Why does everyone prefer houses over apartments?

0gac3yjefb5sv7

Just curious. Overall sentiment on boards seems to have woeful experiences with apartments. Although there are thousands of apartments in Dublin so they must be good for a large amount of the population. Interested to see apartment owners opinions who prefer them to houses.

Experience_day

With a house you have genuine privacy (especially detached) and no excessive charges each year. A lot more control and less rules.

Andrewf20

Less chance of noisy neighbors, garden space and no management fees would be my main reasons.

Cash_Q

Hpuses have no communal entrances/hallways/outdoor spaces. Noise issues. Ground level entrance. Parking issues. Maintenance fees. Concern about level of short term tenants who dont give a **** about the place eg young students (experience of this every single time in 6 differentlocations), prostitution (experience of this with two locations), no space for pets, poor layout/daylight, feels less secure in general. I'd have to be desperate to live in one again.

NIMAN

You have no room to 'grow' in an apartment.

By that I mean if a couple buy one, then have a child or two, they can be stuck in a dwelling thats not suitable.

Of course if you are single, or a couple who never plan to have kids, an apartment in the city with no need for a car, commute etc could be an attractive prospect.

CageWager

Apartments make sense if you live in Manhattan or Singapore etc. No need for a car as you have extensive subway systems, everything is on your doorstep. Apartments are supposed to be a totally different way of living - you sacrifice space for location. The city is for apartments, the suburbs are for houses. We have the worst of both worlds here in Ireland - low rise, low density city dwellings and badly planned apartment blocks in suburbs, serviced only by over capacity light rail or bus networks.

Del2005

With a house you have a lot of maintenance in an apartment you have very little, yet have well maintained common areas. You get heating from the other apartments so don't need to use that much to keep your own place warm

My management fee is not much higher than home insurance, . There's feck all trouble in my development and no parking issues, apart from a few people parking from nearby semi-d housing estates.

Mostly it's just snobbism in Ireland about apartments. The dodgy building in the boom didn't help but there's plenty of badly built houses from the boom, noise is an issue in both types.

Dublin can't keep building out so we've got to stop building 3 bed semi's and start building apartments, every other country manages to live in apartments yet for some reason the Irish need to have a mansion in the middle of nowhere and demand all the services of living in an apartment

Space and parking.

EmptyTree

Good apartments that are well maintained and cared for by a good management company are a joy to live in. Lived in a few for most of my early 20's and it was great. But if I was going to buy, I'd still buy a house, I can make a lot more upgrades (windows, insulation etc) if I want (I know not everyone wants to). Plus your neighbours problem becomes your problem in an apartment very quickly. I also think the likes of Priory Hall would put a lot of people off - it's only one bad story, but I imagine that made a lot of people feel nervous about taking on apartments for a good period in the mid 2010's.

The J Stands for Jay

8% of the Irish population lives in apartments. The lowest rate in Europe.

MadYaker

I like to play music loud at all hours of the day and night. I also don't like being able to hear my neighbours taking a piss or talking so its a detatched house for me from now on. Its more expensive but its worth it. Apartments in Irelend tend to be sh!t construction.

Yourmama

Del2005 wrote:

Mostly it's just snobbism in Ireland about apartments. The dodgy building in the boom didn't help but there's plenty of badly built houses from the boom, noise is an issue in both types.

Whatever are your priorities. I don't consider myself a snob and used to live in apartments but wouldn't now. Why? I'm at a stage of life where I have small kids which would be difficult to raise in small apartment. (Any decent size apartment is called penthouse here and are a scarce). Then there is proximity of garden, I just open the door and I'm outside, to have my outdoorsy life and have my charcoal BBQ any time. I can also simply open the door and have kids play outside in safe environment and I know they won't be bothered by anyone. The extra space of the house gives every one in the family a little bit of privacy whenever they feel like they need some. I like my diy and have many more opportunities for it living in a house. When I'm old and tired, I might be back in apartment but definitely not now.

M256

I live in an apartment, the impact noise from upstairs is unbearable. The kid seems to be running all day. So next time it will be either a penthouse or a house.

