Most people start a home search with a community in mind. The search usually goes better when you also know what kind of home you want, because a bungalow in Wildwood and a townhome in Killarney are two different purchases with two different sets of questions, even at the same price. This page is the short version of each one, with the trade-off stated plainly, and a link to the full guide when you want to go deeper.
We’ve sold every one of these across Calgary and the towns around it, on both the buying side and the listing side, and the guides below come from that rather than from a template.
Find yours
- You want one level, a lot you own or nearly own, and an inner-city street: bungalows.
- You want most of the feel of a house without the price of one: townhomes.
- You are done with stairs and yard work and want lock-and-leave: villas.
- You want land, quiet and a well: acreages.
- You are looking for value and can live with a slower, stranger process: foreclosures.
- You want a house on its own lot in an established community: detached homes.
- You want new construction on an inner-city street: infills.
- You want to walk to work and let someone else shovel: condos.
Side by side, before you go deeper:
| Home type | Who it suits | The trade-off | Condo fee? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | Families who want a yard and no shared decisions | Price and upkeep: every roof and furnace is yours | No |
| Condo | Walkable living and no shovelling; downsizers | The reserve fund and minutes decide it | Yes |
| Townhome | First-time buyers, young families, young professionals | Shared walls and shared decisions with a board | Usually |
| Bungalow | One level, a real yard, thinking long term about the lot | Age: older wiring, plumbing and windows | No |
| Infill | Buyers who want new and want the inner city | Often bought from plans; the builder matters most | Rarely |
| Villa | Downsizers, snowbirds, lock-and-leave | Architectural controls on changes | Often |
| Acreage | Families who want space and are honest about the drive | The drive, plus a well, septic and county rules | No |
| Foreclosure | Patient buyers with flexible timing and financing in place | As is, less disclosure, not always a bargain | Depends |
House styles you’ll see on Calgary listings
Listings describe a home by its style as well as its type, and the style tells you a lot about when the house was built and where it sits. These are the ones you’ll see most.
Bungalow. One main floor over a full basement. Very common across the inner city, where most went up in the 1940s to 1960s, and usually the most lot for the money.
Split-level. Floors staggered half a level apart, including the four-level split. You’ll find plenty of these in the inner city too, mixed in with the bungalows.
Bi-level. You come in at a landing and go half a flight up to the main floor or half a flight down to the lower level, which gets big windows. More common in the communities built outside the inner city.
One-and-a-half storey. A second floor tucked under the roof, with sloped ceilings upstairs. Mostly older character homes.
Two-storey. Historically the standard in the communities built outside the inner city. In the inner city they arrive as infills, which is why so many streets have a new two-storey next to a 1950s bungalow.
Bungalows
One level, a real yard, and the lot is the real purchase.
Most inner-city communities built between 1940 and 1970 are full of them, so the real variable is not the house, it’s the lot. The oldest communities like Ramsay, Inglewood and Sunnyside sit on smaller lots. The 1950s estate communities like Wildwood, Britannia and Lakeview Village sit on bigger ones. Josh lives in a 1954 corner bungalow in Wildwood, which is why the guide is blunt about walking the block before you write an offer: he lost part of a west view to an infill across the street.
Who they suit: people who want one level and a real yard, renovators, and anyone thinking long term about the land. The trade-off is age. Sixty-year-old wiring, plumbing and windows are part of the purchase, and the inspection matters more here than almost anywhere. The bungalows guide covers the lot-size map, renovation versus rebuild, and why adjacent bungalows sit on the most valuable land in the inner city.
If your question is the suite in the basement rather than the house itself, start with secondary suites in Calgary.
Townhomes
Most of the feel of a house, at a price a detached home cannot match.
The entry point to a lot of inner-city communities. You get two or three floors, often a small yard and a garage, and a price a detached house can’t match. What most listings don’t tell you is that a townhome can be a conventional condo, a bareland condo or a freehold, and that decides your fee, who fixes the roof, and how your lender sees it.
Who they suit: first-time buyers, young families and young professionals, and they stay longer than they planned. The trade-off is shared walls and shared decisions. The condo board’s track record is part of what you’re buying, and a thin reserve fund shows up later as a special assessment. The townhomes guide explains the three kinds of ownership, what fees pay for, and how to read a complex from the curb before you see the documents. If it’s between a townhome and a condo, our townhouse vs condo post compares what each one costs a month.
