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I like a single family home, you couldnt pay me enough to live In An apartment, condo, etc. I like absolute quiet which a single home provides me.
That isn't always the case.
My parents lived in a sfh and the house next door back in the 70's the two boys played drums and electric guitar....need I say more???
fortunetely after about 5 years of that pure hell, the husbands brother croaked and he was left money, so they sold and bought another house. The people that bought thier house were empty nesters from Europe somewhere, and such wonderful quiet neighbors, and they are still there to this day, the best neighbors ever.
People with kids eventually have to send them to school. A sweeping generalization here, but urban school districts often leave a lot to be desired, which necessitates the extra expense of private school. You have a much better chance of having good public schools in the suburbs.
Yep. That's how it was on our rural 5 acres. Firing guns, ATVs roaring all over, motorcycles, roosters non-stop, guinea hens, peacocks and the ever-present barking dogs surrounded us. Never a moment's peace.
You couldn't pay me to live in that rural mayhem again, gorgeous though it was.
Now we are in a peaceful, retired-folks condo and I have peace of mind knowing there are others nearby, but I don't have to ever see them or hear them as our building is sturdy concrete block and we don't see/hear the pool. I can watch the surfers and para-gliders landing---it's great! We have our own enclosed garages with doors, too. Just 15 units and no one lives in the ones next to/above or below us, lol.
Yep! 5 acres is when things really start to get noisy because the laws allow the roosters, gun range backyards, constant fixing stuff up and adding more junk, every engine toy you can imagine. This guy's drilling a new well, this guy's adding a screened in porch, another is getting a new roof, somebody is always cutting down a tree, this guy's grading his driveway, here in the great white north the window to do all this stuff is so much shorter. Noisiest house I ever lived at was all houses on a single acre, 3 days a week were absolutely destroyed by the sound of the hired lawn companies (which we hired too) which had to go house to house neighbor to neighbor so the noise was constant all day long.
Your condo sounds lovely!
As for condos in big cities, it's all about the age, floor, and foundation of the building. A 3 flat with wooden floors is going to be the worst, wooden floors you can hear everything, wooden walls you hear their toilets flush, can sometimes hear conversations, AND everything going on outside at street level.
A high rise built out of concrete with a solid thick steel door, and even with the windows open if you're high enough you have to really pay attention and lean close to the window to even notice there's a police siren or ambulance at street level. Basically you walk into a well made high rise, shut the door, and hear NOTHING.
I am in a temp right now because I needed a place asap. I am reconsidering my planned move back into my house in a few months because of how spoiled I feel not having to take care of anything. I mean really, put a bag of garbage outside your door and it magically disappears? Snow cleared before the city even gets out on the roads? The views, especially the sunsets. The cons are not having a yard for my dogs, having to get "dressed" and walk them, hauling stuff to my floor, limited guest parking, etc. But I do kind of like the seagulls who float by my windows and doors, staring in at me. And FYI, it is not cheaper than the average house here, another con. But I got lucky, I have the best neighbors! There is only one I don't like. Sadly, because of how she is, no one else likes her either.
What?! Absolutely not true. Try not to make statements of fact about "most homeowners" based on 1 or 2 posts!
No kids here, and also a SFH owner who hopes and prays to never, ever have to return to stacked on top of each other / crammed beside each other living, and the endless noise and annoyances that go with it.
I was trying get a detailed aggregate view (one form of which is a distribution curve) of what the world thinks, so I'm trying to generate statistics here. This is why I'm asking here and trying to make conclusions to the best of my knowledge. If I only have 2 anecdotal data points, then a potentially fairly inaccurate conclusion is the best conclusion I could make, which is at least better than having absolutely no idea and just random guessing, because it would lead to an extremely inaccurate conclusion under the vast majority of cases.
Of course, I currrently have no way of knowing the true distribution curve of homeowner preferences among the entire US, European, and world population towards living arrangements because the current method of sampling in social science can only rely on anecdotal evidence and opinion. However, I can at least attempt to make a confidence interval estimated under intuition, which at least can further narrow the uncertainty somewhat. Hopefully, soon, a new or revised method of sample collection can improve the quality of the data enough that a 95% confidence interval that actually accurately represents the real world can be created from calculations from the data alone, without involving any assumptions or intuitions (like in hard science).
I'm actually getting answers all over the place so far, that the numbers of factors/criteria (mathematically, parameters/dimensions) within the data are too large, that the sample size is nowhere big enough, and that the data is only anecdotal so far, so I actually have no way of accurately knowing the true distribution percentages of what people like what in homeownership living arrangements. Maybe you are a 1/100,000 exception to my tentatively-concluded kid-SFH relationship, maybe you are not an exception, maybe my tentative conclusion is accurate or not, unfortunately, I have no way of knowing currently. I have several types of illnesses within the autism spectrum disorder, so my brain is not "pre-wired" to have the same instinctive thoughts as the "typical" (center of bell curve) person (if such a distribution curve actually applies to people's personalities), so I have absolutely no idea what most other people think on many things that are not explicitly learned.
Last edited by friendlytortoise; 02-22-2022 at 01:01 AM..