Foweva Awone

I've always much preferred apartments. It feels so much more secure ... does anyone know the stats regarding burglaries in houses vs apartments? I would imagine burglaries are much less common in apartments.

r93kaey5p2izun

Pets and a garden are my main reasons. These are deal breakers for me. I'm not willing to do without. Overall, just too many petty rules. I wouldn't live in one of the newer houses with a management company and lots of rules either.

boombang

I think part of the problem with apartments is that many were built during the boom, and so were shíte. Zoe Developments built some really shocking blocks in Dublin.

I lived in a small, dark, poorly planned block for a long time. I now live in a bigger, better built block and the experience is no comparison.

I would still prefer a house.

Stark

Storage main thing for me. I own bikes and enjoy outdoor pursuits so have a lot of outdoor gear. No room to put any of those things in an apartment. This seems to be an Irish thing where they were just thrown up during the boom. Other countries seem to provide access to basement/garage storage with apartments.

Diarmuid

In Ireland we are unable to build apartments suitable for long term living. The frustrating thing is, it's not that hard. They manage it in many European cities. Just copy their approach. But no, we have to "solve" the problem ourselves with half baked and ultimately wrong solutions. And then wonder why Dublin is a sprawling mess with chronic traffic problems and poor public transport.

I lived for many years in various apartments in Europe. For the most part it was a pleasant experience. You lived close to everything. Storage was solved with a cellar which over 50% of apartment blocks had. (I had multiple bikes I used daily) Yes there were some rules to follow to be good neighbour but not a whole lot different from living in a terrace or semi-d. The lack of a garden for some is a big negative but not all. Running costs for an apartment are lower, as were taxes, but again Ireland goes her own way with this.

It’s nice to sit out when the weather is good too, no chance with an apartment.

punisher5112

Sound proofing is a big issue, fire safety, neighbours that are a pain, maintenance fees and extra costs that will come down the line such as roof repair, new lift, fire remedial works etc etc....

If you have kids imo Irish apartments aren't suitable to be honest.

We were in one near 2 years and it was honestly depressing...

PCeeeee

Del2005 wrote: »

With a house you have a lot of maintenance in an apartment you have very little, yet have well maintained common areas. You get heating from the other apartments so don't need to use that much to keep your own place warm

My management fee is not much higher than home insurance, . There's feck all trouble in my development and no parking issues, apart from a few people parking from nearby semi-d housing estates.

Mostly it's just snobbism in Ireland about apartments. The dodgy building in the boom didn't help but there's plenty of badly built houses from the boom, noise is an issue in both types.

Dublin can't keep building out so we've got to stop building 3 bed semi's and start building apartments, every other country manages to live in apartments yet for some reason the Irish need to have a mansion in the middle of nowhere and demand all the services of living in an apartment

Would you say your apartment building is typical? It sounds idyllic.

I don't think it's snobbery. Most apartments do not compare well to houses. I think people see that and make a rational choice.

Finally your quick dig at rural dwellers. The tired old 'demands services' trope. Please.

_Brian

They can’t really be compared though as they are different products designed differently and aimed at different segments of the residential market.

Apartments are suited to non children couples and groups of people who need/want to live close to urban centres to workman’s socialise. High density and you trade away privacy for convenience.

Housing is a less dense residential design suited to families where more privacy is appreciated and space to have kids running about is important.

I wouldn’t live in a house in the town again never mind an apartment, but I’m at a stage where keeping away from others in general is more preferable.

Del2005

Del2005 wrote: »

With a house you have a lot of maintenance in an apartment you have very little, yet have well maintained common areas. You get heating from the other apartments so don't need to use that much to keep your own place warm

My management fee is not much higher than home insurance, . There's feck all trouble in my development and no parking issues, apart from a few people parking from nearby semi-d housing estates.

Mostly it's just snobbism in Ireland about apartments. The dodgy building in the boom didn't help but there's plenty of badly built houses from the boom, noise is an issue in both types.

Dublin can't keep building out so we've got to stop building 3 bed semi's and start building apartments, every other country manages to live in apartments yet for some reason the Irish need to have a mansion in the middle of nowhere and demand all the services of living in an apartment

You get one life, why waste it in a shoe box listening to every footstep from the person living up stairs?