Villas
Single-level living, lock-and-leave, built for the years after the kids move out.
The word gets stretched on the MLS. Roughly half of what sells as a villa is a semi-detached half-duplex and half is a row townhouse. What makes it a villa is the main floor: bedroom, laundry and living all on one level, with a developed basement for the grandkids. Some complexes are age-restricted, most are open to anyone, and plenty carry no condo fee at all.
Who they suit: downsizers, snowbirds and anyone who wants to leave for six months and not think about the roof. The trade-off is the architectural controls. Clients of ours wanted a fence so the dog could be off leash and the bylaws said no, and nobody had asked before writing the offer. The villas guide names the complexes, the price bands and the document checks.
Acreages
Land and quiet within an hour of the city, with a well and a septic tank to understand first.
Land, quiet and room for the dog, usually within about an hour of the city. It’s a different purchase from a city home because you’re also buying the well, the septic system and the county’s rules, and none of those show up in a condo document. Both of us hold the Certified Rural Home Specialist designation for that reason.
Who they suit: families who want space and are honest about the drive. That drive is the trade-off. A family we worked with left the west end for Bragg Creek, the kids hated the commute, and they moved back, which is why Josh asks about the kids before anyone writes an offer. The acreages guide covers water, septic, road access and what a real property report means out there.
Foreclosures
Often turnkey homes, sold through a process most buyers have never seen.
Not the disrepair people picture. Many are well-kept, turnkey homes sold because someone hit hard financial times, and Art has been selling them since 2008, including several years on contract to CMHC. The process is the strange part: a court or a lender is the seller, there is far less disclosure than a normal sale, and some sales run on sealed bids.
Who they suit: buyers with patience, flexible timing and financing already in place. The trade-off is that you buy as is, sometimes without a proper look inside, and the price is not always the bargain the word suggests. The foreclosures guide explains the three kinds of sale and how a bid works.
The five types above get their own guides because the type decides the questions. For the three below, which are most of what we sell, the community decides the questions, so the short version is here and the detail lives in the community guides.
Detached homes
Your own walls, your own lot, and the community sets the price.
This is the bulk of what sells in the inner city, from 1950s originals to full rebuilds. The same detached house is a different purchase in Killarney than in Altadore, because the lot, the age of the neighbours’ homes and what is being built around you change the number and the risk. Who they suit: families who want a yard and no shared decisions. The trade-off is price and upkeep, and every roof, furnace and sewer line is yours. Start with the community, then the house.
Infills
New construction on an old street, at the top of the price range.
Semi-detached, rowhouse and single-family infills are what replaces the original bungalows, and they now outprice the older detached stock in Bridgeland and Killarney. Who they suit: buyers who want new and want the inner city, and builders looking at lots. The trade-off is that you are often buying from plans, and the builder matters more than the finishes. If you are buying the lot rather than the house, our land and builders page covers assemblies and what the rezoning changes mean.
Condos
The walkable option, and the one where the documents matter most.
Most inner-city first-time buyers start in the Beltline, Lower Mount Royal and Mission, and the condo is often the way in. Who they suit: people who want to walk to work and let someone else shovel, and downsizers who want the lock-and-leave without the villa price. The trade-off is the corporation. The reserve fund study and the minutes decide the purchase more than the kitchen does, and the condo closing costs guide covers the fees that surprise people. Every condo on the market right now is in our property search.
Questions about Calgary home types
A bi-level has two levels: you come in at a landing and go half a flight up to the main floor or half a flight down to the lower one. A split-level has three or four levels staggered half a floor apart, so the living space is spread across more short flights of stairs.
A condo is a type of ownership, and a townhouse is a building shape. A townhouse can be a conventional condo, a bareland condo or a freehold with no condo fee, and that decides your fee, who fixes the roof and how your lender sees it.
A single-level home, usually a half-duplex or a row townhouse, with the bedroom, laundry and living space all on the main floor. Some complexes are age-restricted, most are open to anyone, and plenty carry no condo fee at all.
If you’re not sure which of these you are, that’s a normal place to start. Tell us what you’re weighing and we’ll walk you through it. If you’re selling one of them, a free home evaluation is the easiest first step. More than three quarters of our business comes from past clients and the people they send us, and that starts with getting this first conversation right.