The pros of living in an apartment. Which is better: a private house
I have experience living in my own apartment and in my own house. Based on this experience, in line with the community theme, I will try to outline the pros and cons of both.
Advantages of living in an apartment:
1. You do not care about cleaning the house area, cleaning the entrance, cleaning the elevator, lighting the staircase, repairing the roof and common property of the house. You just pay for all this, sometimes (or often) it is not adequate to the quality of the services provided.
2. The infrastructure you need (kindergarten, school, shops) may be close to your apartment (although it may not be ...).
Cons of living in an apartment:
1. Entrance. You cannot influence the state of the entrance, if it is dirty, you practically cannot do anything with it.
2. Neighbors, they periodically like to turn on loud music, their children stomp on your ceiling, they like to work with a puncher, some can throw out garbage right at the entrance, sometimes they fill you in, sometimes you fill them in and then, in addition to paying for repairs in your apartment, you pay more renovation in their apartment.
3. Machine. Parking your car next to your driveway, or at least next to your home, can be a challenge. The parking lot is located at some distance from the house, from very close (if you are lucky), to not at all nearby. It costs money to keep your car in the parking lot. As a rule, you cannot use the electric heating in the parking lot, or use it for a fee. If you keep your car at home, there is a risk of losing, if not the car, then some part of it.
4. Hot water and heat can be supplied when it is already very cold (in our city hot water and heat are turned off in apartments in May, turned on in October, and even in November). In the event of an emergency in the heat supply, you can still be left without electricity (everyone turns on the electric heaters and the substation flies out from the load).
5. You cannot store summer / winter tires, tourist and other equipment in the apartment (for example, I have diving equipment, two sets, a kite, a parachute, skis, a snowboard, buy a paraglider with a motor in the slats, etc.), and if it's not convenient to store it.
6. You cannot store all the tools you need in your apartment, because you still cannot work fully in your apartment.
7. You are limited by the area of your apartment, and you have to always look for compromises on the placement of something or someone.
8. You are at risk of losing your property because of someone else's, and not because of your mistake (gas exploded at neighbors or they started a fire, etc.)
9. You have an apartment, a summer residence, a garage, and you wind between these objects, because there is no other way.
10. Often you cannot open the window to ventilate the apartment, because the windows face the road.
11. Children brought up in an apartment, in a common yard, often lack the feeling of the owner, the owner, they have a lower threshold of responsibility for their actions and the causal relationship between what you do and what you get is worse. From such children it is easier to make cogs of the system, which go in formation where they indicate. From childhood they get used to the fact that they are not responsible for anything, and that if something happens, an uncle will come and fix / fix everything.
12. The cost of an apartment is not commensurate with the quality of life in it, since in addition to paying for the apartment itself (the cost of building it), you also pay an "administrative" tax, that is, the money that the builder spent in excess of the actual cost of construction, on bribes, permissions, etc.
13. You cannot assess the quality of the construction of an apartment in the same way as you did not observe how an apartment building was being built, that is, you buy a pig in a poke. And such an apartment can be fraught with many surprises.
Cons of owning a home:
1. You have to do everything yourself. If it snows, get up an hour earlier, shovel in your teeth and clean the paths. In the summer, a couple of times a week, be so kind as to mow the lawn, otherwise it will not be beautiful. Mark paths, etc. You need to provide yourself with firewood (for stove heating), you need to be aware of what and how it works in your house so that you can emergency repair the water supply, sewerage system, electricity. You need to constantly do something around the house (and there will always be work).
2. It may happen that it will take you a little longer to go to work from home, take your children to school or to the section.
Pros of owning your own home:
1. There are no problems with parking, you drive cars into the yard and you can not even close the doors or pull out the keys from the ignition lock. In winter, you can turn on the electric heating, and in summer, cover the car with a light awning and no one will steal it. And there is no need to pay for parking (two cars in the parking lot while living in an apartment cost us 28,800 rubles a year (now it is probably even more expensive).