Pivot Eoin

450,000 Dogs in Ireland - Apartments largely not ideal for this. So that would be one of the main reasons and my own reason why I prefer house living.

Sound - everything from banging doors on your hallway, to other people's kids (so annoying), to stomping on floors above, to inconsiderate neighbours.

Management Fees - WTF are these actually for? The Gardener?

Overpriced - Say for the 3 Bedroom Apartment market, priced alongside 3 Bed Terraces, usually in a worse location and no garden space at all.

Storage (or lack of) - No attics for all that useless crap you use once a year, and no sheds for stuff like Bikes and tools.

Moving Hassle - If you've ever had to furnish and then clear an apartment you will definitely understand the hassle here. You cant just park a car/van outside your front door and start filling.

Diarmuid

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

You get one life, why waste it in a shoe box listening to every footstep from the person living up stairs?

You do realise that millions of people live in apartments and don't have to deal with this?

Foweva Awone

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

It’s nice to sit out when the weather is good too, no chance with an apartment.

I've a lovely big wraparound balcony, perfect for sitting out in the sun. And zero maintenance compared to a garden.

Diarmuid

Diarmuid wrote: »

You do realise that millions of people live in apartments and don't have to deal with this?

I don’t believe that for a second.

r93kaey5p2izun

Drying clothes is an important one for me too. I like my clothes line dried.

Empty_Space

Pivot Eoin wrote: »

450,000 Dogs in Ireland - Apartments largely not ideal for this. So that would be one of the main reasons and my own reason why I prefer house living.

Sound - everything from banging doors on your hallway, to other people's kids (so annoying), to stomping on floors above, to inconsiderate neighbours.

Management Fees - WTF are these actually for? The Gardener?

Overpriced - Say for the 3 Bedroom Apartment market, priced alongside 3 Bed Terraces, usually in a worse location and no garden space at all.

Storage (or lack of) - No attics for all that useless crap you use once a year, and no sheds for stuff like Bikes and tools.

Moving Hassle - If you've ever had to furnish and then clear an apartment you will definitely understand the hassle here. You cant just park a car/van outside your front door and start filling.

This sums up brilliantly.

Also Irish appartments are not on par with elsewhere.

Darc19

CageWager wrote: »

Apartments make sense if you live in Manhattan or Singapore etc. No need for a car as you have extensive subway systems, everything is on your doorstep. Apartments are supposed to be a totally different way of living - you sacrifice space for location. The city is for apartments, the suburbs are for houses. We have the worst of both worlds here in Ireland - low rise, low density city dwellings and badly planned apartment blocks in suburbs, serviced only by over capacity light rail or bus networks.

100% agree.
Seems the thoughts here are apartments should be built near every train/luas stop.

Even in London this is not done.

Apartments belong in town centres and cities where all the facilities are in walking distance.

And there should be several areas that they must be a minimum height. Docklands, heuston, glass bottle site, Smithfield and probably others.
And no restrictions on height once design is right.

Some low rise apartments are suitable for other areas as many people don't want gardens or hassle of maintenance.

ladystardust

I think it mainly has to do with the size and quality of apartments in ireland. I have lived in a converted basement flat, 2 duplexes and a few apartments. The newer apartments and duplexes were not only small but obviously thrown up, with no thought to privacy. My current apartment has literally no storage space. No press, nothing. All of my stuff is basically under the bed. I can hear my neighbours taking a slash every night..... I'm also convinced there may be a brothel above me. Anyway, I think apartments are efficient and a good option for some but have too many downsides when not built or maintained appropriately. I cant wait to own a house so that I have only one adjoining neighbour, my own front door, a garden, and a press to store my Hoover.

JustAThought

I’ve lived in some beautiful appartments in Dublin where there was zero issues or problems with noise or neighbours but they were small by comparison with what you get in a house.

I’ve also stayed/shared in appartments in Dublin where there was noise and parties due to their handy city centre location , where the screaming and howling from drunks coming out of pubs and clubs at 230 am wake you every night and you swash through vomit crusted doorsteps and over drunks and junkies and dossers every morning dossing down in your city centre doorstep.