As a result, I am now saddened by the fact that I cannot accurately know whether or not the near anonymity (defined as 95%, preferably 99%, here) of owners of condo units, all sharing the same building with at least a dozen others and stacked, genuinely enjoy living in those units; or whether or not they are so bothered by neighbors in the same building that litter their balcony, unplug their car, etc. that they wished they could live in a single family home on an arbritrarily-large lot (so that they can be guaranteed to be free from neighbors' disturbances due to large distance) but couldn't afford it, so they are depressed for their entire life so much that they are often crying, praying, and want to commit suicide, etc. Should I/do I need to feel sad towards those people, or it is so rare for people like that to exist that they are practically non-existent, or is it that not even a single person like that exists anywhere in the world for all we know? What is rough range of sadness, emotional setbacks, or psychological compromises for a person with an emotional tolerance within the typical range that wished they could afford a house on a giant lot but could only afford living stacked on top of each other? What are the exact percentages (or at least rough percentages), and what are the mood/bothered-by/can't-stand intensities for each percentage figure? I want more data, please!
Last edited by friendlytortoise; 02-22-2022 at 01:52 AM..
We lived in lower end condo style apartments that had great features like a common building entrance with a magnetic lock, so we needed a code to enter.
It was in a semi dodgy neighborhood, so we loved the security of that. We were polite to neighbors for sure, but did not become close with any of them. Unfortunately, each unit had only one car space, none of them numbered, so parking conflicts were common since several units had 2+ cars per unit. This being Minnesota, I ran a power cord from my window for my cars engine block heater, and a guy simply unplugged my car and plugged his in several times. Not exactly neighborly or friendly.
Later we lived in a high rise style apt set up, very spendy but great community features. The people above us would smoke and throw their cigarettes butts on our balcony, and sometimes pour water down.
These were centrally managed, but individually owned units. We moved out after 3 years, but we did make some friends in the building.
We have a SFH on an acre now, only 1 neighbor and we love it.
So did you move out because of the neighbor above? Did that make you hate that condo? Was hating that condo unit the reason that made you move to a SFH on a 1-acre lot or was it another reason, or a combination thereof?
It depends. Some variables based upon the type of multi family residential building (and construction) come into play.
Typology
Multi-floor larger buildings often have benefits of better security for someone who wants to own and live alone as well as shared common amenities (quite varied) that can be of specific interest, rather than investing in memberships to provide the same amenities. These amenities are also usually limited to those who live on premises and occasionally a limited number of friends/family. So depending on scope of intended use, and if in the same structure, save you time and money.
Town homes, condo cluster homes, and single family style of essentially what is a single unit (but adjacent with one or two shared party walls) can be better for someone who has a family and pets that needs/wants a bit of separate outside space even if it is maintained by the community association. These types can vary greatly in community size, and provide some of the pricier amenities in, say, a community recreation building with pool, work out equipment, etc, but they require a trip from your residence where you live to the amenities center. When looking at those with shared walls, it is important to examine the construction method of the party walls to insure it is contiguous through the whole shared wall. Some cheat and have common gable roof which enables easier transfer of air related nuisances.
Some are simply geared toward specific lifestyles, and (IMO) when people are purposely buying in a community based on 'life style" they likely will have a greater propensity to like living with the neighbors (human behavioral ranges not withstanding) - as you will generally have mutual interests that can aid in developing friendships with neighbors. Retirement / golf focused etc...
I have lived in multi family (apartments and condos) for almost thirty years. Some key things for me are the type of construction (to reduce nuisance things like noise), security, and amenities. I have chosen based on location and convenience to employment, rules (no pets) and amenities.
Just as "good fences make good neighbors", in multi family housing types, "good construction (privacy sensitive and nuisance abated noise etc) and agreed upon rules prior to lease / purchase (if enforced unilaterally) makes good neighbors. Multi family living is an instance where homogeneity of values, ways of living are paramount.
I have met some of my neighbors over the time I have lived in my last two locations, and found some I truly enjoyed living near and helping when I could, and the others who, like myself, tend to prefer anonymity (easier in large common building, akin to celebs who live in a large metro).
I have been lucky in that both properties have been well managed. The apartment was family owned and had responsive management who responded to the few nuisances that came up or maintenance issues that arose in reasonable manner. You still will have occasional neighbors you don't want, but you can be as unlucky in a single family home unless you have a lot of acreage.
At least in a large community if you have a really bad neighbor they can be dealt with by landlord/ association (if properly managed). The condo has management company and to date has been reasonable. Maintenance fees have increased as any fixed maintenance cost will. Only assessed once for a lobby renovation.
The big take away for anyone considering a purchase of Condo / or Homeowner's association is to obtain and READ the declarations, rules and regulation documents BEFORE purchasing.
Thanks for your detailed answer! What type of condo building do you live in?
Not all condos are in apartment style buildings, stacked up on each other with elevators and hallways. I used to have a condo with my own front and back doors and attached garage. In the suburbs.
Do some searching for condos in suburban areas on realtor.com. You might be surprised at the various types of housing that are set up as condos. Cluster housing, villas, townhouses, and various combinations thereof.
Here, I am only asking about the standard type of condo in apartment-style buildings, not the exceptions you mentioned. The other types of condos just totally dilute the meaning of the word, because how is that different from single-family housing that has HOA, just without a personal yard?
Note, I am close with one or two of my neighbors at my high rise building in Honolulu, which is what I'd expect if I lived in a single family home, too. Note, when I did live in a single family home, most of my neighbors--while I was friendly with them--were certainly not my friends. As far as I'm concerned, as a condo owner, my enjoyment comes from the peaceable and quiet enjoyment that I can get from living at my unit. To this end, I want a place with quality sound insulation and the such. Give me that, and I'll enjoy living with my neighbors, sure
By "close", do you mean you are friends with them? Also, do you already enjoy living with your neighbors (even if you do not already have quality sound insulation) as part of the scenario in the last sentence?
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