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When I was younger, I lived in apartments. As a single woman, I chose to live in a condo because I didn't want all the headaches of a SFH. Now, with a family, I'd only live in SFHs. Preferably over 2000 sq ft.
If you could otherwise very well afford to live in a SINGLE-FAMILY HOME of your own of whatever type anywhere within New York City, why would anyone instead want to live in any type of APARTMENT (MULTIPLE-DWELLING BUILDING)?
Some of this material had been submitted by myself to another thread within the NEW YORK CITY Forum on CITY-DATA.COM but it was suggested to me (and I had even previously deemed so myself) that it would be meriting of its OWN thread . . . so that I don't hijack the other thread's main focus). So here is my thread:
Of course I can't, and am not trying to, dictate to OTHERS how they should feel nor what they should desire and then not desire . . . in terms of what neighborhood in the five boroughs of New York City they'd prefer or what type of abode they'd want to live in. I'm just stating below what perspective I have evolved into MYSELF after all these years (in terms of what kind of housing or abode I myself would ideally want . . . wherever it may be situated locationally in whatever neighborhood within any of the five boroughs of New York City). The perspective I have evolved into, as to MY OWN preferences from this point forward my life, is as follows:
If I were very affluent (or affluent enough) and could therefore very well afford to have a standalone SINGLE-FAMILY HOME of whatever type (whether a single-family detached house with a yard or else some space around it, or else a single-family brownstone or townhouse, or else even a small bungalow- or cottage-sized home all to myself), then WHY OH WHY would I instead choose to live in an APARTMENT UNIT of any type? Even if the apartment was in a luxury or condo building or was in a nice brownstone or townhouse or detached house which was divided up into however many apartments?
That is, no one can avoid acknowledgng the reality that with ANY type of apartment in ANY type of building structure, you will have other tenants that you will share walls, floors, ceilings, and hallways with . . . with people living above you, below you, and on some or all sides of you . . . and then you will also have to deal with the unpredicatable noise coming from the hallways outside your apartment, and will have to deal with any tenants who are not always prone to being kempt and taking care of the property you all share together, as well as dealing with their children or pets or visitors wandering all over the building or making noise in their apartments or around the building-at-large, etc. etc. etc. WHY WOULD ANYONE CHOOSE THIS SITUATION INSTEAD OF THE OPTION OF LIVING IN YOUR OWNOWNED BUILDING OR HOME WHICH ONLY YOU COMPLETELY OCCUPY (IF YOU CAN, IN THIS HYHPOTHETICAL DREAM SITUATION, OTHERWISE VERY WELL AFFORD IT)?
THINK ABOUT IT, FOLKS: Even if you live now or have lived in some type of luxury or exclusive apartment complex or brownstone or townhouse divided up into multiple apartment units, you are paying major bucks to live in such housing and yet you still have to deal with all the issues that sharing an abode with multiple other tenants brings with it . . . just like if you were living in the lowest-class, lowest-quality tenement or rooming house!!!Why would you choose this situation (i.e., an apartment unit within a multple-dwelling building) instead of your own standalone single-family housing . . . EVEN IF both types of housing are located in the very same NYC neighborhood (e.g,. Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Park, Forest Hills, Riverdale, West Village, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, etc. etc. etc.)? If you can, in this hypothetical dream situation that I am inventing here, very well afford to live any way you wanted to and in any locale you wanted to, why would you choose to share your abode with multiple other tenants instead of having complete privacy, quiet, and full control over the management, maintenance and upkeep of your property?
Note that you could even live in a rather small home such as a bungalow- or cottage-sized home (even if consisting of one single floor . . . if one is concerned that they not take on having too much space or property to occupy and then maintain). There are very small houses to be acquired or self-constructed (even bungalow- or cottage-sized) within the city of New York at-large.
