Down sizing - House to Apartment

[givemeaspell]

There are loads of apartments going up in my suburb, I've often thought that down the track when we are empty nesters that we might consider moving to an apartment.  Wondering if any one has or if you have always lived in apartment and you like that lifesyle what are the pros and cons?  Body corporate comes to mind as a negative.

[monstersinthedungeon]

My parents lived in an apartment in the Gold Coast for a few years.

They loved the convenience of being able to wander down to the beach, the shops, etc and not have to take the car everywhere.

They loved that the gardens and pool were maintained without any input from them and they could enjoy them at their leisure.
They loved the feeling of security it gave them (they were on the 10th floor), secure entrances for everything.

They made some good friends there.

They HATED the noise from the apartment upstairs, absolutely everything from upstairs could be heard very clearly in their apartment. So much so they sold up and moved out, now living in a gated community.

[kengillard]

depends on whether you like other people up that close to you......agree body corp could be a worry.   

how about a town house.   at least you'd have a courtyard.

I couldn't live in an apartment....love my one acre.

[rose*petals]

We moved from a house to a unit when my husband was ill.  We love it.  We have enough yard to put up a double garage, have a nice bbq area, a vegie garden and a chook yard.  We also have 2 small dogs.  We don't have the large garden to mow, the large house to clean and maintain and we have made our garden pretty maintenance free.  

[i-need-a-martini]

Lived in a unit for 12 months. The first 3 months were novel as it felt like a holiday but then I came to hate everything about it. 4th floor of an 8 storey block full of older people. Should have been peaceful.

Noises in the corridoors. Curry smells from next door. Cigarette ash, water, debris from apartments above. No greenery. Artificial lights in common areas.No happy street sounds. Having to listen to other peoples muffled music or arguments.

I missed all the little things that you do in a house like chatting to neighbours over fences, opening windows to get cross breezes through, east to west sun movements, walking outside to get the post, pottering in a garden (and a balcony garden is NOT the same), the feeling of space you get with a house - I could go on forever.

I always felt as if there were walls all around me and I couldn't go anywhere to escape cause my choice was the corridoor outside or the end of the balcony.

If you are planning it, then rent for 12months and see how you go. Otherwise buy a small townhouse.

[purple_haize]

depends on whether you like other people up that close to you......agree body corp could be a worry.   

how about a town house.   at least you'd have a courtyard.

I couldn't live in an apartment....love my one acre.

Agree with Gil, the bady corps are a pain......

We, my first husband and me lived on the second floor of an apartment building, we owned the apartment, was okay to start with, but you hear most of the noise, the music, as others have said, you smell all the food smells etc.

Our appt. was in a nice area and the people were nice, but I would never live in one again, as we had that hemmed in feeling.

If I had to live in similar again, I would go for a town house or like Sandy has, would never go the appts.

Anyway. I remarried and now live in a house in the hills with plenty of land.

[purple_haize]

bady = body

[rose*petals]

I meant to say - our unit is one of 3 all separated and on ground level.  

Couldn't stand to live in those multi story or even 2 story buildings with neighbours a wall away.  Even though we have to have a body corporate because we are more than 2, the only thing the body corporate does is pay the public liability insurance.  Otherwise it's just the same as living in a house - respect your neighbours.

[happyroo_bunji]

I have lived in houses and an apartment (back in a house now).  I would not go and live in a block of units again unless I had no other choice.  It was great not having to worry about a big garden or mowing out the front (body corporate did that), and my block was single story and the units were only attached to each other by thier car ports.

But I would have visitors to my neighbours parking in my space, and as it was a shared driveway you'd have cars coming and going at all hours.  When my neighbour adjacent to my flat started to lose the plot things became scary.  Her and her boyfriend would have blazing rows out the front of the place and he would walk around the front of th units like a caged animal swearing etc.  Even though they never said anything to me I was worried that they might hurt my dog because she would bark at them when they were fighting.

I too felt 'shut in' my back yard wasn't really suitable to sit in, and out the front everyone would/could gawk at you.

The house I'm in now is only 2brm but its on its own block of land, has a great verandah that you can sit on and I've put shade cloth up to block out the sun and nosey neighbours (but mainly the sun).  I feel that I can have my front door open now to let the air in with the tv going and not annoy anyone.

I would be fine with a town house, but not an apartment

[jean2579]

We have lived in a federeation house with big yard, then 2 storey city apartment and now in a semi detached house. This is the best it has all the benefits of a unit, size, land size, little maintenance but none of the problems of strata. It is a Torrens Title so we can do pretty much what we like without getting anyones permission. A great easy care alternative.