The Chief

I've been in my current abode for 11 years now and i fancy a change.

I've always fancied living in an apartment, now dont ask me why but for some reason i''ve always looked upon moving to an apartment as a step down from where i live now (3 bed semi) even though some i've looked at are the same if not slightly more expensive and tend to have more square footage than my current home.

Also i look at apartments as for proffessional people in their twenties, not someone who's 35 and would probably live their until i'm hitting 40.

Silly i know but there ya go.

So can anyone offer me any pointers? are bills cheaper i.e. utility, do you love your apartment etc, is the service charge a rip off? etc.

cheers

TopBanana

They're called flats! Sounds bloody awful to me unless it was a) right on a park and b) right in the middle of town.

fatherpierre

Loads going spare in Leeds, Birmigham, Manchester etc.

No garden, noise, and the leasehold charges you get hit with make it a starter home in my book.

Oh, and then there's the depreciation as there is a massive over-supply.

zs_phil

iTrader: (1)

ive always liked apartments up until i bought my house the thing is with apartments are the people living around you, up above you(unless you get the top floor) and around you its pot luck what sort of neighbours you get ,i mean you could get micheal flatly and his fellow friends or run dmc doing breakdancing above you .

at least with a home you get a garden to do them lovely bbq's and only the posibility of 2 neighbours .


but i bet you could get a bargain at the minute as there seems to be surplus apartments(flats) everywhere in the city .

The Chief

There are loads in Manchester at the moment unsold and it is bargains galore. Not sure if i would live there, as great and vibrant as it is and at my grand old age i'm thinking of getting out in the sticks a bit.

Markus

We currently live in an apartment, technically a condominium apartment, and have to say it's rather nice. The location is one of the big factors, we're right on the shore of Lake Ontario, about 15 mins from downtown Toronto. Another factor in the condo thing is that water and electricity are included in the monthly rent. We pay for phone and tv, so it does save a bit. I'm not sure if this type of thing is available in the UK or not, but if so, it can be very handy indeed.

When I came over here I was initially put off as when people say apartment, I think flat, and to me that sums up a tall, dreary, not very well maintained flat. Not all flats are like that I know. The first building I lived in over here was in a large apartment building (20 plus floors) and initially I did think "uh oh", when seeing it from the outside, as it didn't look all that appealing, however, when you go inside and see swimming pools, bowling lanes, sauna, tennis courts and other amenities then you start to get the feeling that it probably isn't a haven for benefit fraudsters

As with anything, there are pro's and cons, and we are house hunting as we want a bit more space, a garden, and the usual other things you get with a house. If we found a ground floor condo with a garden, then we might consider it.

David_Dickson

Its all fine, even the neighbours seem nice, the lady upstairs is a lawyer, all seems well....
then the first night after you move, you realise that upstairs must be all laminate flooring and she wears her shoes round the house all day.

CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP.......CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP.........CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP.....

Even dropping her keys sounds like a brass band is falling down the stairs.

You tire of that pretty quickly.


Then the bloke across the hall moves away due to work commitments, so rents his flat out to a couple of students.
A couple of students with a good stereo.
A couple of students with a good stereo who like Arcade Fire.
A couple of students with a good stereo who like Arcade Fire, BUT ONLY HAVE THE ONE FECKING ALBUM, AND LISTEN TO THAT SAME ALBUM AT LEAST THREE TIMES EVERY SINGLE DAY LOUD ENOUGH FOR YOU TO HEAR PERFECTLY CLEARLY IN YOUR OWN LOUNGE.

But apart from that, its fine.

fatherpierre

Arcade Fire?

Never heard of them...

scoobyfirst

I live in 1 in Sunny Stoke with it's own private rear garden, i split up from my fella and had to buy either a terraced or a flat. I opted for the flat mainly because it was new so didn't need any work and because of the parking. I don't have to pay any charges to anyone i.e. communal charges etc. There are only 6 flats surrounded by houses and i'm lucky as the neighbours are good.
I like it, its Cheap and cheerful and no stairs,it suits me anyway! It's a great base to come and go from as i please without lots of cleaning and gardening and allows me to spend my disposable income on the things i enjoy.

fatherpierre

Wanna get a room?

jjones

apartment lmao, it's a flat.

salsa-king

We have one, (FOR SALE at the mo) It was biuilt in 2005 and i was the first to move into it.

