Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yeah, that "fuss free city apartment living". Like when Sammy Subwoofer moves in upstairs and he's 6 foot 6 and a cousin of the building owner. Or when Debbie Dirty next door decides she's not going to wash any dishes for a couple months and her cockroaches get so overcrowded that they seek extra space in your unit. Or when the terlit upstairs overflows and sewage runs over onto your bed. Or when the building needs a new roof but the condo association "discovers" there's no money and you all get to pay a huge unplanned assesssment. Or whenever it rains the water pools up on the balcony and runs in soaking your bedroom carpet, and you've made six different maintenance calls and they just come in and shop vac the carpet and spray some air freshener. Or when the quiet pub downstairs converts into a headbanger club and sleep becomes impossible until 3 am 7 nights a week (and you're supposed to be at work, fresh and energetic, at 8). Or when the homeless decide YOUR sidewalk is the place for their next encampment. Or the twice monthly "inspection/update" that requires the maintenance men to come into your apartment, invariably letting the cat out. Or the maintenance man who's building a killer stereo system from the best components of the tenants'. Or, or, or, or....
A special assessment in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars - due on short notice of course - under threat of foreclosure. The condo management companies and condo attorneys profit from creating financial distress for the members. A "payment plan" will often entail having to pay many other additional fees on top of the special assessment - fees for the condo attorney and management company.
There is no assurance the money collected will be used for the purposes claimed such as the specified repair or on the structure affecting your unit. Plenty of litigation about that.
People promoting condos often conflate them with apartments and fail to address the liabilities or risks. Condo associations are designed to disenfranchise the owners while shifting financial and legal liability onto owners.
I live in a large sprawling Southern city, ringed by suburbs. Everywhere I look I see apartments - older large complexes (I live about two miles from one of the largest "super-complexes" - a mile on a side - full of apartments that's been there since the early 70s); old duplexes, new duplexes, new mid rise buildings, new high rise buildings, apartments freaking everywhere. Most of the suburbs have also established areas full of apartments. Yes, of course, specific subdivisions are zoned single family only, but in general you're rarely more than a mile from some apartments.
I challenge you to select any American city over 100,000, search for "apartments for rent" and show us the city that doesn't have any listings.
My phrasing was confusing. Here's the point: Most of the land in pretty much any urban area doesn't allow apartments, outside the big-city cores and selected areas. In my city it's only 20% of the land within city limits.
Obviously every city and real town has apartments.
Yeah, that "fuss free city apartment living". Like when Sammy Subwoofer moves in upstairs and he's 6 foot 6 and a cousin of the building owner. Or when Debbie Dirty next door decides she's not going to wash any dishes for a couple months and her cockroaches get so overcrowded that they seek extra space in your unit. Or when the terlit upstairs overflows and sewage runs over onto your bed. Or when the building needs a new roof but the condo association "discovers" there's no money and you all get to pay a huge unplanned assesssment. Or whenever it rains the water pools up on the balcony and runs in soaking your bedroom carpet, and you've made six different maintenance calls and they just come in and shop vac the carpet and spray some air freshener. Or when the quiet pub downstairs converts into a headbanger club and sleep becomes impossible until 3 am 7 nights a week (and you're supposed to be at work, fresh and energetic, at 8). Or when the homeless decide YOUR sidewalk is the place for their next encampment. Or the twice monthly "inspection/update" that requires the maintenance men to come into your apartment, invariably letting the cat out. Or the maintenance man who's building a killer stereo system from the best components of the tenants'. Or, or, or, or....
None of this happens in a well-run building, particularly in a condo.
Yeah, that "fuss free city apartment living". Like when Sammy Subwoofer moves in upstairs and he's 6 foot 6 and a cousin of the building owner. Or when Debbie Dirty next door decides she's not going to wash any dishes for a couple months and her cockroaches get so overcrowded that they seek extra space in your unit. Or when the terlit upstairs overflows and sewage runs over onto your bed. Or when the building needs a new roof but the condo association "discovers" there's no money and you all get to pay a huge unplanned assesssment. Or whenever it rains the water pools up on the balcony and runs in soaking your bedroom carpet, and you've made six different maintenance calls and they just come in and shop vac the carpet and spray some air freshener. Or when the quiet pub downstairs converts into a headbanger club and sleep becomes impossible until 3 am 7 nights a week (and you're supposed to be at work, fresh and energetic, at 8). Or when the homeless decide YOUR sidewalk is the place for their next encampment. Or the twice monthly "inspection/update" that requires the maintenance men to come into your apartment, invariably letting the cat out. Or the maintenance man who's building a killer stereo system from the best components of the tenants'. Or, or, or, or....