I can’t imagine what it might be like to have someone or families of these IN the appartment block - having been placed there almost free of charge by the taxpayer and with e700-e800 cash handout to spend or drink or booze every month and nothing to do all day. Nightmare. New trend in the superexpensive appartments built around google HQ and charlotte dock where the government has just spent up to a half a million per appartment buying them to put itinerants and social welfare people in - imagine having your lifes savings/borrowings invested in that and how it will totally screw your re-sale value and negitive equity.

I’d now also be concerned about the likes of what happened in Belmayne and Smithfield with appartments in high density areas being used by the prison and ‘reform’ services to house convicted rapists and paedophiles when they get out of prison- if it wasn’t for the work being done by the Herald people would have no idea - no doubt we all read the story of Larry Murphy turning up at a ‘neighbours’ BBQ and having to be asked to leave - brave man who did that to protect his family. Imagine that in your life at night or in the common areas where wives are and children play.

Renters wrecking the place - moving on and the others or owners being left to pick up the bill - famaged common areas/ prams and bikes in hallways damaging plaster/BBQ’s on balconies burning holes in wooden floors/cealings etc and people who have outgrown the space but cannot move making it into shanty town with old couches and childrens plastic wendyhouses on balconies and junk covered in noisy plastic covers etc. Remaining owners/renters management fee then gors uo the following year. Headwreck.

Noise.

Antisocial behaviour.

Living in close promimity to people whose values you don’t share.

Unpredictibility and fear of living in close quarters to methadone users/ junkies/ crackheads.

Unpredictibility of living in shared facilities and communal corridors with high volume of mostly untracable strangers who you have no idea where they are from or what they think is ‘normal’ or acceptable behaviour.

Bins left on corridors leaking godknowswhat onto communal carpets.

Noise of communal bins being lifted and emptied - ditto issues around not putting lids on properly, overfilling and rats.


Shared Parking - total headmelt.

Clamping - total headmelt if someone has dumped their car in your spot and you have to park when you get home late
from work and you are then clamped.

Sinkfunds or lack thereof & disappearing sinkfunds.

PrioryHall/GorseHill situations.

External maintenance.

Unregulated so called ‘management’ companies.

Endless headwreck administration for basic life.

etc

Darc19

ladystardust wrote: »

I cant wait to own a house so that I have only one adjoining neighbour, my own front door, a garden, and a press to store my Hoover.

Go semi rural and you'll never look back

I'm a 30-40 min walk to Kildare Town, I can sunbathe naked (no I don't ) I can hear the birdsong, I can breathe fresh country air and neighbors would go out of their way to help each other.

If I was offered a free house to live in Dublin, I'd refuse it.

Caranica

Plenty of houses have management fees too.

My 3 bed duplex is bigger than my sister's 3 bed semi. I've also got more storage (including attic) and more bathrooms.

It's not perfect, neighbours on one side did renovations earlier this year and since then I'm having noise issues I never had before. Hopefully that can be sorted.

Newbie20

Daxton Mealy Optometry wrote: »

Drying clothes is an important one for me too. I like my clothes line dried.

Or you could do as my apartment neighbours do and dry their clothes on a clothes horse out the front! Looks awful.

To be fair the people in them don’t cause any real bother and I’m sure lots of apartments are lovely. But in my case there is no doubt that it is harder to keep an area looking nice when there are apartments there. They don’t have the same interest in keeping the place looking nice outside, picking up rubbish on the ground etc. Just my personal experience, I’m sure there are some lovely apartment blocks around.

Royale with Cheese

There needs to be a certificate rating brought in for noise proofing in apartments/terraced/semi d's in Ireland similar to BER. It is an absolute fúcking joke what some developers can get away with, and it's very hard to tell what a place will be like until you've lived in it a few months. I thought my place was fine for 6 months until somebody moved in to the vacant apartment upstairs.

That said it should only be brought in after I've sold my place...

JustAThought

Appartment blocks allowed be built down the quays in the 1990’s with no lights in the commin corridors - every other appartment has a lamp cord under its door and a lamp outside their door so they are not walking putch balck corrudirs to get into their appartments :0 Of course that’s to do with building regulations and planning but still a headwreck.