2. There are no problems with the heating, you turn it on when you need it, and not when the operating office decides and turn it off when you need it, and you don’t open all the windows when the batteries are blazing with heat, so that you can exist at least somehow comfortably. If you have your own well, then you don’t need water meters, you don’t pay for sewerage, if you have a septic tank, you don’t pay for heating and hot water (and tariffs are still growing).
3. You have no problems with clean air (if you live outside the city).
4. You are not afraid to let the children go for a walk alone, as you know all the neighbors around and all the neighbors know you.
5. You do not need a summer house and a garage, because your house is an apartment and a summer house and a garage and a workshop and so on and so forth. If there is not enough space, you can build yourself another shed / garage on your territory without any problems. The same applies to equipment (snowmobile, boat, ATV), you keep all this in one place and operate, often, right from home, you do not need to take it all anywhere.
6. You have a sauna in your house and, having come from the cold, you do not need to climb into a hot bath to warm up, instead, you warm yourself in your own sauna. And you, for sure, have your own bathhouse on your territory, so you can not go to the public bathhouse on Saturday, but relax in yours. And kebabs can be made right in your yard, and if it's cold, then in the fireplace (I have special grill grates in my fireplace).
7. You can bring animals for food (rabbits, geese, chickens) and it will not stress you too much.
8. If you build a house yourself, then you make the layout the way you need it, and do not depend on the imagination of some architects who designed your high-rise building. Therefore, everything in your house is comfortable, thought out, functional. Plus, you are able to check the quality of construction at all stages from the foundation to the roof and you cannot build something bad for yourself of your own free will.
9. Children brought up in their own home are more independent, more responsible, because in one way or another they are involved in the maintenance of the house, in housework, they have a sense of ownership, their own space, responsibility for this space, a sense of the owner. It is more difficult to force such people to believe in yet another ideological nonsense, they are more "on their own mind" and their life can be more successful, because they are better aware of cause-and-effect relationships and they have a greater sense of responsibility (they did not feed the chickens, they died :)) ...
10. If you live in a wooden house, with a minimum of plastic or synthetics, then you begin to understand on your own health how this affects you for the better after living in an apartment.
11. You are not exposed to electromagnetic waves from Wi-Fi routers of your neighbors, of which there may be several dozen.
12. The cost of your own house in terms of area / price / convenience is either equal to or even less than the cost of an apartment.
From the experience of living in a house and apartment, I can say the following, no matter how life develops, I will hold on to my house to the last, because the quality of life in my house cannot even be compared with the quality of life in an apartment, no matter how overdressed it is.
Not long ago, to my surprise, one reader asked me to write a post in the blog section, on an unusual topic, about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a private house.
Since I have been living in a private house for 7 years, I can already sum up the results. And I confess, although there are also disadvantages of living in a private house, I would never have returned to the apartment.
So I'll start with the advantages of living in a private house:
1) A sense of personal space. No one except their own children jumps over their heads, does not knock, and in general, one feels that comfort of a private area, where the walls and ceilings are yours. No one except their own household members will flood you with anything, breed cockroaches, etc.
2) Nature is close. Even if this nature is two flower beds in size, fresh air also matters. What could be more pleasant one warm summer morning to drink coffee in the arbor or on the terrace, I even keep quiet about breakfast while admiring the flower beds. You don’t have to travel far away to have a barbecue.
3) Possibility to have a small vegetable garden or beds and a garden. By my example, I know how delicious the berries from my beds and garden are. You can grow your own herbs, such as parsley, basil, dill, mint and much more, which does not require a lot of space.
Ahead of the question, I have a big cherry growing that brings delicious berries, quite a few raspberries, red currants, young plums, viburnum (a symbol of Ukraine that warms the soul), as well as heavenly apples. On the beds in the form of flower beds, I have quite a few strawberries, there are strawberries, as well as cilantro, basil, parsley, dill, basil, thyme, chives and onions, a lot of rucola, lettuce, bok choy Chinese cabbage, sweet peas , cherry tomato bushes, and very soon I will plant cayenne chili from home seedlings and jalapenos, the seeds of which I brought from Mexico.
