47 Types of Investment Properties in the USA – Which Should You Buy?

There are as many as 47 types of investment properties in the USA that people sleep every night for a newbie property investor.

Most of us live in apartments or condos in Singapore and Malaysia.

Some live in big, tall modern buildings with a resort-like environment.

In the USA, life there is just different.

“HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS”

What’s the difference?

Architectural styles dictate the style in which the home is built around the world.

There are many such styles.

These are usually based on a geographical location, for example, the Mediterranean, Ranch, or Skyscraper Condominiums.

Types of building structures are a more accurate representation of the “types of houses” rather than the houses’ style.

When you flip through a USA-based building magazine, you may be excited to think that you want to live in a particular house style.

Or maybe you may be overwhelmed with the variety available if you want to start a house-flipping business.

What should you look for when there are so many different kinds of houses with diverse prices?

While many people search for houses, they look for different architectural styles instead of other residential building structures.

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Types of Investment Properties in the USA

There are four types of real estate and numerous architectural styles of buildings.

Residential Real Estate.

Residential real estate includes both new construction and resale homes.

The most common category is single-family homes and includes

• Condominiums
• co-ops
• townhouses
• duplexes
• triple-deckers
• quadplexes
• high-value homes
• multi-generational and
• vacation homes.

Commercial real estate

• shopping centers
• strip malls, medical
• educational buildings
• hotels
• offices

Even when used for residences, Apartment buildings are often considered commercial as income-generating assets for the owner.

Industrial real estate

• manufacturing buildings and property
• warehouses
• buildings used for research, production, storage, and distribution of goods.

Classifying structures that distribute goods as commercial real estate because the zoning, construction, and sales are handled differently.

Land

• vacant land
• working farms
• ranches

The subcategories within vacant land include undeveloped, early development or reuse, subdivision, and site assembly.

Investment Properties Structure Type

Let’s look at the Types of Houses by Structure Type in alphabetical order in the American context.

With this, we are only looking at Residential real estate in the USA.

Type 1 – Apartment

An apartment in an individual home within one large building is often called an apartment block.

Apartment blocks are typically owned by a single company, developer, or corporation. Each apartment is rented by the person living there.

Young professionals like apartments as it is relatively cheaper to rent than to buy a detached house.

Type 2 – Bungalow

Unlike the grand bungalows in Singapore and Malaysia, the original houses mean a small, square, single-story home.

The single floor is raised with front steps leading to a veranda, a covered area to sit at the front and back.

Often there’s a single dormer window built into a pitched roof in the attic.

Type 3 – Cabin

A cabin connotes simple, rustic, and minimalist dwellings often found in rural areas.

Traditionally, a cabin in the woods is a log-built structure with bare finishing.

Type 4 – Caravan

A caravan is commonly called a trailer in America.

Americans use a mobile home for a short-term stay or travel around the country.

A caravan is a vehicle pulled behind a car or truck used to go on holiday.

Many retirees are selling their homes and living in caravans due to rising living costs.

Sometimes they will travel around the country before settling down in a new place.

Type 5 – Castle

Castles are large fortified old buildings and the private homes of a lord or noble.

Many castles are made with thick vertical outer stone walls surrounded by a water circle called a moat.

The iconic Cinderella Castle is the fairy tale castle at Disney theme parks, visited by over 1 million people per year.

Type 6 – Carriage/Coach house

A carriage house or a coach house is an outbuilding initially built to house horse-drawn carriages.

The primarily British term is mews describes a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above.

Built around London during the 17th and 18th centuries, the mews are alongside a street, a paved yard, or a court.

Type 7 – Cave

Those seeking to minimize the environment’s impact have built homes in naturally occurring caves or inbuilt structures underground or above the ground level.

Rocks can shelter some of these houses from behind, making them look like half-cave homes.

Some cultures created cities that were a massive series of beautiful cave homes.

Type 8 – Chalet

Traditional Alpine or Swiss chalets are now famous vacation homes in the mountains of Switzerland.

The characteristics of a chalet include a steep roof and deep overhangs designed for handling piles of snow.

Type 9 – Château

A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally in French-speaking regions.

Type 10 – Condominium or Condo

In the USA, a condominium is a style of apartment that is individually owned.

Each owner has a title to the inside of the unit. The unit is called a parcel with shared common areas.

The Condo owner has the right to use common areas, like the swimming pool, gym, or tennis court.