Good ol house ownership:
When you find out that the roof is leaking, you call around and everyone is too busy, it takes weeks for a crew to come to even look at it, months to fix, ends up massive water damage costing you $20,000 to fix...
When you find out that you have a termite infestation that is in your whole neighborhood, your home has to be treated, basement cleared and walls cleared to be treated for $6,000.... then realizing that the problem keeps on flaring up because the area is full of termites... another $$$...
You get a burst pipe in your 2nd floor bathroom.. inside the walls.. it leaks slowly for weeks until you find out that it has damaged a substantial amount of your infrastructure... it will cost $12,000 to fix....
It is a harsh winter and it snows every week... you need to shovel constantly... clear your sidewalk, walkway, driveway... get salt for the roads.... pain in the ....
Your neighbour lovessssssss to play his rap music everyday... nice subwoofer... it's his house, why can't he? Nice loud beats everyday to the wee hours...
Your other neighbour has 3 great dogs ... the type who loves to bark at everything that passes within a few 100 feet... heck they are in their own backyard... it's their right to be there and make a ton of noise...
And on and on and on.
Basically your example was the extreme example of bad apt / condo living ... so I give you a small sample of the same except for house living.
None of this happens in a well-run building, particularly in a condo.
Yeah, well, exactly how do you determine whether it's "a well run building" or not, other than moving in? And then if it's a leased apartment you're stuck for a year, if it's a condo you'll eat closing costs and real estate commish if you turn round and move back out.
This particularly comes up whenever I mention neighbor noise, people always say "Well, if the building's well built with good attention to noise isolation and damping, you'll never hear your neighbors." That's a Micro$soft answer: theoretically true, but of no practical application whatsoever. How many times has a real estate or leasing agent invited you to take a wrecking bar and break into the wall separating the unit you're considering from the next one, to assess the construction details? Yeah, right.
Everyone involved will swear on a stack of Bibles that this is a great building, no noise, no bugs, great maintenance - and then you'll find out the truth.
And let's not forget that rental apartments change hands all the time, and the new owners may be better, or may be worse. Condo boards change composition all the time, too.
What I'm saying is that the idea that city apartment living is "fuss free" is just a fantasy, unless you happen upon that happy unicorn situation. Do millions of people make it work for them? Of course. But they're not exchanging the troubles and tribulations of house ownership for a carefree troublefree fuss free easy peasy existence. They're trading one set of troubles and issues for a different set of troubles and issues, just like they're trading one set of benefits for a different set of benefits.
I've lived in city apartments in my 20s and in my 40s, and I've lived in free standing houses the rest of the time. I know all about what's required to keep a house up. I know about the joys and exasperations of living in apartments. For me, I've vowed never again to share walls or a ceiling until I move into the assisted living facility - by which time I expect to be so deaf and/or so loopy that it won't matter.
When you find out that the roof is leaking, you call around and everyone is too busy, it takes weeks for a crew to come to even look at it, months to fix, ends up massive water damage costing you $20,000 to fix...
When you find out that you have a termite infestation that is in your whole neighborhood, your home has to be treated, basement cleared and walls cleared to be treated for $6,000.... then realizing that the problem keeps on flaring up because the area is full of termites... another $$$...
You get a burst pipe in your 2nd floor bathroom.. inside the walls.. it leaks slowly for weeks until you find out that it has damaged a substantial amount of your infrastructure... it will cost $12,000 to fix....
It is a harsh winter and it snows every week... you need to shovel constantly... clear your sidewalk, walkway, driveway... get salt for the roads.... pain in the ....
Your neighbour lovessssssss to play his rap music everyday... nice subwoofer... it's his house, why can't he? Nice loud beats everyday to the wee hours...