In the yard I have quite a few flowers and ornamental bushes and needles, both in flower beds and in pots.
What's more, from spring to late autumn, you can decorate your home with fragrant flowers.
4)
Living in a private house, having children, you can have a sandpit and a small playground right in the yard. In addition, from a young age, a child can play independently in the yard, without worrying that the child may get run over by someone's car, or disappear somewhere, etc. And a picnic can be done right there in the yard ...
5) You yourself regulate the heating of the house, as well as the supply of warm and cold water;
6) The opportunity to have a fireplace and bask by the hearth in winter, drink mulled wine or an hour with the crackling of wood.
7) The ability to have a garage at the house, and not God knows where and to park at home, and not in the common yard.
8) And finally, living in a private house, you decide for yourself what and how will be around the house, stinking entrances and elevators are a thing of the past and you do not suffer from the sloppiness of neighbors who smoke in the entrance and throw cigarette butts there, litter, paint on the walls, and sometimes make things worse.
9) The ability to plan and re-plan your home with less formalities involved. And when building a house from scratch, you can generally plan everything almost as you like, and in the case of an apartment, with all the desire, there is no such possibility and you have to choose one of the less or more convenient standard options.
10) Comparative silence, since areas with private houses are usually not in the center, and if the house is not on the outskirts, then away from the roads.
Well, now about the disadvantages of living in a private house:
1) The house itself and living in it, it is no secret, is more expensive than an apartment and living in an apartment. (Except for the elite metropolitan apartments). And also a lot depends on the thermal insulation of the house, area, type of heating, etc.
2) There is always work in or near the house. If you are a neat person and order and a pleasant appearance of your home are important to you, there is always a lot of work. We cleaned the house, cleaned the yard, cleaned the yard, cleaned the weeds from the beds, tidied up the inventory, mow the lawn (if any), water the plants in warm seasons, clean something, paint something, something then fix it, etc. Everything is easier with this in an apartment.
3) Remoteness from infrastructure, again, areas with private houses are usually not in the center, and if the house is not on the outskirts, then far from the roads. And apart from neighbors, there is little in the vicinity, although everything depends on the area. It is often difficult to live in some of these areas without your own transportation. And you can't really send your children to school by bus and you can't run across the street to work, etc. But as practice shows, whoever has money for a house and will find it for a car.
4) In winter, when there is a lot of snow, you have to dig it out yourself. I was lucky, because my husband really loves to do this and is just waiting for the snow to fall to work with a shovel.
Faced with a choice - buy an apartment or build a private house- many people think for a long time and weigh everything advantages and disadvantages one and the other real estate. This article examines the pros and cons of a private residential building. Reliable information is gleaned from the personal experience of homeowners who have built or bought a private house and have lived in it for more than one year.
The house itself and its location
- pros:
√ The most pleasant thing about a private house is that the owner decides what will be the size his living space and layout... Alas, in the case of an apartment, you have to take what they offer (or, more precisely, they are being built by developers), and the maximum that can be done is rooms in order to maximally adjust them to your own needs and concepts of comfort.
√ In a private house, over time, you can even expand the living space by adding a room, a terrace or converting the attic into a cozy attic, or adding something else (a workshop, a gazebo, a bathhouse, etc.).
√ No dark courtyards and dirty entrances. Instead, a clean, tidy courtyard with designer fixtures and a porch with exclusive
√ In any private house, it will definitely start cellar... It can store not only fresh vegetables and fruits, but also numerous preparations, wine, tinctures and liqueurs of our own production from berries and fruits. In winter, this cellar becomes an invaluable nourishment for both the physical (jar of raspberry jam) and mental (bottle of wine) health of the family.
√ An advantage that cannot be overestimated is the independence in terms of heating. Own heating system gives a lot of comfort to homeowners. Private traders do not have to freeze in autumn, when the heating season has not yet begun, and overheat in early spring, when the outside temperature is above zero, and the heating has not yet been turned off.
