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I'm inclined to agree with this, although perhaps not quite as vehemently.
I hated living in apartments.
Some neighbors are disrespectful of others and play their music loudly, stomp through their apartments, argue loudly, etc. Some issues aren't quite as much about disrespect and are more about living in such close quarters and sharing walls with complete strangers who have completely different lives and schedules. These are just a few of the "normal" things that you might hear on a typical day when you live in an apartment:
-Deadbolts being locked and unlocked.
-Babies crying.
-Doors closing (not even being slammed...in the last apartment that I lived in, you didn't have to "slam" the door for it to be heard by the neighbors)
-Cars starting and pulling in at odd hours, such as by neighbors who have to leave early in the morning or who work night shifts.
-Neighbors having reasonably-quiet phone conversations while walking in and out of their homes.
-Coughing.
-Dogs walking across the floor at odd hours.
-Exercising.
-Bass from music or movies that are otherwise being played at reasonable volumes.
-Pots and pans being "banged" while cooking or washing/putting away dishes.
-Vacuuming during the evening or early in the morning, which may be the only convenient time for the person's shift/schedule.
-Things being accidentally dropped.
-Furniture being moved.
The list goes on and on and on. And, in my experience, even the more expensive apartments that are supposed to have higher-quality, better-insulated walls have these same issues.
Who wants to hear every little thing that his/her neighbors are doing at every single moment? Kind of keeps you on edge all the time, in a way, and can make it hard to sleep or relax. Also, who wants to live somewhere where you live in fear of neighbor and landlord complaints for being generally respectful but trying to live a normal life? Especially when the rent for many apartments is not cheap at all?
Plus, you usually have to deal with parking issues, maintenance workers who want to come in at any time that is convenient for them (even when you aren't there, which isn't my cup of tea, really), strangers moving in and out all around you at various times, etc. etc. etc. Oh yeah, and don't forget nosy neighbors who are always in your business. If you have a weekend guest, expect complaints about parking and a letter or phone call from your property manager asking if you are going to be adding the person to the lease...even if he/she only stays for one or two days when your lease only requires permission for a seven-day stay or longer....
Can you tell I prefer single family home rentals yet? I really can't think of many benefits of apartments at all, other than maybe in an area where they're all that is available. I know that around here, single family homes are generally similarly-priced or cheaper than apartments.
This reads like a very vehement agreement with everything I said--with even more detailed reasons for apartment living's misery.
Oh yeah I forgot to tell some people about you might just hear your neighbors getting it on as well . Yes I have lived in apts where you could hear the lady and guy both having the big O ....sorry I tried to make it clean as I could .
This is the one thing that actually made me want to die.
In the 00's, I lived--no, make that existed--in a high-rise, next apartment to the end unit. The end unit was occupied by an elderly woman at least twenty-five years my senior. She had a "boyfriend," and our bedrooms shared a wall. Oh dear god, what I had to listen to. The fact that these creatures were unmarried and going at it: I'd just look at the ceiling and ask God to take me. If I sound as if I'm being age-ist, I am--in a good way. I'm no spring chicken now and was none then, but the foulness of unmarried older people having sex outside marriage--when pregnancy is no longer a fear, and marriage is clearly, um, indicated--makes seniors look like rancid animals.
I spent eight months in that hellhole, and the property manager, who shared my beliefs, released me from the lease. (I later learned my apartment's vacancy rate was literally every year.)
The one idea no one has mentioned but that may help the OP: find a landlord who will let you spend a night in the apartment, or even a weekend. The medieval thinking inherent in signing leases where you don't know if you're living next to bon vivants with 96-inch televisions in every room...it's medieval. The one area of human social history that has not advanced since 1 A.D. is real estate ownership and housing. Land "ownership" and its use to inflict suffering on other human beings: it got me on my knees thirty-five years ago and made me a Believer. And I have no problem whatever saying the prime reason I'm a Believer is that life on this planet, from any detached and objective point of view of a creature who needs a roof over his/her head, is Hell.
Rich or poor, doesn't matter. The rich have to stay nervous enough to make being rich their number one priority, which does not equal happiness. Being "poor" can mean having a six-figure income and an apartment/condo/townhouse next to idiots who think apartments/condos/townhouses are just grand, just grand places for their SurroundSound sh*t.
Nothing like housing to demonstrate how relative being "rich" and being "poor" are.
Exactly! This is why headphones and earbuds in apartments should be mandatory. Of course most complexes don't even have quiet hours (at least that are respected). The point is that unless silence is 24/7, someone is going to suffer.
For 90% of human history, warehousing human beings in a building, housing people unrelated to each other, did not happen. To pretend that one can live happily and successfully in shared housing, or in cramped stand-alone houses in congested neighborhoods, is bull-pucky.