Appartments allowed to be built with no fire escape stairwell - lift only deathtraps. Functioning in Dublin and rented out as we speak.

Appartments built out of wood - with no firebreak between appartments. ‘Discovered’ by firemen in a huge apprtment complex estate when putting out a chip pan fire that spread to adjoining (wood build) appartments - one block required everyone to move out but the remaining blocks not checked and never fixed - deathtraps. Still fully rented and functioning.

Fire in Belmayne (I think) 3 storeys up over 2 storey high ground floor retail units - Dublin fire brigade do not have enough high rise hydraulic ladders for rescuing people in our new appartment builds - hydraulic high rise ladder unit stored in city centre depot and has to be driven to and unit retrieved before attending fire - imagine being told to wait when your family is burning to death because of traffic on Pearse St and your local station cannot reach your window with their 1980’s planning compliant equipment.

These are all regulatory/ health & safety/planning/ government compliance issues - all being utterly ignored by RTE, the rest of the sleeping media, politicians and governemnt bodies.

Get a house!!

r93kaey5p2izun

Newbie20 wrote: »

Or you could do as my apartment neighbours do and dry their clothes on a clothes horse out the front! Looks awful.

To be fair the people in them don’t cause any real bother and I’m sure lots of apartments are lovely. But in my case there is no doubt that it is harder to keep an area looking nice when there are apartments there. They don’t have the same interest in keeping the place looking nice outside, picking up rubbish on the ground etc. Just my personal experience, I’m sure there are some lovely apartment blocks around.

Personally I think there's nothing wrong with drying washing on a balcony or in public view. It's the norm across half of Europe too. I think this view of washing as unsightly is weird tbh, especially when it seems to take greater priority than function and practicality.

JustAThought

Daxton Mealy Optometry wrote: »

Personally I think there's nothing wrong with drying washing on a balcony or in public view. It's the norm across half of Europe too. I think this view of washing as unsightly is weird tbh, especially when it seems to take greater priority than function and practicality.

Its not the norm and is banned in most appartment blocks for good reasons. It is unsightly, it runs the real risk of items of drying contraptions being blown down to street level and maiming someone or causing a car accident, it runs the risk of the external windows being hit and damaged by flapping zips or buttons leaving the fellow renters or owners with an increased mgmt bill to fix or replace the windows etc. It also is a noise nuisance to adjoining neighbours, and seeping water from clothes presents a draining problem on balconies or nuisance to neighbours below whose outdoor area is wet or stain damaged by seeping clothes.

Most civilised countries have common drying / storage with lines areas in the basements or block utility services - not here of course - far too
much effort for the government to regulate or force builders to plan for.

ladystardust

Newbie20 wrote: »

Or you could do as my apartment neighbours do and dry their clothes on a clothes horse out the front! Looks awful.

To be fair the people in them don’t cause any real bother and I’m sure lots of apartments are lovely. But in my case there is no doubt that it is harder to keep an area looking nice when there are apartments there. They don’t have the same interest in keeping the place looking nice outside, picking up rubbish on the ground etc. Just my personal experience, I’m sure there are some lovely apartment blocks around.

Unfortunately any washer/dryer combo I have ever had has been useless so unless you are lucky enough to have more than a galley kitchen in an apartment, then clothes horse is it my friend. My kitchen has a press for plates/bowls and mugs, a press for pots/pans and a press for food. Drawers currently storing jam/preserves/ sugar/ spices. That's it for space. I'd love a dryer that works and space to put it. But for now, I've got my undies drying on a clothes horse on the balcony for all to see. For shame!

Newbie20

Daxton Mealy Optometry wrote: »

Personally I think there's nothing wrong with drying washing on a balcony or in public view. It's the norm across half of Europe too. I think this view of washing as unsightly is weird tbh, especially when it seems to take greater priority than function and practicality.

Well see they don’t have a balcony, it’s on ground floor level. Yeah I get your point and realise that a lot of people feel the same as you, it’s just a personal opinion that it looks very bad and not what I envisaged I’d see out the front when I bought my house. I suppose if it was the norm in Ireland maybe I’d feel different but it’s definitely not the norm here.

