Ever lived in a duplex? (Simpsonville: apartment complex, renters, mortgage)

[crowsandcats]

Are they OK? I just have this idea that the person sharing the wall would have children crying or music blaring. What if you have to get up early for a paper route job or something and the person doesn't want to be silent after 7pm. I was just wondering if anyone has experience with duplexes, and how can you tell if the person living in the other unit would be respectable. Or how can you know if the wall in the middle is soundproofed sufficiently before signing a lease? I wouldn't want to have to go to bed early and listen to someone else's TV or something.

Actually now that I think about it, I don't see how this would be any less of a concern in a typical apartment complex. In a typical apartment you have to worry about these issues on multiple sides. So, why do duplexes have such a bad reputation?

[myrc60]

I think its easy to figure out that having 1 neighbor as opposed to 4 is better. Look for models where the bedrooms are on the outside rather than the inside; that they don't share a common wall with the other unit.

I've lived in both. I would much prefer a duplex over an apartment complex if I could not live in a single family unit.

[john.g]

Originally Posted by crowsandcats

Are they OK? I just have this idea that the person sharing the wall would have children crying or music blaring. What if you have to get up early for a paper route job or something and the person doesn't want to be silent after 7pm. I was just wondering if anyone has experience with duplexes, and how can you tell if the person living in the other unit would be respectable. Or how can you know if the wall in the middle is soundproofed sufficiently before signing a lease? I wouldn't want to have to go to bed early and listen to someone else's TV or something.

Actually now that I think about it, I don't see how this would be any less of a concern in a typical apartment complex. In a typical apartment you have to worry about these issues on multiple sides. So, why do duplexes have such a bad reputation?

Apartments can have benefits but my having personal experience in both apartments and duplexes...

I would choose duplexes. My experience with apartments have been on the poorer scale financially ($600 and under a month).

This may not apply to apartments that cost as much or more than a mortgage payment ( $1500, $2000 a month and up and with strict admission standards).

i would characterize my personal experience "growing up" from apartment living to a duplex with eventually the plan to move into a house.

Simply put less dealing with unwanted neighbors a.k.a more privacy isn't that what you're paying for and what you want?


In a duplex i feel you are not "ON TV" as much the minute you walk out your door.


In a duplex you are not as likely to have a neighbor's kitchen or electrical fire or homemade meth lab put your place on the news -- or worse.

(there's a TV news satire website called " live apartment fire" because it happens so much)


In the upstate I've noticed some apartment complexes are in flooding-prone areas so with all the rains the past couple months, your parking lot and car could be flooded from just an overnight rain or your complex could be cut off because the access road can be washed out.


You also might not have to worry about a garbage truck and noise coming at 11pm at a duplex.

You don't have to worry about your car being towed if your tire is low (or what management thinks "looks low" or even thinks your car looks run down).


You also could be dealing with a private landlord in a duplex and that can have benefits.

Duplex and apartment living can each have their pitfalls and benefits

I feel the best most productive stretch of housing stability in my life has been in a duplex where I have only one neighbor.



Check all the City data forums on apartment living and landlords tenant issues to get a bigger perspective on this

[beckycat]

I've never lived in a duplex but my sister has. She said it was not a problem and the people next door had kids. The one thing about her duplex was that it was designed with the 2 garages in the middle to separate the two.

[CCUGal]

When you think about it, duplexes aren't that much different then a townhome.

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by CCUGal

When you think about it, duplexes aren't that much different then a townhome.

They aren't that much different on a design level but with a townhome unless you get an end unit you are going to have neighbors on each side. Why worry about 2 other families when you don't have to?

[PhotogGal]

I currently live in a duplex in a community for people 55 and over. I chose my unit because, at the time, the unit on the other side of me was a model, and I figured I wouldn't have neighbors for quite some time. When they stopped using it as a model, the owners (still in New England) decided to use it as a rental unit. Of course that's not as desirable as having a fellow owner who's invested in taking care of the unit. I can say that I've never had a problem, except for the renters prior to the current ones. They had a labrador that was not very well behaved and liked to bark a lot. That was the only time I ever heard anything on the other side of the wall except when they were pounding due to installing shelves in the pantry.

In my unit, the master bedrooms and living rooms are at opposite ends. The guest bedrooms are on opposite sides of the wall, but it's still pretty soundproof.

[Labonte18]

I lived in, what was then and might still be known as Bradford Place off W Georgia Rd in Simpsonville.

Those are old duplexes, but.. It was actually rather nice. I had a good neighbor.. He didn't make noise, I didn't make noise. The lady who owned it didn't tolerate trouble.. Cops got called, you were pretty much out. In the ~7 years I lived there, that only happened once or twice.

It was difficult around the 4th of July every year, because the fireworks place was next door. Lots of traffic from that. But, as far as noise from neighbors.. Not bad at all. Now.. Again, those units are quite old.. So.. Constructed a bit more solidly than a modern unit might be.