Headphones and earbuds mandatory? yeah let me walk around my house all day with earbuds on and sleep all night with that crap. I'm sure wearing headphones 24/7 would be great for my hearing as well.
GIVE ME A BREAK! WTF...How about building an apartment so you can't hear someone cough?! On top of it, "earbuds" don't block out many types of sounds, especially base sounds.
The one idea no one has mentioned but that may help the OP: find a landlord who will let you spend a night in the apartment, or even a weekend. The medieval thinking inherent in signing leases where you don't know if you're living next to bon vivants with 96-inch televisions in every room...it's medieval. The one area of human social history that has not advanced since 1 A.D. is real estate ownership and housing. Land "ownership" and its use to inflict suffering on other human beings: it got me on my knees thirty-five years ago and made me a Believer. And I have no problem whatever saying the prime reason I'm a Believer is that life on this planet, from any detached and objective point of view of a creature who needs a roof over his/her head, is Hell.
Rich or poor, doesn't matter. The rich have to stay nervous enough to make being rich their number one priority, which does not equal happiness. Being "poor" can mean having a six-figure income and an apartment/condo/townhouse next to idiots who think apartments/condos/townhouses are just grand, just grand places for their SurroundSound sh*t.
Nothing like housing to demonstrate how relative being "rich" and being "poor" are.
The whole idea of a 1 year lease is draconian. All leases should be month to month.
This reads like a very vehement agreement with everything I said--with even more detailed reasons for apartment living's misery.
Haha, I meant that I don't necessarily agree that apartment pricing has NO impact on riff-raff. I think it does to some degree, but not as much as people tend to claim. Yet, when I say riff-raff, I mean drug dealers, people who fight in the parking lot and that type of thing.
The things that I listed aren't what I consider riff-raff behaviors...I consider them to be more like daily living, which I will definitely agree isn't something that you can do comfortably or easily in an apartment setting.
It really depends on the construction of the apartment. Most apartment complexes are constructed of cheap material which usually translates to poor drywall and insulation, which equals NOISE. I lived in an apartment for 7 years and I was able to hear normal conversations going on in the neighboring units, people walking, computer games (Farmville, when it first came out) when I was trying to sleep, romantic relations, babies crying all night, etc....
My suggestion would be to take a top floor apartment, and an end unit, meaning that you can have a bedroom that doesn't share a wall with a neighboring apartment (if that is how the floor plan is laid out).
The best apartments in my opinion though are duplexes. They are often separated from your neighbor by a garage, and you usually don't share walls.
The apt. we last rented was on the top floor, end unit, bedrooms facing outdoors. I hadn't lived in an apt. since the 80's and my spouse since the 60's. It was interesting, I'll say that. I meditate regularly so at least I could ask God or the Universe or whatever is out there to help me each day--for peace and tranquility. I guess living in a convent would have been a good match for me, except for when the nuns got ugly w/ each other. Or, a Buddhist monastery. I'm sure neither would have had me though.
I don't think many people are purposely stomping around and slamming doors regularly. It's just that apartments are usually so poorly insulated, that not only can you hear everything, it seems almost as if sounds get amplified.
That's why I try to avoid having downstairs neighbors. I unfortunately cannot levitate or otherwise defy gravity, so hearing footsteps and creaky floors is inevitable, as is their complaining. I shouldn't have to tiptoe in my own place.
Not to say that some people really don't live like wild animals. I've lived in places where couples screamed at each other every night. Places where people kept chickens (and slaughtered them) inside. I think I lived next to a whorehouse once. Another place, people beating their children. Etc etc plenty of stuff more unacceptable/ridiculous than occasional footsteps.
Last edited by ohhwanderlust; 12-10-2014 at 12:41 PM..
Our biggest problem in two different apartments has been that young children (ages ~3 to 6) tend to like to jump--off couches, off beds, etc. The last apartment we lived in was really bad that way. And that little boy stayed up until 10:30 - 11:00 pm every night!! One time the mother left me a note that they were having a birthday party for him and it would be noisy. Since it was a Sunday afternoon, we went to the movies and out to lunch. Missed the party entirely! Yea!
The other issue was that the man in the apartment above us worked some sort of shift and usually took a shower around 1:00 a.m. Woke me up a lot. Then their kid would be up at 7:00 a.m. playing with noisy toys and yes, jumping!!
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I really can't think of many benefits of apartments at all, other than maybe in an area where they're all that is available. I know that around here, single family homes are generally similarly-priced or cheaper than apartments.
Or, a Buddhist monastery. I'm sure neither would have had me though.