And, sticking with the underlying presumption of this thread –based on the dream assumption that:
a) you CAN afford any type of housing and in any location or neighborhood that you want within the boundaries of the five boroughs of New York City at-large, and
b) if you can very well afford to live in this manner (in this hypothetical dream scenario), it is a given that you CAN as well (if needed or desired) afford to have & maintain an automobile of whatever type or size and have your own parking at your home or nearby which is guaranteed or reserved for that automobile (perhaps even your own built-in garage), and
c) as well, it is a given that you CAN very well afford to have the home all to yourself and therefore not have to take in any tenants or boarders and therefore be a landlord to them, and
d) as well, you CAN very well afford (unless you are inclined to & are able to do this work yourself) to always pay others to take care of any upkeep and maintenance of your property and any adjoining sidewalks, etc. (if any)
then, with ALL these stated hypothetical conditions being true, would youSTILL choose instead to live in a multiple-dwelling type of building (consisting of any type of apartment complex or a brownstone or townhouse or a detached house divided up into multple apartment units)?
IN SHORT: Why would there be any people who could afford to live however they wanted & wherever they wanted within the five boroughs of the city of New York, that would willfully choose to instead live in an APARTMENT UNIT of whatever type in some multiple-dwelling building instead of having their own OWNER-OCCUPIED SINGLE-FAMILY HOME OF WHATEVER SIZE OR TYPE (even with its own built-in garage or parking space or else guaranteed or reserved parking at their home or very nearby . . . if they have or want the option of also having a motor vehicle of whatever type)?
I'm merely curious, my friends . . . not trying to tell you how you should live or what you should desire. Please simply satisfy my intellectual curiosity (and the intellectual curiosity of any other persons reading your responses who have the same type of questions as myself) as to WHY, if you could otherwise hypothetically very well afford to live anywhere you wanted & in any kind of abode you wanted, you would still want an APARTMENT UNIT instead of a standalone SINGLE-FAMILY HOME of whatever type or size in whatever neighborhood within any of the five boroughs of New York City.
Again, there is no right or wrong answer. Just curious if people find that (in this hypothetical dream scenario), even if they could very well afford to live anyplace anywhere anyhow in any way that they wanted within the 5 boroughs of New York City, would they still rather share their abode with multiple other dwellers/tenants within the same building structure rather than have a home of whatever size or type all to themselves?
I am in an office from 8-4 and have nothing but time to read on CD.
I couldn't even begin to read your post as like several members already stated, I got a headache just looking at it.
I too got the jist of it, never the less, my stomach already feels queezy.
You must learn to type properly, not that I like when people carry on about punctuation and crap like that, but man, your post was insane.
Home ownership is definetely better, no one elses rules, but I am in a co-op and it has other benefits....unfortunetely soundproof isnt one of them. If I would have known then, what I know now. I would have bought quiet rock for my bedroom walls as they are the shared wall, and gave it 4 layers of it, then sheet rock over that, then had real outside bricks on top of that to make it look nice.
I kid you not.
But for the home ownership, no, I don't want to mow grass or shovel snow. ever. been there, done that.
There's no housing I like looking at better than a nice single family (detached) home or fancy townhouse, rowhouse, or brownstone. But for actually living in something I'll take an elevator equipped apartment building. This means never having to deal with stairs. When you start to get up in years (I'm 63) stairs are your enemy.
How did Manhattan, without many detached homes, become the most expensive real estate market in the Western Hemisphere?
How is it that some of the richest people in the world, many of whom are among the very few who truly can afford all of the conditions listed by the OP, choose to buy apartments only in NYC?
Location? You didn't address that at all in your post claiming to make absolute declarations.
Commute?
I'm a college student, so me having my own house is about as important as it is for a fish to have an umbrella
1. Why would I want a house where I have to do yard work and perform maintenance? Having a rose garden is not on my list of priorities when I'll be in my early 20's.
2. Community feel of apartments cannot be recreated in single-family homes. When we lived in Moscow in a highrise building or Wash Heights in an apartment, we knew almost everyone on the floor. It was very easy to visit your friends on the floor, or start a chat with a nice neighbor, or share recipes with the family down the hall. You just don't get that feeling of community in single-family houses.