Each condo owner can buy and sell their condo, which is different from an apartment, where a single individual or a company owns the entire building.

Condominiums are trendy in the cities where they can live close to their work as houses are too expensive to buy.

Type 11 – Container Home

A recent development in home construction and design uses existing Steel intermodal containers (shipping containers) as the home’s main structure.

Tiny homes use one container, while larger homes use multiple containers to configure them in various ways.

Some companies specialize in designing and creating more eco-friendly containers than traditional homes built from brick and cement.

Type 12 – Cooperative aka Co-op

A co-op is similar in function and physical appearance to a condo and apartment.

With a co-op, each of the multiple residents of the multi-unit housing complex owns a percentage share of the building akin to the entire property shareholders.

Each resident is given the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit. Technically they lease their unit from the co-op association.

A co-op association (composed of co-op members) can reject a prospective buyer from buying into the building.

Type 13 – Cottage

Cottages are tiny old-fashioned houses often found in the countryside.

England-style cottages have their signature look of a small single-room home with thick stone or brick walls, a thatched roof.

Some wealthy people prefer to refer to their vacation properties as “the cottage,” which downplays a luxurious vacation home.

Type 14 – Dormitory/Dorm

Dormitories-style accommodations are standard on college and university campuses.

These are individual rooms within a large building. Students share a dorm with a roommate.

The bathroom, kitchen, and standard rooms are also shared.

Students love living in the dormitory because of all the parties they had.

Type 15 – Duplex

A duplex has two homes built with less than one roof, similar to a semi-detached house.

Some duplexes used to be one house but were split into two homes.

It can be separated by a party wall, dividing the building into two homes, or someone could take the entire ground floor and the first floor.

Duplexes are often cheaper than single-family homes because they cost less to build.

However, there is an issue of privacy and noise to consider when living in a duplex.

Type 16 – Farmhouse

The farmhouse is traditionally built in the countryside, on large land used for farming or raising animals.

A farmhouse is located away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Type 17 – Flat

A flat is the British English version of an apartment. See the apartment for more details.

Type 18 – Fort

A fort is a military structure built to defend and house military personnel.

A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare.

It is also used to solidify rules in a region during peacetime.

The term is derived from the Latin Fortis and facere.

Type 19 – Hotel

A hotel is where you rent a room to sleep every night when traveling for work or a holiday.

Each guest room has an attached bathroom and a bed for sleeping.

Companies pay for their staff’s hotel room and meals when they have to travel for work.

Type 20 – Houseboat

A houseboat is a boat that was designed or modified as a floating building where people live.

As the name suggests, a houseboat is part house, part boat.

Not all houseboats are motorized. Some are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point.

The houseboat is tethered to land to provide utilities.

Type 21 – Hut

A hut is a straightforward one-story house, often built with cheap materials.

With the new travel trend, some of these huts are converted to Glamping Pods for relaxation in the woods.

The Glamping Pods provide the creature comforts of two twin beds, a private shower/toilet, microwave, and refrigerator.

Type 22 – Igloo

Igloos are buildings made out of ice and snow with an easily recognizable round dome-like shape.

These ice buildings keep the people inside them warm by using the occupants’ body heat to warm the air.

Closer in North America, the Hotel de Glace is the only ice hotel made of ice and snow with temperatures between 23 and 27 degrees Fahrenheit.

Igloo hotels feature the most unique and unforgettable room stays.

Guests at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Lapland in Finland can sleep in glass igloos under the Arctic sky and experience the magical wonder of the Northern Lights from the comfort of their bed.

Type 23 – Lighthouse

These coastal nighttime guardians with a proud history of keeping ships out of harm’s way have been turned into hostel accommodations in America.

Check out Saugerties Lighthouse, Saugerties, New York, where guests can relax in the early 20th century interiors.

Type 24 – Lodge

A lodge is a small building near the gates of a large estate or piece of land, often used as a guard’s house.

Presently, lodges are also halls for groups to meet. Some lodges have been converted to charming Bed and Breakfast properties.

Type 25 – Log Cabin/Log Homes

Log Cabins, if build right, can last for hundreds of years.

These buildings are tiny structures found in the forests or woods.

They’re made almost entirely out of wood or large logs.

Log homes are often called “green homes” as these homes are made from logs, renewable resources.

