I live in one bedroom apartment in a subsidized housing project.
The apartments are set up so there are four two bedroom apartments(kitchen/dining/living area downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs) side by side and then two one bedroom apartments atop one another at one end.
My downstairs neighbor is fairly quiet and I can’t really hear the apartment next to me.
Like you said not having to deal with trash removal, snow removal, and yard maintenance is one advantage of apartment living.
So I prefer it living on disability benefits because I could NOT afford maintaining my own home(as much as would like too.)
Most of my relatives live in their own places and I know it can be a never ending money pit to own your own home.
I’ve lived in apartments for well over half my adult life. Sure, there can be unpleasant neighbors, but in my experience those are the exception rather than the rule.
On balance, I would take the occasional unpleasant neighbor in exchange for not having to shovel snow, mow the lawn, or deal with maintenance issues.
I’m intolerant of neighbor noise so assisted living apartments are out.
The only kind of senior living residence I could stand would be a board-and-care
home with a separate cottage or ADU for me.
I’ve never lived in an apartment, but my son recently moved into one. I went over there to help him put up pictures, and the reason he needed help was that the walls appeared to be solid concrete and ordinary picture hangers didn’t work. It seemed like the kind of construction that would be relatively soundproof. I certainly didn’t hear anything from any other apartments while I was there.
Nevertheless, I personally don’t like the idea of apartments. If God had meant us to live in a box in the sky, he would have given us wings and provided birdhouses for us to live in.* I also have an almost paranoid dislike of elevators.
* And the birdhouses would have looked something like this:
You don’t have to take an elevator… I know a woman who has a very nice apartment in mid-town Manhattan. Six flights of stairs and no elevator. She’s doesn’t mind it (except for moving day when she was schlepping a couch up those narrow, steep stairs).
I’ve lived in apartments/condos pretty much my entire adult life.
Our current condo is great. It’s a luxury building on the NJ side of the Hudson river. It used to be an old factory at one point so the ceilings are like 18" reinforced concrete designed to support industrial machinery and the ceilings are like 12’, maybe 15’ high. So basically I can’t hear shit from my neighbors. And it’s a corner unit, so I really only have neighbors above me and on one side. Big windows, so we get lots of light with a nice view of the water and Manhattan (sort of, there’s another building in front of us).
And the neighbors are all pretty much polite and keep to themselves.
Plus the best thing about a city apartment is that it’s in a city within walking distance to all the stuff I like to do.
In contrast, we also bought a “country house” (the one downside to apartments is lack of space). Honestly, I don’t really like it. Too many rooms to clean. Too much yard to maintain. Always something needs fixing but no super to fix it. And of course it’s in a suburb so we need to drive 20-60 minutes to get anywhere (which is usually a shitty box store or chain restaurant).
My pal bought a 55+ condo where she’s on the 3rd (top) floor and has no shared walls. It’s ideal. The only potential problem will be if/when she loses her mobility, as there are no elevators.
There’s a saying in condo living: never buy on the top or bottom floor. Top floor absorbs all the roof leaks. Bottom floor absorbs all the parking lot floods.
Well, it sounds like you live in an apartment that has a lot of negatives, but not all apartments are like that. When you decide to move, and it sounds like that will be as soon as possible LOL, you need to do your research before you make your choice.
I LOVE my apartment for several reasons:
It is in a very nice community that will ticket people for many things that are ignored in a lower class community.
I made the sacrifice to pay a few hundred dollars more for that, but I also get building provided laundry facilities, mowing, trimming, beautification, etc, in the summer, and shoveling, salting, car cleaning, and complete snow removal in the winter.
I have the only apartment I’ve ever seen with not only the main bathroom, but a private smaller bathroom adjacent to the primary bedroom.
In other words, much like having a home, it’s … “location, location, location!”
