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If you want a quiet unit, these are you want to see;
Structure Thick concrete pillars, either round or square-shaped (it may look like a wall). These pillars should be visible on floorplans. You can also tell how it's made, by lightly hammering it with your fists.
Finished ceiling height >11ft, preferably around 15ft. Also, top occupied floor height/(floor count-1) > finished ceiling height + 2ft.
Flooring Any thick materials which are glued to mortar beds. When you walk on the floor, it should feel very sturdy, just like when you walk on a concrete slab.
Windows >1" thick, minimum double pane.
Height of the unit Low height units (around 15ft) are quieter than medium height units (50-150ft) when you open the windows. Generally speaking, higher floors are noisier, because you're exposed to multiple distance sources of noise, instead of just one close source. But once you go above 500ft, noise pattern becomes more uniform, so it doesn't feel very loud, although it is louder overall in fact.
Floor layout Half-floor units are better than quarter-floor units, and full-floor units are better half-floor units. One less attack vector (Duplex or above is even better, of course).
Demographic of neighbors No young kids, no young adults, high ratio of owner-occupied units (the best possible case would be a condo full of foreign buyers who don't rent out their units and rarely even visit the units by themselves)
Pretty easy to find those units in residential skyscrapers. And these are what you don't want to see;
Structure Shear wall structure (no pillars, no beams, just load-bearing concrete walls).
Flooring Laminate, vinyl or anything that doesn't glue to the floor (thus, slightly floaty). Typically, these type of flooring give you slightly wobbly, bouncy (or spongy) feeling on some area (not as much as wooden structures because it's sitting on concrete slabs/mortar beds.
Windows =<3/4" thick.
Height of the unit Medium height units (50-150ft) are the worst overall.
Floor layout Multiple units on each floors share a single hallway.
Demographic of neighbors Families with young kids, young adults, high ratio of renters-occupied units
But even that is miles better than wooden low rises. 100% renter-occupied wooden low-rises are naturally bad, and not even worth a consideration.
"Demographics of neighbors": good luck figuring that out ahead of time; it's illegal to ask your realtor (there's an entire thread on this topic).
You are aware city-size varies considerably? I don't plan to retire in a large city, but rather a small-medium college city like Corvallis OR, Bellingham WA, Missoula MT, or Madison WI. That seems like the best of both worlds: not too big or small, good resources and cultural amenities, and a young and hopefully fairly diverse population.
I can't possibly imagine living in a city with a metro population of less than 3 million. I find small towns very stifling. Even parts of suburbia feel super stuffy.
I don’t like people living over my head, sharing a wall, etc. I will never move from a home to a condo, Apartment, etc. I love the quiet, cant sleep with noise. I am 64 and live in a house over 3000 sq ft with my husband I have no intention of downsizing.
I worked two jobs as a single guy to be able to afford a modest house with a yard and most importantly a space buffer from neighbors. I would rather die than return to the shared walls of apartment living. The house was a foreclosure and has needed many updates and my strategy has been to upgrade within these projects to the most low maintenance materials and design regardless of price.
The showers I upgraded from compromised tile and grout to cultured marble panels.
The toilets have some sort of coating on the bowls that prevents staining. All I do is squirt in some toilet bowl cleaner and walk away for a few hours. Often I don't even have to scrub the bowl and it comes out sparkling clean.
The bathroom sink counters and bowls are one piece cultured marble and all I have to do is lightly wipe them down after each use.
When my current roof needs replacement I am mostly likely going to replace with a metal roof for which the 50 year warranty will be longer than the rest of my life.
I believe home maintenance can be manageable in retirement with a fair amount of pre-planning. The hard part will be the yard maintenance. I think the soil in my yard has plant steroids in it.
Besides costs and downsizing I know many who went into an apartment for health reasons ie couldn't handle stairs anymore. That includes a struggle to go up to bed or bathroom or down to basement for laundry. They were set had made numerous upgrades including handicapped shower/tub. But they simply couldn't do it.
It's puzzling to me why home ownership is so highly regarded. To me after the novelty wears off it becomes just another thing you have to deal with.
Well, we bought our home for $440k in 2010 and it's now valued around $750k. We're planning to sell soon. That's $300k in appreciation we would not have made if we were renting. Sure, there are hassles involved in owning a home, but we have enjoyed the freedom to have pets, paint or renovate however we want, and not having to worry about being forced to move at the whim of a landlord.
"Demographics of neighbors": good luck figuring that out ahead of time; it's illegal to ask your realtor (there's an entire thread on this topic).