We had three years there, yes you can hear noisey neighbours, but where we were on the top floor (penthouse) we only had someone under us and on one side.

being top floor it kept warm with the flats heat from below.

the only NEGATIVE point to check:
how much water pressure is there on the cold... then test the HOT.
if everyone used the water we had next to nothing or NO water coming out any tap.



some flats save pressured water tanks to allow for heavey usage from other flat... our flat didn't have one



Phil

Dieseldog

it'll be somewhere between 'Friends' and 'Rising Damp'.


Probably nearer the latter...

AlexJReid

Having made the transition from numerous 'apartments' to a detached bungalow of the same value there's no way I'd go back to one!

Maybe I'm an intolerant git but everything said previously rings true. Herds of elephants stomping around above you, washing machines in 1600rpm spin at 7AM, loud TVs, rip off grounds fees, untidy/scuffed communal hallways, overflowing shared bins, tiny allocated parking spaces, visitor spaces that get filled by random people going to nearby shops, etc etc.

Some flats are no doubt lovely, my last two weren't - the latter built by a supposedly high end 'luxury' builder.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Make sure you none of the other flats are rented out to ******* on dss, who will make your life a living hell

Suresh

I lived 3 different city-centre apartments for the 7 years I was in Zurich. Had no problems with noises from the neighbours as Swiss properties are typically well-built - espacially the apartment that was in a 500 year old ex-monastry.
City centre life meant a choice of 100+ cafes, bars and restaurants and 4 cinemas all within a 5 min walk. Parking was another story of course.

Its all about trade-offs in the end.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

The above sounds a perfect reason for not living in one ( 100 + cafes and bars right on your doorstep, along with the 50,000 pi55ed people who frequent them at the weekend ).

And yes, they are FLATS - unless you are talking about moving to the USA to buy one - only difference is that by calling them 'apartments' in the UK the builders can charge an extra £20K for them.

Personally, having lived in flats in a busy city, then a 3 bed semi in the suburbs, my current detatched in a village is so much better. Dont have to listen to the neighbours awful taste in music, can park 3 cars on the drive, plus some more on the street if we needed to, know nearly all the neighbours in our close by name, 5 minutes walk to the sea, open fields or woods, and the noisiest thing is normally the birds, would never go back to living so close to other people again.

Not sure if its just something you get with age that you get less tolerable to other peoples noise, and feeling so crammed in, but the only move I would make now would be to somewhere more remote with even less people around it.

salsa-king

where is it mentioned that he's looking at a city centre apartment?

ours is 5mins from town (25mins if you wanted to walk it) off a very quite side road from a main road (that has access to all shops and take aways + tesco express )

Parking spaces are a good size, for each apartment with 7 space visitors spaces.

Then our Service charge is only £40 a month and it includes the buildings insurance and a caretaker cleaning corridors and the car park every other week.

Suresh

Don't judge the world by your UK-only experiences. Do you really think every city centre is full of irresponsible idiots who can't take their drink? The only pub fight I saw in Zurich in 7 years was somewhat predictably between two Brits


Phil - the OP was looks for aprtment experiences - my only experience is city-centre

scoobyfirst

If you do decide to go down the "flat route", you can get self contained ones where they have their own private door so that you don't have to share a communal hallway. I think i'd end up falling out with too many people for being too messy if i had a communal hallway 1 and you would have no control over who was visiting or snooping about. I know your not a single girl but i just think they are safer and more private.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Suresh, I was judging by my own UK based experiences as IF I was to buy an 'apartment' it would be in the UK, and would come with the negatives being that close to pubs would bring, and the OP is I assume looking to move within the UK ?

I'm well aware that most European countries have very different attitudes to drinking than we in the UK do, and seem to be able to go out and either not get drunk, or get drunk and not have to inflict it on everyone within a 100m radius.

But my opinion still stands that I would much prefer a detatched house than a flat anyday.