Your other neighbour has 3 great dogs ... the type who loves to bark at everything that passes within a few 100 feet... heck they are in their own backyard... it's their right to be there and make a ton of noise...
And on and on and on.
Basically your example was the extreme example of bad apt / condo living ... so I give you a small sample of the same except for house living.
Well, obviously there are worst case scenarios everywhere.
In 60 years of living in houses and apartments, I have lived in many houses where the issues were minor, and I have never yet lived in an apartment without major issues.
Going up to your fear of house repairs: when the apartment building leaks, there's not a damn thing you can do about it except to keep calling and calling and calling and calling. If you own the house, YOU get to decide - shall I climb up there and slather some tar where I think the leak is? Patch just one spot? Hire the local handyman to patch just the one spot? Replace the whole roof? You have the decision making authority. The apartment dweller is still calling maintenance, who will first deny any problem ("you can't have a leak, you're on the first floor") then provide solutions that don't solve (shop-vac your carpet and walk away without doing anything to fix the actual leak) then stop answering your calls.
If it's a highrise condo, you know that it's concrete (less sound between floors), and it's run by a board who like rules along with a professional management company doing their bidding. Usually the board is also professionals of some kind, meaning a reasonable chance at competence. It'll cost a lot, but that 24/7 staff is great when you forget your key, get a package, etc. Barking dogs, loud stereos, and smoking on balconies are cracked down upon.
The work I do outside my unit is literally taking the garbage to the chute and occasionally taking recycling to the basement.
There's no risk of break-in or package theft. I can leave for weeks on a whim, and only need to turn the heat off and drink the milk first. Assessment fees are a thing...$5,000 once 18 years ago.
Otherwise it's not only effort-free, but even helpful. I make $150/mo by renting out my parking space. The gym is downstairs. Even some utilities are free.
Yeah, that "fuss free city apartment living". Like when Sammy Subwoofer moves in upstairs and he's 6 foot 6 and a cousin of the building owner. Or when Debbie Dirty next door decides she's not going to wash any dishes for a couple months and her cockroaches get so overcrowded that they seek extra space in your unit. Or when the terlit upstairs overflows and sewage runs over onto your bed. Or when the building needs a new roof but the condo association "discovers" there's no money and you all get to pay a huge unplanned assesssment. Or whenever it rains the water pools up on the balcony and runs in soaking your bedroom carpet, and you've made six different maintenance calls and they just come in and shop vac the carpet and spray some air freshener. Or when the quiet pub downstairs converts into a headbanger club and sleep becomes impossible until 3 am 7 nights a week (and you're supposed to be at work, fresh and energetic, at 8). Or when the homeless decide YOUR sidewalk is the place for their next encampment. Or the twice monthly "inspection/update" that requires the maintenance men to come into your apartment, invariably letting the cat out. Or the maintenance man who's building a killer stereo system from the best components of the tenants'. Or, or, or, or....
And, Sammy Subwoofer wears these indoors. Clomp, clomp, clomp.
I had upstairs neighbors years back whose headboard hit the wall every 3 seconds for what seemed like hours. At 2am. They were up at 6am using air tools to put more windows in their van.
This ideology war against urban form and transit gets old. As a boomer I know it is a reality and new generations will choose it or afford a single home less. No use trashing an apartment you lived in 30y or more ago when single and maybe living paycheck to paycheck in an older apt then and in an older part of a city. It is a new reality today.
I do see we do have them walk-ups in our cities even in newer versions as I have seen them in some. Chicago I will use it with examples of new infill that matches being a walk-up or missing middle. Just we need to realize not every area of a city allows them by zoning etc.
Chicago examples of apts or condos as walkups built in the last decade or so.
Point is though zoning has plenty of areas of cities zoned for singles. Denser parts and gentrified areas generally can get them. I am sure examples in sunbelt cities too.
I get a kick out of those belly-aching about multi-residential buildings coming their way by large Texas metros and are totally against zoning. Yet zoning for R1 singles would protect them against being built by their homes. It cost nothing to have zoning for singles.
I believe we DO have to preserve our single homes too. Solid homes built in every era of our cities built with hardwood and lasting a century in northern cities especially. Once they are gone they are gone. Most cities still have plenty of land to add areas with multi-residential and areas they allow them.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
