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.
That's an individual decision based on need, size of family, income, life situation. There is no blanket answer for that one. I bet someone comes up with an answer, but I can't figure out how to determine an answer.
this is not like buying - condo? single family home? You're renting, pick what you like. Gated community, pool, spa, gym.......apartment. Your own yard, a garage, more privacy.........house. Of course there are apartments with garages, and houses in terrible neighborhoods with noise and little privacy but you get the drift. Decide what you like!
I used to always live in large apartment buildings where a well established property management company had 10-12 buildings in their portfolio and ran their businesses fairly well. This always worked great for me until moving time (they usually end up keeping most of your deposit then you have to decide if it's worth it/if you have enough evidence to fight them on it). If you stay a long time the deposit thing is less of a big deal though.
When you're renting from a private landlord renting out his house, you do get to get away from being so close to other people, you get the amenity of a yard and your own driveway and garage most times. But your landlord could sell his house, could get foreclosed on, could short sale...thus making it extremely annoying or difficult on you. There's less stability in the landlord who owns just one property vs a property management company who owns many buildings.
In the end, just compare both types and see what they cost for what you want. There's always a price where it's acceptable to be in multi unit housing and an acceptable price for having a house and a yard (if that's valuable to you).
If it cost exactly the same for a home and an apt of comparable size, for me I'd pick the house even though I'd have less guaranteed stability. If it cost significantly more for the house, I'd be okay with the apartment.
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.
