She means a house built in the “ranch” style, not a ranch with cattle. In some areas a “ranch” is known as a “rambler.” They can definitely be tiny - I grew up in one.
I own a half-duplex condo, which is as close to a single-family house as I could get within 50 miles of Boston. It doesn’t feel like a “condo” at all, which is what I wanted. Of course there are tradeoffs - we have a 2-unit condo association and only two units pay fees, so we do ourselves a lot of the things the association would hire out.
As missbunny said, she means a Ranch House, which is what I have. It’s a one-story house, rather than two floors, which would be called a Colonial or maybe a Split Level or Cape Cod, depending on the exact style. Mine has a basement, however, but some are strictly one floor with no basement.
Rented 'til late last year, now own. We realized that what we were paying in rent for a shitty 2BR apartment was about the same as what our mortgage payments would be for a small house. Given the inflation in housing prices in Northern VA (based on what a couple neighbors have recently sold their houses for, I figure ours is already worth about 10-15% more than we paid - i.e., a lot more than our mortgage rate), it made sense from an investment standpoint. Apart from wanting a yard so I could get a dog, it was a financial decision.
Like JerH I live in Northern Virginia, but I find it more cost-effective to rent: I really, really like my location, and any house around here would mean a significantly higher mortgage payment than my current rent.
I’m 32, single, and rent a townhouse: 3BR, 2 full baths and 2 half baths, fireplace, big wooden patio out back, huge finished basement, etc. I’m responsible for maintaining the postage-stamp lawn and for doing things like cleaning the gutters, but any significant maintenance is taken care of by the property manager (I’ve never met the homeowner, who lives overseas). I sometimes hear some noise from the neighbors on my left, but nothing excessive or that lasts for long; the people on my right just moved in a couple weeks ago, and so far I haven’t heard a peep from them. My homeowner is not scheduled to return to the States for another 2 years, and I plan to stay put for as long as possible.
I will never, ever go back to apartments. (I hate them. :mad: )
When the time does come for me to move, I think that I’d like to look into renting a rancher/rambler. The TH is too big for me, and I’ve discovered that I prefer to have most of my living space on the same floor. I like having the bedrooms upstairs, but would be willing to give that up if I could find someplace with a big enough living room, kitchen, and dining room: I want to be able to bring my keyboard and music stuff upstairs, and bring the computer and desk downstairs. I don’t really need/use the third bedroom, and I’ve surprised myself by not using the fireplace: the chimney sweep told me that it won’t put out much heat, and to me it’s not worth the fuss.
I do see advantages to homeownership, but as long as convenience is a priority I’m happy to keep renting.
We bought our first house in 1993, about 4 years out of college. After 5 years, we sold that one for about a 39% profit and rolled that into the house we live in now. It’s probably appreciated by about 33% too. That’s the reason I’ll never rent again. I never minded the whole rental thing, but the appreciation and equity built when one owns is hard to ignore.
I built my house in 1997 at the tender age of 22. Still there and the value has almost doubled.
We’ll live here for several years more until we can afford a house in the country. I want my horse and dog back (that sounds too much like a country song).