55% of Americans say they would prefer to live in a community where houses are larger and farther away from amenities – compared to 44% who say the opposite.
Yeah I could never willingly live in an apartment for many reasons, but a few of them being:
no common outdoor area for pets, so if your dog needs to pee you have to take them for a walk around the block to pee on some tiny patch of grass beside the street.
As you mentioned no garage/driveway to work on a vehicle or even have any other space intensive hobby/activity like woodworking.
Privacy, I just hate having neighbours and noises at all times of the day.
Gardening for more than a couple pots of tomatoes and herbs on a balcony.
Privacy, I just hate having neighbours and noises at all times of the day.
This was a big thing for me. I understand that my apartment is surrounded by other apartments but I don’t like being constantly reminded of it either by the noise they make or trying to be super quiet in mine so they aren’t bothered.
The problem with many apartments in the US is shoddy construction, not density.
I live in a Victorian row house, at the end of a row, so I have one neighbor I share a wall with. It’s two courses of brick with an air gap in the middle. The house is well-constructed, so we literally never hear each other. However, back when I was renting, I lived in places in the same city where the sound isolation was so poor that you could tell if the toilet paper the neighbors were using was soft or scratchy.
My wife and I both work remotely most of the time. She’s on a call upstairs right now. I don’t hear her.
They are built so cheaply now, you and your neighbors hear too much of each other’s lives. Gone are the old insulated plaster and lathe walls; Now it is all chalk filled paper board (drywall). Even the floors are a thin layer of plywood nailed over the joists with a thin pad and carpet laying over it.
Yeah, the sleep deprivation I experienced last time we lived in an apartment makes me loathe to ever consider it an option again. Now I live near an elementary school, and have kids screaming all day at PE. I don’t mind it a bit! People are fine, but when you can hear your neighbor coughing at 3am and it wakes you every night it drives you nuts.
Yeah I could never willingly live in an apartment for many reasons, but a few of them being:
no common outdoor area for pets, so if your dog needs to pee you have to take them for a walk around the block to pee on some tiny patch of grass beside the street.
As you mentioned no garage/driveway to work on a vehicle or even have any other space intensive hobby/activity like woodworking.
Privacy, I just hate having neighbours and noises at all times of the day.
Gardening for more than a couple pots of tomatoes and herbs on a balcony.
And many more
This was a big thing for me. I understand that my apartment is surrounded by other apartments but I don’t like being constantly reminded of it either by the noise they make or trying to be super quiet in mine so they aren’t bothered.
The problem with many apartments in the US is shoddy construction, not density.
I live in a Victorian row house, at the end of a row, so I have one neighbor I share a wall with. It’s two courses of brick with an air gap in the middle. The house is well-constructed, so we literally never hear each other. However, back when I was renting, I lived in places in the same city where the sound isolation was so poor that you could tell if the toilet paper the neighbors were using was soft or scratchy.
My wife and I both work remotely most of the time. She’s on a call upstairs right now. I don’t hear her.
They are built so cheaply now, you and your neighbors hear too much of each other’s lives. Gone are the old insulated plaster and lathe walls; Now it is all chalk filled paper board (drywall). Even the floors are a thin layer of plywood nailed over the joists with a thin pad and carpet laying over it.
Yeah, the sleep deprivation I experienced last time we lived in an apartment makes me loathe to ever consider it an option again. Now I live near an elementary school, and have kids screaming all day at PE. I don’t mind it a bit! People are fine, but when you can hear your neighbor coughing at 3am and it wakes you every night it drives you nuts.