First off, it is not illegal to 'ask'. It's just many of them are unlikely to give you a straightforward answer. Next up, it's extremely easy to identify both the best case (i.e. a condo full of owners who barely even visit) and the worst case (i.e. 100% rental building). You don't need any kind of research to identify the latter, because you can't buy one either (hence 100% rental). In case of the former, you need to look up public records for random or neighboring units in the building. If you see a bunch of different LLCs owning each units, or foreign nationals, or out of state people, there is a strong chance of getting a half empty, or even three-quarter empty building. On the other hand, if you can see some individuals or entities owning a lot of units, that's a bad sign. Mostly owned and occupied by young families or young adults are somewhere in the middle. You could have a pretty good guess about this from public records too, along with the distribution of unit size or # of bedrooms, relative price point, neighborhood characteristics, etc. Lastly, if all other good conditions are met (structure, floor height, etc), young kids upstairs don't make huge noise to your unit, even if they're doing what young kids do. It's in fact much quieter than very considerate upstairs neighbor in a bad apartment.
Last edited by kantobento; 09-27-2020 at 10:19 PM..
Um, but when you sell your house, you sort of have to move out of it. With a RM, you can live there till you die (at which time they take possession of the house for which you've been receiving regular payments).
So what? You either sell it and move out before you die, or die in it, then your corpse gets moved out. I'd much rather sell it for so I can enjoy that equity before I die rather having it stuck in a house.
Why are so many people afraid to move? If you keep life simple and don't accumulate too much stuff it's not that difficult. That's another reason I don't like having a house; it encourages hoarding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by albert648
I can't possibly imagine living in a city with a metro population of less than 3 million. I find small towns very stifling. Even parts of suburbia feel super stuffy.
I've lived in both large urban and small rural areas. As with most things there are trade-offs. Cities have great diversity, restaurants, creative amenities, and resources, but they're noisy, crowded, polluted, and most have considerably more crime. Rural areas are quiet, relaxing, and have a sense of community, but can get boring for the lack diversity, limited resources and culture, and many residents have a provincial mentality.
That's why, to me, small to mid size cities, esp college cities are a nice happy medium. They have many appealing resources and amenities of larger cities, but aren't as crowded, noisy, and crime-ridden. They also offer some of the convenient access to nature and sense of community of rural areas, but are more metropolitan. To me they're the best of both worlds.
You're much better off selling than taking out a reverse mortgage. With a reverse mortgage you're basically borrowing against home equity. Selling is a much better way to go: https://www.businessinsider.com/reve...ad-idea-2018-4
What about us, that do not need to sell the home or have a reverse mortgage to have more than enough cash to last us the rest of our lives, doing anything that we may want or need to do. There will still be considerable cash left at our deaths, that our kids can have some money to enjoy.
We have not owed one penny for over 30 years, nothing bought on credit. We use a debit card like it was a credit card, which we can make a call and have the limit raised for the day to any level we may need money, and then drop back to our regular limit to protect our money. Nice home, nice Ford Explorer Limited, Ford F-150, enough in just the local bank, that when I go into the bank for any reason, the President leaves his office to come out to visit and take care of me personally, no debt beyond our regular monthly bills.
We can afford a housekeeper, to keep the home clean, having had one starting in early 1975. Someone to maintain the home, and take care of 1 acre of landscaping with our equipment, and keep us plowed out in the winter as needed. Also mows the 4 acres of pasture once a month during growing season.
Why is everyone so hung up, on us needing to have the equity in our home turned into an income, or cash to be able to live and enjoy life. We have more than we can spend, and have been living off of our savings for over 30 years, and enough left to outlast two 90 year olds. Medical insurance including Medicare and a supplement policy that together pay 100% of our medical care so no surprises there. If we need to hire in home medical help, we can afford it.
We have in Montana a special deed, that you sign and file, and at your deaths, the deed becomes active and the heir owns the home automatically. Also includes all personal property. We have already deeded it to our one son who will be here to look after us for the rest of our lives. If something happens, the deed can be cancelled up to the time of our deaths. All monthly bills, on auto pay so they are all kept current. Small account to cover monthly bills, will pay last months bills before becoming a POD account. All cash and savings in banks, in POD (Paid On Death) accounts to automatically go to our children as set up. Nothing to probate.
So why is everyone thinking we need to get rid of a home we love, and a home we need to stay in due to my wife being comfortable in it with her serious advanced dementia problem. Moving her to an apartment would put her into a serious declining problem. Same for a small home she is not familiar with. Take away her view that is a big pleasure for her, would be enough to drive her over the edge of being partial normal and put her in a nursing home. Her doctors have warned me, that taking her out of her home, would turn a woman who is handling dementia very well, into a living vegetable sitting in a wheel chair all day in a medical facility waiting to die.
Her big pleasure in life is her small dog, that is so smart that when he realized her problem, trained himself to be her comfort dog, and remains at her side day and night. He would not be allowed in an apartment house, as he is a great watch dog, letting her know when anyone comes onto our property, and would drive other tenants nuts as he heard and saw them near our unit.
That dog both comforts her, and makes her feel safe in our home. He sleeps next to her bed, at night or when she is resting. He takes a lot of pressure off of me, as he replaces me being with her constantly.
No we will not be selling our home, or getting a reverse mortgage, as we can live the rest of our lives paying the bills, and leave considerable money (six figures) to our children. We started poor, but ended up no longer poor, or only have a home equity to rely on.
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