semi-custom home. A stock plan may be used, but it is customized for the individual buyer.
Fee simple. Not a type of house, but a term used to describe that the homeowner owns the land on which the dwelling is built.
This brings us to multifamily dwellings, which have spawned a whole new vocabulary of housing terms. Words are coined to aid in marketing. Builders think, for example, that calling a condo apartment an ”Arbor home” will make it seem more appealing and therefore sell faster. Adding to the confusion, though, is that different builders don`t always agree on what the same word means.
There are two major multifamily categories: condominiums and townhouses.
Condominium. In popular opinion, it is a large building with many private apartments. The public rooms and exterior areas of condos are maintained by a condo association, composed of residents. However, any home sold as interior space only is technically a condominium.
Townhouse. Units attached side-by-side in a one- or two-story building with no residences above or below. A fee simple home, usually with its own front and back yard.
Rowhouse. Very similar to townhouses. But rowhouses are, obviously, in a straight row, whereas townhouses can be in various configurations.
Arbor home. A condo unit on one floor.
Carriage home. Often grouped in clusters, these condo units often are built above garages, such as in horse-and-buggy days when a residence was located above a stable.
Manor home. A two-story condo, with units stacked atop each other and sharing a common entrance.
Coach home. Virtually the same as a manor home.
Villa. In marketing terms, this is not a palatial pad on the French Riviera. Rather, it`s a condo-type building, often with two floors.
Garden home. Two single-family homes attached by a common wall, sold fee simple. Each has its own yard and, presumably, a garden.
Estate home. Many consider an estate home to be a grand residence on a lot that`s a half-acre or larger. But the term also has been used in recent years to describe single-family homes that aren`t of mansion size, or to describe expensive multifamily units.
Duplex, triplex, quadplex, fourplex. Designations for attached housing units. A duplex is two units, etc.
Taking a close look at exterior design elements of a residence, you may notice such popular features as:
Cedar shake roof. A cedar-shingled roof with a bark-like quality. Found on many of today`s upscale homes.
Hip roof. A roof sloped on four sides.
Mansard roof. A roof with a double slope, the lower being longer and steeper than the upper.
Dormer. A window popping out of a sloping roof with a roof of its own. Frequently found in attic rooms.
Gable. The triangular upper portion of a wall topped by a pitched roof.
Bay window. A multi-sided window extending out from an exterior wall.
Palladian window. Also called a Venetian window, it has a half-circle top.
Elevation. The facade of a particular home.
Moving inside, you may see myriad types of ceilings and other features.
Beamed ceiling. Wooden beams provide a rustic look.
Cathedral ceiling. A pointed ceiling.
Coffered ceiling. Ornamental panels recessed in the ceiling.
Tray ceiling. Decoration with the appearance of an inverted tray.
Vaulted ceiling. An angled ceiling.
Volume ceiling. Any ceiling that is higher than the normal 8-foot standard.
Wood windows. Not windows without glass, but rather windows with wood frames.
Furniture-quality cabinets. Wood construction, but not the best quality.
Oversize tub. Anything bigger than the standard 5-foot-long tub. Many fall into the two-bathers-or-more whirlpool category.
Fully applianced kitchen. Includes a range and oven, dishwasher, disposer and sometimes a microwave. A refrigerator is usually not included.
Florida room or sunroom. Usually with a southern exposure, it has many windows. In super-insulated houses, a sunroom is used as a collector of heat, which is then circulated throughout the house.
Great room. A large open area with no walls that includes a family room
(often with a fireplace) and the kitchen.
Privacy zone. The sector of a home where the bedrooms and bathrooms are located.
Entertainment zone. The social areas of a residence-living room, dining room and family room or great room.
