A lot of things out of SV are built around American culture. "HOA", "State income taxes". "Property tax" as a percentage.

Which is fine, but it's sad how it's just assumed a site on a .com is for america only. Of course a monoculture of 350 million customers is more than pretty much any other country which explains why SV produces so many successes.

Defaults are crazy too - $2,750 for home insurance?!

I see this like a personal project, so I don't mind some local bias. I thing it's a good post.

HOA: I can translate it to the monthly payment in my building to pay for the cleaning, electricity for the lift, and other stuff.

House vs Apartment: I think it's confusing. It's correct for the personal case of the OP, but it's confusing for everyone else.

Mortgage interest <= 10%: In pesos? :) Most mortgages here are now in a fake money "UVA" that somewhat tracks the inflation. So if the interest is 5% in UVAs and the annual inflation is 40%, the actual interest is 45% (approximately, read the fine print before signing).

Agree with the terminology being confusing. Houses can be rented and apartments (condominiums) can be purchased.

In North American lingo, "apartment" exclusively means a multi-family unit that you rent and don't own. If you own a multi-family unit it is a Condo (condominium) and never refered to as an Apartment. I know, confusing.

Also, duplexes are houses with two units in them vs. a two floor apartment.

That’s entirely dependent on the region. In Chicago, two-floor apartments are routinely referred to as duplex. In Cleveland, a duplex is a house with two dwellings, too and bottom. If the house is split side-by-side, it’s a double. There are other places where these two terms are reversed.

That’s a stacked townhome.

On the 30th floor of an apartment building?

Hmm I interpreted “two floor apartment” incorrectly it seems.

I don’t think there are many of them in the states except for maybe a few penthouses.

I live in North America. While this is technically correct, people can and do use the terms loosely as well.

And regardless, you can most definitely rent a house.