Type 26 – Manor

A manor is the English version of a chateau and is a large private house in the country, usually built in the Middle Ages.

Affluent international buyers are looking for luxury real estate in the USA, including Manors, Mansions, and other premium properties.

Some listing includes historic luxury homes and old mansions in estates.

Type 27 – Mansion

Enter the world of the fabulously rich and celebrities.

You will see large, impressive regal estate homes of the wealthy person, with at least 8,000 square feet of floor space.

These mansions and mega-mansions on the Los Angeles market have asking prices of over $100 million!

Type 28 – McMansion

McMansion is a sprawling, often architecturally mish-mashed “mass-produced” home in suburban communities.

These opulent buildings are constructed with low-quality materials and craftsmanship to invoke wealth or taste.

Often with poorly imagined exterior and interior design, these buildings boast several thousand square feet of a mishmash of architectural symbolism of different eras hastily put together.

The typical foreclosed McMansion is not considered a sound investment.

Nothing symbolizes prerecession excess and serves as reminders of what could happen when people try to live beyond their means.

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Type 29 – Mobile Home

A mobile home is a prefabricated factory-built structure on a permanently attached steel chassis with wheels.

It is transported to the site and used as permanent living accommodation.

Mobile homes are often cited in land lease communities for a more permanent residence.

Type 30 – Motel

A motel is a hotel designed for motorists to rest while making long road trips.

Motels are located close to a major road or highway and usually have a parking area for motor vehicles.

Typically, these are a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot.

Several historic motels are listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Some older restored American Motels have gone from kitsch to cutting-edge real estate investments.

Type 31 – Multi-Family Home

A multi-family home has two or more housing units and sometimes includes an attached In-law suite.

A multifamily real estate property is a great investment as you can rent it out to generate income.

You could also sell it as a fix-and-flip to earn an immediate profit.

Type 32 – Palace

A palace is a large and impressive building, a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary.

The word is derived from the Latin name Palatium, for Palatine Hill in Rome, which housed the Imperial residences.

The only palaces in the United States are those of the Hawaiian Royal Family and those of the royal governors while the United States was under the British Empire’s rule.

What is the most common house style in America?

When it comes to the national favorite, over 34 states claim that they prefer to live in a ranch home.

Ranch homes beat Modern Home, the second-favorite style by more than double.

When it comes to getting the Types of Investment Properties in the USA, remember this.

Americans love single-story living.

Foreign investors are somewhat surprised to know this is what Americans prefer rather than the condominium-style popular in Asia.

Type 33 – Ranch-Style

A ranch-style home is a single-story home with a larger, rectangular footprint as compared to a bungalow.

Ranchers grew in popularity in the 1950s as vast land tracts were turned into suburbs with larger plots than the typical urban properties.

Growing families typically look for two-story homes, so the resale market is likely to be smaller.

Ranch houses are back in demand as baby boomers age and are left as empty nesters.

These ranch-style houses are the perfect and cost-effective home because of their single floor, which serves the multiple functions of a living room, dining room, kitchen, and bedrooms.

Many people identify a small ranch home with the Kent Farm in Smallville, Kansas as the home of Clark Kent (Superman).

Type 34 – Semi-Detached House

Semi-detached houses are an uncommon property type in the USA. Research shows that due to lifestyle preferences, renters rather live in detached homes.

Type 35 – Shack

A shack is a small building often put together loosely with left-over or cheap materials.

A shack is similar to a hut or cabin.

What makes a shack different is that it is often made with modern materials like wood and metal and is generally not well built.

The Best Types of Investment Properties in the USA For Investors

The best income properties for new investors to start with are Single Family Homes, which you can purchase at a heavy discount from an auction or wholesaler.

Americans like to live in Single-Family Homes, and you can choose to Fix and Flip the property or Rent it for Cash Flow Income.

Type 36 – Single-Family Home (Detached)

70% of Americans prefer to live in single-family homes.

Typically, the most sought-after kind of house in the USA, the average size of a newly constructed single-family detached home is 2,600 square feet.

Most detached single-family homes are located in the suburbs throughout North America.

The house sits on its property and is entirely separate from other homes.

Before WWII, only 13% of people lived in the suburbs.

By 2010, one-half of the US population has moved into the suburbs.

Even with the baby boomer generation downsizing, demand for condos, townhomes, and apartments is growing.

Renting a single-family home has become a more mainstream and viable option for property investors.

