Single Family Homes: EXPLAINED

Family with their new home, early 1900s | Source: State Archives of Florida

Imagine yourself back in kindergarten art class and your teacher just instructed you to draw a picture of a home.  

You put your crayon on paper and start with a square, followed by a triangle roof, then a door, and a couple of windows. If you wanted to go for the gold star, you may have drawn a sidewalk with flowers growing along the side.  

Although the word “home” can take on different forms for everyone, we likely all share a common vision of what a conventional home might look like.  

The technical definition of a single-family home is a bit ambiguous and may change depending on the institution from which you get your information. The most common factors that lead to defining a single-family home are whether the home can function solely on its own (structurally and day-to-day), and the status of ownership. 

Whether or not the home can function structurally on its own simply means that it’s constructed on its own foundation and isn’t receiving support from another structure. Day-to-day functions include operational utilities such as electricity, well & septic, and even garbage collection. If it’s a single-family home, these utilities are billed individually to each home. 

The other aspect to define a single-family home is the status of ownership. Not only will the buyer own the physical structure, but the parcel of land the home is built on as well. This is important to note when considering the appreciation of the property over time. There are so many benefits to owning a single-family home but we’ll dive into deeper detail in another blog post! 

If you’re looking to transition to a single-family home in Southwest Florida, let us know how Kanopy can help!