Patio home

Many suburban upper-middle class patio home developments feature fully landscaped common areas which are maintained by a subdivision who charge a monthly maintenance fee.

A billboard advertisement for patio homes in suburban Houston, Texas

A patio home is an American term for a type of housing, also called a cluster home. The term tends to imply a suburban setting and a unit of several houses attached to each other, typically with shared walls between units, and with exterior maintenance and landscaping provided through an association fee. Not all of these elements are present in all buildings called patio homes, as the term is used somewhat generically by the real estate industry.

The building may actually be a condo when the building's owner does not own the land, or it may be sold in fee simple. Targeted buyers are primarily those who do not want to be bothered by external maintenance typically associated with home ownership, sometimes because they only live in the patio home for part of the year.^[1]

There is not usually a legal definition of a patio home, and some houses called patio homes may alternatively be marketed as townhouses, garden homes, twin homes,^[2] or carriage homes.^[3] Most taxing jurisdictions do not have a separate classification for patio homes.

The term was first seen in print in the mid-1970s.^[4] In a more generic sense it may refer to a home with a prominent patio, such as some traditional Mediterranean-style homes.^[5]

References

1. ^ Gomez, Teena Hammond (June 2007). "The Call of the Condo" (^{[dead link]} – ^{Scholar search}). Louisville Magazine. http://www.louisville.com/loumag/articledisplay.aspx?id=60207875. 
2. ^ Hedding, Judy. "Definitions of Home Styles in Phoenix Can Be Confusing". About.com. http://phoenix.about.com/od/homesandrentals/ss/hometypes.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-05. 
3. ^ McKay, Gretchen. "Empty-Nesters Flock to Carriage, Patio Homes". HGTV.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080514150848/http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_architecture_styles/article/0,,hgtv_3664_2973297,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-25. 
4. ^ "Patio". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
5. ^ Friedman, Avi (1995). "The Evolution of Design Characteristics during the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The US Experience". Journal of Design History 8 (2): 140–141. doi:10.1093/jdh/8.2.131.