Noble Sky’s investors look to buy the ugliest house on the prettiest street for their Flipping Business.

Type 37 – Skyscraper

Constructed‎ in ‎1928-1930, the Chrysler Building is an Art Deco-style skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

Billed as the quintessential symbol of the machine age by architect‎ ‎William Van Alen, this 91-year-old beauty is NYC’s second most famous skyscraper and is put up for sale if you’re interested.

When it comes to commercial skyscrapers, no matter their age, such iconic buildings are worth more than they originally cost.

Type 38 – Teepee

Teepees are the original “mobile” homes in which Native American Indians used to live.

Made with animal skins and sticks, the Indians would take the teepees apart when they moved locations when the seasons changed.

Now teepees are used for Glamping and novelty stays.

Type 39 – Tents

Tent home is usually temporary structures Ideal for camping, backcountry outfitters, hunting purposes.

Modern tents have enhanced usability features with push-button spring locks for quick and easy set-up.

Norseman has designed a rain fly to help keep your tent warm and dry in the most challenging weather conditions.

Fabricated with durable, lightweight, flame-resistant (FR) polyethylene (PE), these tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs.

Type 40 – Terraced House

A terraced house is a tall but narrow house that is attached on both sides to another house.

They are common in many European countries like England, Holland, and Germany.

In those countries, whole streets, neighborhoods, of houses can all be connected in a row.

Baltimore, Maryland, has more rowhouses than any other city in the United States.

The concept of the row house style itself came from England.

In the early 1900s, the wealthy, the middle class, and the working class lived in row houses.

Type 41 – Tiny home

Simply put, the trend toward tiny houses is a recent architectural and social movement that advocates living simply in tiny homes.

Generally, a residential structure under 500 square feet is considered a tiny home.

Minimalists embrace the tiny life philosophy and the freedom of living a fuller life with less clutter.

Type 42 – Townhouse

A townhouse is similar to a terraced house. Townhouses are houses built for inner-city living.

There are tall and narrow buildings.

They don’t have much land around them and often only have tiny gardens in the back.

Type 43 – Trailer

(See Caravan)

Type 44 – Treehouse

A treehouse is a platform or a building constructed among the trunk or branches of a mature tree above the ground level.

Treehouses can be used for recreation, workspace, habitation, observation, and not permanent homes.

Type 45 – Underground House

Underground living refers to living below the ground’s surface.

This occurs in naturally occurring caves or built structures.

While “bunker” refers to a bomb shelter or protective shelter, some people live in underground houses.

In JRR Tolkien’s novel, a “Hobbit House is so named because they are built partially underground.

Type 46 – Villa

A villa is the Italian version of a chateau and was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house.

In modern parlance, “villa” can refer to various types and sizes of residences.

These can range from the suburban semi-detached double villa to other residences where a villa’s idea and function have evolved considerably.

Type 47 – Yurt

A traditional yurt or ger is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by nomads in Central Asia’s steppes.

The structure comprises an angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo pieces for walls, a door frame, ribs, and possibly a steam-bent wheel.

Which Types of Investment Properties in the USA Do I Buy Now?

Now that you know what types of homes are available on the market, you need to narrow it down to this.

1. What is a profitable model to buy?
2. Will there be demand when it’s time for you to sell?
3. What to buy if you want to have a House Flipping Business?

It’s important to know what’s available on the market.

It is more important to know the types of houses or homes that people want to live in.

If you can envision people’s lifestyle needs and how they may evolve in the next five to ten years, you will win on what a viable model looks like.

There are several types of residential buildings to choose from.

At Noble Sky International, we dive deep into research and narrow down the search for a profitable investment model.

Please read our guide to the types of houses in the USA for Property Investment, the characteristics, benefits, and drawbacks of each residential building type.

Now that you’ve learned the difference between single-family homes, condos, and townhouses, and decide which is right for you?

What kind of building do you live in?

What kind of home do you envision your family living in, say in 5 or 10 years?

Noble Sky International Specializes In Helping Foreigners Get Set Up Easily In The US

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DISCLAIMERS: Any information or advice available on the Noble Sky International website is intended for educational and general guidance only. Noble Sky Core LLC and Noble Sky Institute Pte. Ltd. shall not be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect, or punitive damages arising from accessing or using any of the content available on this channel. Consult a financial advisor or other wealth management professional before you make investments of any kind.