Benefits of Apartment Living

[jkenton]

My first post (I believe) in this forum....

Today, I came back to my apartment with my four year old daughter to find the entire bathroom floor covered in water. I looked to the ceiling (it has happened like that several times), but no obvious source. THen I looked in the toilet. No evidence of backup there either. The SINK looked like the shaven yak had been there. So I called the apt office and they sent out a couple guys to figure out how to fix it.

They disassembled my sink drain trap, and ran their drain snake out pretty far. But within an hour they were done. They even did a decent job cleaning up. When I owned a house, I had something similar happen to me and it set me back more than 200 bucks. At the apt, it is included in the rent...

As of this moment, the only things LOST were my toothbrushes (they were sitting on the sink), three rolls of TP from under the sink and some other incidental things I have been meaning to throw out anyway.

All in all a ringing endorsement for living in a well-managed apartment community. Yeah, when I move out, I will have not gained any equity. But, I also do not need to lay out for maintenance and upkeep. I bet its a wash either way.

 

[Mr. O]

There are pros and cons to everything. Glad your shave stuff is ok. I can live with throwing out tp; I couldn't live throwing away shave gear.

 

[Leche]

Just make sure everything is properly dried out. You don't want mold issues.

 

[dpmtherrien]

I lived in the same apt. for 13 years. I moved there right after I went through a divorce. It was a great garden apt. that was very well managed by a large corp. that owned all sorts of properties. I paid my rent every month, and everything except my phone and cable was included. I loved it and sometimes I do miss it.

I met this girl who became my 2nd wife, and after living in a condo for 11 years, we bought a beautiful house that has all we need. I have a young daughter and life is good, but man do I at times miss that great apt.

 

[HopHead]

I like the security that comes with owning a home. When I finally get this thing paid off, its nice to know that even with a minimum wage job, I can afford my home.

 

[WhosYerBob]

I, too, like the security and privacy of owning my own home. Before I married Cindy I never expected to actually own one and figured I would be a renter to my dying day.

However, I *don't* like other aspects, including the level of upkeep and maintenance that it requires on an annual basis.

 

[ouch]

I tell every young person I know that you can do whatever you want, but you really don't have a choice- you're buying a house. It's just a matter if you're buying it for yourself or if you're buying it for your landlord.

You may as well buy it for yourself.

 

[Commander Quan]

I never lived in an apartment but I did live in a Duplex, The neighbor lady was nice but her kids (7 & 9) were loud and they always kept crap in the shared starway. I much prefer the privacy of having my own house. And Yes if anything breaks I have to fix it or pay to have it fixed, but my mortgage is 1/3 of what I was paying in rent, and the house is 3x as big as what I was renting.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Unlimited hot water that I don't pay for. That's a great benefit. I can take as long as I want to shave.

 

[perry]

I liked the maintenance part of apartment living. No mowing, no repairs, blah blah. But I bought my first house last fall and love it. It's MINE. I am sitting in my chair in my living room in my house with my car parked in my garage. And, yes, I get to shovel my driveway when it snows! Well, it will be mine in 30 years, but you get the point. There was a good feeling that came along with ownership for me.

 

[omarwashington]

Our first apt with my wife was a one bedroom and the rent was about $750, when the year was up, they raised it up to about $950! We decided to find a different apt so we found a 2 bedroom on 'special' (we didn't need to pay for a damage deposit) for $850. After our lease was up after a year they again wanted to raise our rent to somewhere about a $1100-these people screwed us over because after about 3 months they said we owed them money for the damage deposit. We then down-sized to a different apt for $850 and as usual, they raised the rent yet again.
...but ya you get the point, it just sucks when the cost of living doesn't match up to how much you make at work.

 

[StillShaving]

Reminds me of the Vienna Teng song, "One Bedroom One Bath"
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H8ro5Crct0[/YOUTUBE]
Though I prefer some of her live versions of this song. A couple of good variants:

1br/1ba ( incl. Cecilia.... )

1 br/1 ba -> 9 to 5 -> Golddigger -> 1 br/1 ba #

 

[Lynchmeister]

I liked the maintenance part of apartment living. No mowing, no repairs, blah blah. But I bought my first house last fall and love it. It's MINE. I am sitting in my chair in my living room in my house with my car parked in my garage. And, yes, I get to shovel my driveway when it snows! Well, it will be mine in 30 years, but you get the point. There was a good feeling that came along with ownership for me.

Agreed! Yes, your own home is a lot more work, but it is worth it. Since I moved into my own home last April, I've been annoyed and kept up all night by stupid people around me exactly zero times. That, my friends, is worth all those peoples' weight in gold!

 

[ouch]

Agreed! Yes, your own home is a lot more work, but it is worth it. Since I moved into my own home last April, I've been annoyed and kept up all night by stupid people around me exactly zero times. That, my friends, is worth all those peoples' weight in gold!

Plus, when you move you get to take the value you have accrued with you.

 

[Thebigspendur]

If you've ever lived in a larger apt complex and you have the upstairs, downstairs or nextdoor neighbor from hell you will never need another reason to buy a house. Yes even in a house you can have bad neighbors but its a totally different situation.

 

[xbostonirishx]

I lived in a napt in a two family house for almost five years. My land lord lived up staird. he was in his sixties and in bad health. I loved the apt/. I took care of the yard, and snow removal, not because i got any money for it, (because i didn't) it was just the right thing to do. I like the apt so much, that over time i aquired several houses, and just kept them as rentals. My landlord died back in 06, and I was seriousley considering buy ing the house, but tat would have ment that the money was to go to his sister, who was money hungry, and I couldn't stand her.

I got out of the apt, bought a fifth wheel, and have been traveling around the country for five years.

I miss the apt though. I like the idea of the open road. being able to go where I want to go, when ever.

 

[FreezerBurns]

Free pest control. No mice, termites, ants, rats, bees, roaches, scorpions, or any other what have you pest.

 

[cricky101]

Free pest control. No mice, termites, ants, rats, bees, roaches, scorpions, or any other what have you pest.

Not in my last apartment...... Mice. Everywhere. My "free" pest control consisted of the landlord giving me a pack of mouse traps.

 

[jherm77]

Hmm, being career military I move around quite a bit. I've lived in apartments and now a house (all rented) and am looking forward to living in an apartment again. It's hard to buy as active duty military, I move too often to make any real profit (versus work input). I look forward to retirement when I can finally have my own house.

 

[natchez]

Having lived in four apartments and four houses over the years there are pluses and minuses to both. Renting is almost always cheaper than buying; buying requires a lot down and up until recently you paid a premium for the tax attributes. Now, the real estate market has changed with after tax costs being relatively comparable.

For younger folks renting is probably the way to go. Flexible, and less up front dollars. Less hassle to move and less stuff to move.

Once you move into a family and life situation where there are kids and that might well keep you in one place for five years or more then buying starts to make sense. More room. Lots more maintenance responsibility. Possibility of some upside over time.

I probably would have been happy renting, but SWMBO when pregnant with our second wanted a home. Perhaps, nesting or just wanting the comfort of having a place of her own. Once the house was paid off, the operating costs were really not much less, but we have much more space.