Apartment Living

Packerjohn

Packerjohn
Location
Canada
My wife & I have been home owners all our adult lives. We have just sold our home & will be moving into a nice upscale apartment at the end of this month. It has an island, a common room, an exercise room & there is a nearby park with a walking path along the banks of a river.

We are sick & tired of home ownership & really sick of all the "stuff" we have bought over the years. I have sold some of it but mostly we have given it away to a local charity shop. Both of us love walking but we hated the ice & snow for 6 month of the year (we live in central Canada). Who wants to fall & crack your hip? We decided to rent for the rest of our lives, we did not want to buy a condo.

We would love to hear from people who have sold their homes & moved to an apartment. How do you like it?
 

Well, Maintenance and owners of our apartment complex take care of appliances that go bad. A few years ago, we got a brand new A/C Unit outside. A year or so ago, a new water heater, oxygen sensor, new thermostat, new garbage disposal and new blinds.
No property taxes. A landscaping company takes care of the lawns and scrubs.........not us.

Had a house and sold it when we left the state we lived in. Don't have the finances anymore to buy another one or even a condo. Can't use my VA for a Home Loan, because the Veteran (me) has to be on a job for at least 5 years for the bank loan.

Living in an apartment doesn't bother me, unless there are really noisy people that live above us.........then, it's time to talk to management and let the upstairs neighbors know just how loud they are.
 
Lived in many apartments as a kid....divorced mom couldn't afford much else. Then as a young adult on my own did the same. Finally bought a house in my mid 30's. Had this place [2nd house] built when I was 50 and retiring.

I have always been a garage nut & motorcyclist...so garage meant allot too me. Now @ 69[in June] with arthritis....those two things have slipped in importance, as such I too am considering a move ?....Down size / sell off.....so to speak.

My only concern with apartment living again is....Your neighbors are close & a person is at the mercy of their behavior .

At an upscale address ? Better odds in your favor , but of course there are no guarantees regarding people.

I may ? just stay here & hire out what i can no longer do, as it happens ?..Might be cheaper in the long run? And of course max privacy in home remains.
 

Hi Packerjohn, also from Canada and am on a waiting list for 3 buildings, not upscale, not downscale, just in between scale. But just in case I keep looking daily at listings for mobile homes in nice parks. I just not sure I can adjust to apartment living. I will not be able to use the balcony as I do not like heights, I will miss having a garden, so much will change.
 
My only concern with apartment living again is....Your neighbors are close & a person is at the mercy of their behavior .

I am like a caged lion in an apartment

can't

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The only reason I didn't care much for apartment living was that you never knew when the rent was going up, maybe beyond your budget this time, or maybe the whole place would be converted to condos next year. Early in life, that was not so bad. I had enough energy to move. In fact it was often exciting. Not so sure now.

I guess I should add, your taxes might raise beyond your means too, if you own a house. My neighbor's house just sold for way above its value. That means everyone's taxes in the neighborhood will go up. Oh well... :shrug:
 
If the time every comes that I'm on my own again, it's apartment time for sure. My late husband and I rented a townhouse for a couple of years between owning homes and I really miss being able to call down to the office and say, "YOUR waterheater has stopped working or there's a leak in YOUR toilet or something is running around in YOUR attic" and they send someone over to fix THEIR items.
 
If the time every comes that I'm on my own again, it's apartment time for sure. My late husband and I rented a townhouse for a couple of years between owning homes and I really miss being able to call down to the office and say, "YOUR waterheater has stopped working or there's a leak in YOUR toilet or something is running around in YOUR attic" and they send someone over to fix THEIR items.

Excellent reason!!
 
"Early in life, that was not so bad. I had enough energy to move. In fact it was often exciting. Not so sure now."

Excellent point !
 
It suits me now but would not have prior to the past few years. I think that our living needs change as we age and as life circumstances change. and being open and accepting of change adds to personal contentment and peace of mind.
 
After owning our own homes for over 50 years I am quite content to be in a rented apartment now.
My only complaint is that I am responsible for painting the place after being here 8 years.
I don't have the energy or resources to do that. The public areas are well maintained, what about
the interior of the apartments, especially in a senior's residence.
 
...One often overlooked advantage of renting there is no compulsion to constantly remodel, and improve your home... :playful:
But that's the fun part! My aim is to get my house perfect, by the day I take my last breath... "

"Here lies her ashes. She finally got that house just right!"


Then they can do whatever they want with it.

hobbies-leisure-construction-demolition-bulldoze-bulldozers-fight-jmp050526_low.jpg
 
My apartment is a condo. We moved here 3 years ago from a condo townhouse. I miss the garage and that senior community had more things to do than this one.
Paid for is beautiful.
 
.

I lived in several apartments when I was young, but never more than a couple of years at a time.

Once I bought my first home, I settled in, put down roots and stayed for over a decade until I bought my second home [where I live now for almost two decades.]

