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Wow, I would not be happy in a high rise. I’d have nightmares about not being able to get out in an emergency. You couldn’t pay me to live in one.
I'm sure that there are quite a number of people who don't like living in high rises for a variety of reasons, but as far as just addressing your concern, all you'd have to do would be to rent an apartment on a low floor.
Eh.... it all depends what you want & how you look at it, there are all kinds of houses & apartments & no one sweeping statement is true about this, or anything else in life I think. If you live in a building that is mostly owner occupied you will have much less problems than rentals. Bad neighbors aren't limited to apartments, believe me.
My attitude is I'm only ever in one room/place at one time, I don't need lots of rooms with lots of "amenities" that need to be filled up with furniture & accessories & heated & cooled when empty as long as I have that one large main living space to my liking - think open/semi-open plan. I'm the only apartment dweller in the family & I save thousands of dollars each year by not having to pay big bills for utilities, real estate tax, a vehicle & all related costs, building & lawn maintenance/repairs. This enabled me to retire earlier than had I been in sfh suburbia as well.
If I want to go out for dinner I walk out my front door & in a few minutes I have a number of restaurants & pubs to choose from, no getting in a car & traveling somewhere out of maze of lawns & corporate chain restaurants.
Nothing is perfect, I would like an outdoor space & perhaps a couple more rooms in the future but there's always a compromise right? My mother & brother live in a sfh in the 'burbs & it is literally starting to fall down around them, constant repairs are needed now when her money is tighter than ever & it's a few thousand $$ here & more $$ needed over there several months later for upkeep & I keep thinking if she had just moved to a smaller, more manageable condo/townhouse a couple of decades ago she would have the money, & time, to spend on herself in her later years instead of sweating for repairs for fences, chimneys, driveways, etc.,.
While I didn't read all the replies, I read many of them and it amazes me how anti-apartment everyone is. Doesn't anyone in the U.S. live in a nice apartment complex and have friendly relationships with their neighbors? Of the 50 or so replies I read, not one of them talked about how lovely their neighbors are or the parties or get togethers neighbors had in an apartment or condo complex haha.
Do people just get anti-social and not like people as they age? I assume most people on this board are say 50's to 70's (which I am not), but it just feels like as you get older, all you want to do is get away from people and socializing. lol
Well, here's one. We love our condo. It is solid cement block so no one hears anything. We have happy hour a few times a week and do a lot of stuff together. Or hole up and be alone. Whatever we feel like. Hang out at the pool.
We are all 60s age and delighted to be here with beautiful grounds and the beach, no upkeep. Got tired of that 5 acres and chopping wood!
Well, here's one. We love our condo. It is solid cement block so no one hears anything. We have happy hour a few times a week and do a lot of stuff together. Or hole up and be alone. Whatever we feel like. Hang out at the pool.
We are all 60s age and delighted to be here with beautiful grounds and the beach, no upkeep. Got tired of that 5 acres and chopping wood!
Construction techniques are a little different in Ecuador. I'm sticking with my single family house in the good ole USA.
I lived in an apartment about 2 years out of college and enjoyed it mainly because I was much more social then - and was rarely home. But now I'd never be able to go back. I'll never be without multiple dogs and a decent-sized yard as long as I have my mind and a body that can still walk and function.
Sure, mowing the lawn and other yard maintenance can be a pain, but hopefully when I can no longer do those things myself, I can hire others to do it. There's simply no comparison to being in an individual space for me - much more quiet, plenty of parking, no one walking overhead and can do what I choose to my yard - (no townhome rules, etc.,)
I wonder if the OP has considered any of the 5-star 55+ senior mobile home communities? A friend lives in one and the homes are all attached to permanent foundations. The homes depreciate, but the space rent is cheaper than an apartment and you have no one living above or below you, and you don't share walls with anyone. Hers has pretty strict CC&Rs, which some people dislike, but in the case of a mobile home park those can keep the community nicer looking. Some of the newer manufactured homes have pretty high-end finishes, too.
I wouldn't take the chance, there are too many stories of mobile home communities doubling or tripling the space rent. This was over a decade ago but there was a lawsuit in Santa Cruz that ended up killing rent control for mobile home parks, the space rents in one of them went up from $600 to between $2700 and $5000 https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/10/...-hard-to-sell/
I had a dear friend who left Cupertino, CA and bought a lovely double wide mobile home in San Luis Obispo and loved it there....just enough to do and not crazy busy. I had hoped to moved up there but never made it. I love renting, don't care who gets my money. I don't have to fix a thing.
I would not retire to a place where it is very hot or very cold unless I had space, good utilities and quiet. Most of us do not want to feel closed in with low ceilings, low square footage, and limited outside space. I avoid living anywhere that is loud, has traffic and is crowded. Sounds like a prison.
Be assured that you are not the only one who feels this way.
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