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There are many directions I could go with this, but one that hasn't been mentioned is the pay by the week (or hour) residential motel, with multiple strikes against this one.
First, typically these places used to be modest budget motels but they probably at least provided a basic level of accomodation and sanitation. They came with no frills but were a relatively clean place to sleep on a road trip for a night. Once they become the weekly transient motels, they've slipped down the hierarchy from even that modest position. Either the mom and pop owners sell out to a slumlord or if they were a national hotel chain, they become this when the franchise gets yanked due to poor conditions and management. And then it only goes downhill from there, sometimes quite a bit downhill.
Rundown rooms, nasty carpets, nasty walls, mold, structural problems, major systems (heating, air, plumbing, electrical) not working properly or at all, bodily fluids on the walls, floors, ceilings beds, hard drug paraphernalia (needles, crack pipes) left in the rooms from previous "guests". The people who are there are there because no one else would rent to them and while that may be because of extraordinarily hard luck, it's often because of serious criminal convictions that get screened by landlords of decent properties. Much drug activity and violence infects these places. Add to that the constant turnover of tenants, and not only is your neighbor typically not going to be a good one, you don't know from day to day who that person is or what they may be involved with. So you have that to deal with along with a putrid, depressing hole of a room that also doesn't even have adequate options for cooking, so the people there end up eating overpriced junk food from convenience stores or fast food.
My first place was a rental mobile home with holes on the floor that allowed you to watch grass grow. I had to check my bedding for lizards and spiders who were looking for a warm place to sleep. Twice I found a lizard in my bed and once awoke to a spider crawling across my face.
Second place was smaller but better. It was an efficiency apartment with no stove. Cooked on either a hot plate, electric skillet, microwave, or toaster oven. My neighbors were college students on one side and a drug dealing hooker on the other side.
Third place was larger and better. One bedroom apartment overlooking the pool. One major problem with the apartment was the AC. There use to be a tree in front of the 8 feet by 20 feet window on the west. Tree was removed and that large single pane window put out huge amounts of heat. AC ran from 9am to 8 pm with temperatures getting to 85 in the apartment. The apartment complex was also less than a half mile from a government assistance housing project. Wasn’t uncommon to wake in the morning to find one of the neighbor’s cars on blocks now missing their rims and stereo.
Fourth place was much better. Bought a 2 bedroom 1 bath mobile home 14 feet by 48 feet. I maintained that place so well that the new buyer thought my now 20 year old mobile home was only 3 to 5 years old.
Now live in a large 2 bedroom 1 bath brick home built in 73 at double the square footage as the mobile home. Sometimes I miss the mobile home for its ease of maintenance but not the trailer park it was parked in nor the neighbors.
Wife has excellent hearing so an apartment would be hell for her.
Any housing I have to share a wall or ceiling with. I like quiet. I prefer single story , but with elevator would do with a 2 story. I like space, so not a small cottage type of house.
Shared walls. I can't do that anymore. I briefly considered buying a townhome and that lasted all but 1 minute. I also like having a yard, even if small.
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