3. Too. Damn. Silent. You live in an apartment and there's always activity and sound going on. You move into a house and it's silent as hell, which is honestly creepy.
How did Manhattan, without many detached homes, become the most expensive real estate market in the Western Hemisphere?
How is it that some of the richest people in the world, many of whom are among the very few who truly can afford all of the conditions listed by the OP, choose to buy apartments only in NYC?
Location? You didn't address that at all in your post claiming to make absolute declarations.
Commute?
The super-rich (or even the rather rich) who have apartments in Manhattan most often have more than one place that they call home. For instance, they have an apartment in Manhattan for when they are in the city, then they have a home in Long Island or Westchester or New Jersey (for instance). And often, they own condos or own or rent time shares in another area such as Florida. I have known varied persons over the years who have mulltple homes such as I described and none of them are super-rich but just mererly "affluent". The super-rich or even the affluent-enough (which you obvioiusly HAVE to be to live in anything reasonable in Manhattan) won't limit themselves to fitting their entire lives within the confines of a single apartment (even if a maisonette or two-level apartment). For instance, if a professional entertainer (a singer or musician) wants to practice at home with their instruments or jam with their band at their home, are they going to do this in an apartment building? No, they will have another home (a real home) with a recording or practice studio built into it and perhaps constructed to be soundproof so as to not bother adjoining neighbors or violate local noise ordinances.
In summary, these "richest people in the world" do not choose to buy apartments "only" in NYC (as you have asserted). As stated above by myself, it is most often the case with the super-rich or even rather rich that their apartment in Manhattan is but one of a number of homes that they own or rent. Their Manhattan home (apartment) is their base-of-operations for when they want or need to be in the city.
As to "location": The location is up to YOU. I'm not trying to tell ayone where they should choose to live within the five boroughs of New York CIty. You may prefer Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope or Forest Hills to Manhattan . . . or vice versa. That is YOUR choice. Nor was my thread telling you (or anyone else) that you shouldn't have an apartment. If you truly got the gist and tone of my initial posting, I said that these are MY personal preferences and asked everyone else "If you could IDEALLY afford to live any way you wanted, anywhere you wanted, within the boundaries of New York City, would YOU still choose a multiple-dwelling buiilding within which you have an apartment instead of having a buidling or structure all to yourself that has no other tenants or dwellers within it (such as your own brownstone or townhouse in Manhattan or Brooklyn, or a single-family traditional house in Queens or Brooklyn)?" I wasn't telling you nor anyone else what you should prefer. I said "there are no right or wrong answers". Why are you taking such offense (calling it a "self-centered" post)? Perhaps you should work on your reading comprehension. I was adamant (with boldfacing, underlining, italicizing, etc.) that this was meant as a SURVEY of personal preferences . . . with no right or wrong answers. Was that not made abundantly clear to you (with all my overabundance of punctuation that so many others have complained about)? I stated in my initial post: "Of course I can't, and am not trying to, dictate to OTHERS how they should feel nor what they should desire and then not desire . . . in terms of what neighborhood in the five boroughs of New York City they'd prefer or what type of abode they'd want to live in." Did that text somehow escape you? Perhaps so (as all my overabundance of character formatting may have been dizzying . . . according to what many others have said).
P.S.(to all others reading this post): So how is this post, in terms of minimal character formatting? Is it more pleasing to your eyes now?
I would prefer to live in a townhouse/brownstone versus an apartment though I am quite comfortable in an apartment. However, I would want minimal property and any grass I would replace with stone/cement.
My husband and I have always lived in apartments but recently bought a single family townhouse that we are renovating. Won't be ready to move in for a while. However, we've already had the conversation about how terrifying it is to us to be in a "home" versus an apartment. To us there is a sense of security in an apartment - we're not on the ground floor, it's not as easy for someone to break-in, not as easy to just come up and knock on our door and also know our identity..... We spend so much time talking about security alarms and cameras and all this other foreign stuff to us. Like what if we hear a noise in the house? In an apartment if I hear someone out in the common hall I wouldn't even blink. Now every sound will be assumed to be in our home.
