patio home

{{Short description|Form of medium-density housing}}

{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=February 2011}}

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Image:Upper Middle Class Patio Homes.JPG patio home developments feature fully landscaped common areas which are maintained by a subdivision which charges a monthly maintenance fee.]]

A patio home or cluster home is an American house in a suburban setting. It can be a small, freestanding structure very close to the neighbor or part of 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 in which the owner holds a fractional interest in the land throughout the development, or it may be titled as a townhome in which each homeowner holds direct title to the land on which their unit is built. 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.{{cite journal|url=https://www.louisville.com/content/call-condo|title=The Call of the Condo|journal=Louisville Magazine|author=Gomez, Teena Hammond|date=June 2007}}

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,{{cite web|url=http://phoenix.about.com/od/homesandrentals/ss/hometypes.htm|author=Hedding, Judy|accessdate=2007-07-05|title=Definitions of Home Styles in Phoenix Can Be Confusing|publisher=About.com}} or carriage homes.{{cite web|url=http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_architecture_styles/article/0,,hgtv_3664_2973297,00.html|author=McKay, Gretchen|accessdate=2008-04-25|title=Empty-Nesters Flock to Carriage, Patio Homes|publisher=HGTV.com |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080514150848/http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_architecture_styles/article/0,,hgtv_3664_2973297,00.html |archivedate = May 14, 2008}} Most taxing jurisdictions do not have a separate classification for patio homes.

The term was first seen in print in the mid-1970s.{{OED|Patio}} In a more generic sense it may refer to a home with a prominent patio, such as some traditional Mediterranean-style homes.{{cite journal|title=The Evolution of Design Characteristics during the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The US Experience|journal=Journal of Design History|author=Friedman, Avi|volume=8|issue=2|year=1995|pages=140–141|doi=10.1093/jdh/8.2.131}}