My point is... when I lived in an apartment it felt temporary, like a dorm room, not like home.

I feel more secure, comfortable and at ease in my own home.
 
Another thing, that we came to find out when got our last house in Colorado, it's not just upstairs apartment dwellers that can be noisy, so can next door house neighbors. It wasn't the people themselves, it was their two dogs. They were suppose to be put into the garage by the wife, before she went to bed, but she didn't do it. Her husband worked an overnight shift for the school district. Apparently his wife and their small son were hard sleepers and didn't hear the dogs barking. Most of the time, the barking didn't start until 2AM and then woke us up. Our bedroom window faced our backyard, which was next to their backyard. There was a city ordinance about barking dogs, but to have it enforced, a complaint would have to be made with local P.D. at their office. We really didn't want to stir up a "hornet's next" with a neighbor, but had to do something.

Talked to the husband and he was both shocked and not happy at all that his wife wasn't putting the dogs in the garage as he had asked her to. Then, she started doing it. Thing was, one of them got out of the garage one night, came over to our house, dug a hole under our fence and got into our backyard. We didn't even know it was there until another neighbor told us that our dog had been barking part of the day. We didn't even have a dog! So, neighbor got his dog and fixed our fence. Not to long after that, we ended up selling and moving out of the state.

Then, we also had a problem with a couple of large woods owls that would land on the roof of the house behind us and "hoot" at each other at 1AM. I got out our boat spotlight, pointed it up into the sky, turned it on and brought it down to where one of the owls were on the roof. It seen the bright light and flew off, along with the other one. This happened a few times.

Heck, I got up Mon thru Fri at 5:15AM to get ready to leave for work at 6:15AM. Had to be in Denver at 7AM for my job. Getting woke up by barking dogs and large owls was not my idea of a good nights sleep!
 
Guess I have the best of both worlds. I've lived in houses but never wanted to own one. I "rented" this apartment when it was brand new and I was just 24. I found out afterward that my very small downpayment ($400) actually went toward the purchase of the unit. All common area problems are taken care of via our carrying charges. The mortgage was paid off years ago but now we have taxes which we didn't have when the mortgage was being paid due to the PILOT program. Since we had to start paying taxes, they went up sky high so we still have those carrying charges.

For obvious reasons, at this age (early 70's) I still would not want to own a house. I have friends who always have to come up with large sums to fix this or that. Wouldn't want to be bothered with all that.
 
Lived in apartments for 40 years before moving in this house. It's set up the way we want, we have great neighbors, the entire city has gentrified tremendously, and it's in easy distance from all our friends/family. We have a large garden that is getting progressively more tiring to maintain as we age.

I can hardly wait to sell this thing and get back to apartment living, in some sort of senior living facility. Probably another 3-5 yrs, however.
 
Rent is too high for my comfort level in Houston. I live in a condo on the second floor and can do most of the maintenance & repairs myself. I lived in apts. for many years and have had good and bad experiences. It all boils down to what makes you feel comfortable. I worked as a contractor for years so moving was part of my life and renting fit the bill back then. Owning a house was a burden as there was always something that needed doing either inside or outside. My dad bought our home in 1954 for $25,000 and sold it about 15 years later for the same amount so he did not fare well on that one but made a bundle on his Florida home.
 
I’m Canadian, 62 years old, on disability since 2005. I owned my own condo and then my own home. I sold it over three years ago and have lived in an apartment since. Living in my house was costing me $1400 a month (mortgage, property tax, home insurance, utilities, etc.) My apartment costs me under $1000, which enables me to contribute a significant amount to my investments. My apartment complex has an indoor and outdoor pool, health club, gardens, a woodworking shop, and a mall within walking distance. My doctor is across the street and makes house calls (seriously.) It’s a generally quiet building with great tenants, about 80% seniors and the rest University students. I never have to worry about upkeep like I had to in my house. I would never consider buying a house again.
 
I’m Canadian, 62 years old, on disability since 2005. I owned my own condo and then my own home. I sold it over three years ago and have lived in an apartment since. Living in my house was costing me $1400 a month (mortgage, property tax, home insurance, utilities, etc.) My apartment costs me under $1000, which enables me to contribute a significant amount to my investments. My apartment complex has an indoor and outdoor pool, health club, gardens, a woodworking shop, and a mall within walking distance. My doctor is across the street and makes house calls (seriously.) It’s a generally quiet building with great tenants, about 80% seniors and the rest University students. I never have to worry about upkeep like I had to in my house. I would never consider buying a house again.

I would say you are doing the right thing!!
 
Could someone please tell me what the difference is between a Condo and an apartment ...we have no such distinction in the UK....


Welcome to the forum Karen, it sound like you made the best decision
 
Apartments are usually rented and are all owned by one person or corporation whereas condominiums are units within a complex that are individually owned.
 


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