I'm a college student, so me having my own house is about as important as it is for a fish to have an umbrella
1. Why would I want a house where I have to do yard work and perform maintenance? Having a rose garden is not on my list of priorities when I'll be in my early 20's.
2. Community feel of apartments cannot be recreated in single-family homes. When we lived in Moscow in a highrise building or Wash Heights in an apartment, we knew almost everyone on the floor. It was very easy to visit your friends on the floor, or start a chat with a nice neighbor, or share recipes with the family down the hall. You just don't get that feeling of community in single-family houses.
3. Too. Damn. Silent. You live in an apartment and there's always activity and sound going on. You move into a house and it's silent as hell, which is honestly creepy.
I desired apartment living over a house for many years. The way I've come to feel about it over time is that, if I want neighborliness, I can go to the neighbors in adjoining buildings or houses on the same block or so; but when I want peace, quiet, privacy, et al, I can retreat back to my own private home. One can't assume that all, or even any, of your neighbors in an apartment complex are going to be amenable, friendly, well-behaved. agreeable, etc. We can't control what type of persons we get to share our abode with when we move into an apartment complex.
As well, I can have others drop by to my private home (brownstone, townhouse, or single-family house) or can invite them over to hang out in my home.(or I can go to THEIR home). Or we can both go together to someplace other than our respective homes to hang out (a local coffeeshop, the street corner or stoop outside the home, a nearby park, et al).
I was operating on the premise that anyone responding to this thread was beyond their college years and was answering in terms of preferences that they'd want for their life over the extended haul . . . asking if you would still choose to live out of apartments (instead of having your own private abode with no other co-tenants in the same building) if you could afford to live anyway you wanted and anywhere you wanted. In other words, to make apartment living as a "way-of-life" for most of your years of life. And if you could, as I stated, afford to live anyway you wanted, you wouldn't have to do your own yard work or perform maintenance yourself. (You could even prospecitvely design your private home to have all concrete and/or tiles outsde and no plantlife or greenery whatsoever . .. . which is what I might well choose, so as to not have to deal with maintenance of the outside of the home.) I myself do not want to spend ANY of my time maintaining and upkeeping the outside of any type of home.
As to sound (or noise): I can create my own sound or noise to fill my home with . . . or have invited-others come over to my home often or invite selected others to even stay with me sometimes when visiting the city or visiting my part of the city), and they (along with myself) can create all the activity and noise we want. BUT, when I don't want UNINVITED NOISE, I can have my abode all to myself. That is how I have come to view the matter, in terms of personal preferences that I have evolved into over the decades. I am weary and tired of having to deal with all the "stuff" that other tenants introduce into my home life.day-in and day-out, year-after-year, decade-after-decade.
I would prefer to live in a townhouse/brownstone versus an apartment though I am quite comfortable in an apartment. However, I would want minimal property and any grass I would replace with stone/cement.
My husband and I have always lived in apartments but recently bought a single family townhouse that we are renovating. Won't be ready to move in for a while. However, we've already had the conversation about how terrifying it is to us to be in a "home" versus an apartment. To us there is a sense of security in an apartment - we're not on the ground floor, it's not as easy for someone to break-in, not as easy to just come up and knock on our door and also know our identity..... We spend so much time talking about security alarms and cameras and all this other foreign stuff to us. Like what if we hear a noise in the house? In an apartment if I hear someone out in the common hall I wouldn't even blink. Now every sound will be assumed to be in our home.
Like yourself, I would want minimal property and any plantlife (if any even exist in the first place) would be replaced by me with stone/cement. As to mininal property, I am even open to living in a "tiny" home . . . as long as it is all to myself. It doesn't have to be a multi-floor home or a home designed for a mid-sized to large family. It can be a single-floor abode sized like a one- or two-bedroom apartment, perhaps the size like a very small cottage or bungalow -- as long as I have this abode all to myself.
And my preference for small size is also partly related to your stated concerns about security. A very small private home (like an apartment-sized home) feels more manegeable and safer to me than a large or larger abode.
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