They do have room out the back to do same so it doesn’t have to be in full view and I’d have no problem with that. In theory, if every apartment followed suit then there could be 20/30 clothes horses outside at a time and it would look like some kind of outdoor laundry service.

JustAThought

<SNIP>

DoozerT6

I flip-flop over which is better at times. I (female, single) bought an apartment in the 'burbs (it was all I could afford at the time) and have lived here for years, and always swore blind that I would eventually upgrade to a house. But I never had the opportunity, and now I'm not so sure. Yes, I could do without the constantly screaming baby next door, having to go outside and behind the building to get to the bins, and the noise from the communal hallway, but I also never have to worry about garden or building maintenance, randomers knocking at my door etc. I can see how storage could be an issue for people as mine is a typical 'went up in the Boom' apartment block and there is only the one storage cupboard in the hallway. There are families here with kids bikes in the hallways (not blocking access or egress) because there is nowhere else to put them.

I'm a couple of floors up, which adds to the feeling of security, and yet still, at times, I yearn for a place where I'm not so close to everyone else and I'm not constantly hearing traffic from the road outside. Also, the management fees here are so expensive.

I dunno. Someday, when I'm big (lol) I'll know what to do.

PukkaStukka

JustAThought wrote: »

Most civilised countries have common drying / storage with lines areas in the basements or block utility services - not here of course - far too much effort for the government to regulate or force builders to plan for.

This for me is the knub of a big issue with our planning system. Builders and developers are let do what they want and we then have a planning system that is developer led rather than consumer led. Local authorities then have skin in the game in the form of development levies. So the more that's built, the more levies they accrue. The emphasis is usually on quantity of build rather than quality, and all too often we hear about X number of houses being built with poor infrastructure etc.

We need to overhaul the planning model here completely and look at what our continental neighbours are doing there to make apartment living both desirable and sustainable. We
are not learning from their success.

JustAThought

Criminal grade apathy, incompetence and dereliction of duty by out planning, regulatory and statuatory ‘authorities’. Brown envelopes and everyone look that way are not things of the past.

Graham

Mod Note

JustAThought, stop dragging the thread of topic with your soapboxing.

Do not reply to this post.

Normajeanjones

Do people regard own door duplexes in the same way as apartments? Or would this be considered similar to a terraced house?

Of course a detached house would be lovely but as a single buyer in Dublin my budget is more suited to an apartment, but could probably stretch to an own door, three bed duplex. Thoughts on these? Just as bad as an apartment?

HamSarris

Apartments will be a great investment in the future given the increase in single people.

Where will all those 40-year-old women waiting on Mr. Right and all those 40-year-old men still trying to get with college girls live?

Caranica

Normajeanjones wrote: »

Do people regard own door duplexes in the same way as apartments? Or would this be considered similar to a terraced house?

Of course a detached house would be lovely but as a single buyer in Dublin my budget is more suited to an apartment, but could probably stretch to an own door, three bed duplex. Thoughts on these? Just as bad as an apartment?

I have an own door 3 bed duplex. Generally love it. I feel safer than I did in our old semi d. Yes there's management fees but low maintenance costs.

As with any conjoined housing neighbours a make a huge difference to your experience.

FVP3

The hostility to apartments here explains why Dublin has such a huge problem with sprawl. We live in a nicely run apartment near the sea and Dart, my sister and family lives in a 3 bedroom house past the M50. I know which one I'd prefer.

We dont have kids yet but when we do we can probably stay here for at least one. There is a family down stairs with two kids.

FVP3

Normajeanjones wrote: »

Do people regard own door duplexes in the same way as apartments? Or would this be considered similar to a terraced house?

Of course a detached house would be lovely but as a single buyer in Dublin my budget is more suited to an apartment, but could probably stretch to an own door, three bed duplex. Thoughts on these? Just as bad as an apartment?

Assuming that "apartments are bad" in the first place there. But let's go with it.

A duplex is a house that happens to be on top or below another house. It doesn't have a shared corridor so you don't really share with anybody.