House Hunting: The Tired Townhouse

Another option we checked out was a colonial-style townhouse very close to the Wheaton metro, which was 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and 1,408 square feet. This house was offered at $318,000, and had a monthly condo fee of $260. Wheaton has seen a lot of growth and development recently, and it's a pretty neat neighborhood.

The Pros:

• Under budget
• Close to the Wheaton metro
• Nice neighborhood
• End unit townhouse
• Fenced backyard
• Huge space in basement

The Cons:

• No natural light, despite being an end unit (no windows on the side)
• Outside of the Beltway
• Carpeting on the main level
• Standard apartment-height ceilings
• Parquet floors (I know this is nice for some folks, just not our personal style)

For how close this place was to the metro, this was probably the best value we saw, from what we could tell without an inspection. Although it felt a little dated in places (mirrored closet doors, parquet flooring), it seemed like it was in pretty good shape. With a dog and a kitty in the family, we weren't crazy about the carpeting on the main level, although that was certainly fixable. More problematic is that despite being an end unit, it had very few windows, so the place felt super dark to us. The apartment level ceilings made a nice-sized townhouse feel smaller than it was.