Luxury attached homes offer amenities, advantages

If you're looking for all the perks in a home that requires less of your time for maintenance, this is your week.

The Daily Herald's Fall Home Show concludes with new attached homes base priced at $250,000 or higher. A few have base prices close to $1 million.

Such homes might be apartment-style condo buildings, townhouses or duplexes.

Generally buyers hope for a little more in an attached home than they could get in a single-family house for the same price.

It could be a more convenient or prestigious location, more square footage or finer finishes. Or all of the above.

No matter where they fall in the price range, buyers of these homes are usually looking for less maintenance than they would have with a single-family house.

This allows for time away for vacations or business without the worries of caring for a home.

These homeowners do not want to give anything up -- and they want to feel like they're living in a single-family house, said Candi Hartwig, director of sales for Jacobs Homes, which is building Chelsey Crossing in Gurnee.

Hartwig said one advantage of the community is the number of trees, which usually aren't found in new developments. The property was formerly a nursery.

In this home sales market, buyers also like the option of moving right into Chelsey Crossing instead of having to wait.

Chris Nickel, senior project manager for Bloomingdale Walk in Bloomingdale, said buyers of these attached homes want a little variety.

One surprise is the opportunity to select their own home front, a choice often not available in attached houses.

A third floor is also an option in these two-story homes, and owners might finish these as media rooms or offices, he said.

Builder Toll Brothers also provides luxuries like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, Nickel said.

The homes start at $469,975, and basements are included.