√ An indisputable plus - wardrobe... If in an apartment this is a pipe dream, then in a private house it is a good element of planning. Even a small dressing room is much more convenient than the most spacious wardrobe.
√ Only in a private house it is possible to equip a separate playroom for children (in addition to the nursery), and the toys will no longer lie underfoot throughout the apartment, and the little ones will feel more at ease on their own territory.
- Minuses:
− First of all - distance... If the house is in the suburbs, and you have to go to work in the city, then in most cases this means early wakes, long hours on the road, traffic jams, money for travel or fuel. Private traders are deprived of such advantages of residents of apartment buildings in residential areas as a grocery store on the ground floor, a kindergarten or a school within walking distance. Shoe repair, cafes, post office ... all of this will most likely have to be reached by transport.
− A big and for many very painful disadvantage is House cleaning, especially the big one. Alone window wash over what is worth! Without help (a housekeeper or trained household members), the task can be overwhelming.
- Roads in the suburbs, where people usually acquire private houses, still leaves much to be desired in our time. Unfortunately, not everywhere there is asphalt and street lights. And the dirt road is ruts, mud and puddles in which you can sail on a boat and drop anchor. And this, unfortunately, is becoming an everyday reality of a private trader. If the asphalt is also lucky on the road, then it is rarely or almost never repaired, cleaned, etc.
House territory and plot
They, in principle, are a plus due to the fact of their existence, since the owners of the apartments, alas, are deprived of this. The tambour, where you can unload winter shoes, down jackets and sledges with bicycles, does not count.
Here is a list of the advantages of the local area (just to understand how many issues are solved by having your own piece of land):
√ No parking problem... There is always a place for a car (or a boat, whichever is to your liking), since there is not only a spacious yard, but even your own garage in the house or near it.
√ Instead of a dull courtyard of an apartment building - landscape design to your own taste with a sea of flowers, a fountain, a waterfall, a pond, a stream, an alpine slide and other delights in the form of a garden.
√ On the site, you can embody your wildest and wildest ideas. A bathhouse, a gazebo, a summer kitchen and a summer shower are no longer surprising. But a decorative pond with a fountain, a waterfall and exotic fish, a pool with slides, a sports or helipad ...
√ On your own piece of land there is always a place for a swing or a hammock, there is a place to sunbathe or barbecue with friends.
√ It is much easier for private traders and it is more comfortable to keep pets(and the animals themselves are better off in the open than in the cramped city apartments). Moreover, homeowners have a unique opportunity to acquire pets that are not considered possible in urban settings at all: for example, a horse or a hunting falcon.
- And now about the disadvantages:
− First of all, it is necessary to make a reservation that any additional buildings or animals are additional troubles, anyway. For many, the most painful topic is the vegetable garden and orchard. Even a few beds and a dozen trees require maintenance, which means time and effort. However, if you limit yourself to parsley and dill, minimal effort is required. Everyone decides for himself whether he wants as many fresh fruits, vegetables and berries on the table from his garden or free time for other purposes.
− Another headache is annual site cleaning, even if a continuous lawn and a couple of bushes grow on it. For a lawn to look neat, it needs both watering and regular mowing. Shrubs also tend to grow and become impenetrable without proper maintenance. There is only one way out - to roll everything into asphalt, but this, alas, is not very aesthetically pleasing.
− And one more nuance - snow in winter... Snowy winters turn the owners of private houses into convicts who are forced to wave a shovel almost every morning to clear paths and approaches to the households. buildings, driving to the road and the path from the front door to the gate, etc.
− With export rubbish also a problem. Trash containers are usually missing. Under the contract, household waste is removed once a week, or independently. Construction and garden waste (branches, sticks, grass, furniture) have to be disposed of independently.
Psychological and physical well-being
In this part I would like to touch upon a rather large and important topic: what effect does living in a private house have on health and state of mind in general.
- The positive effect is expressed in the following:
√ First of all, a private house allows you to provide more high level physical security, and it's worth a lot! Private traders understand that their own safety is in their hands. There is no chance that the neighbor will forget to turn off the gas, and the house will fly into the air, crushing the residents with heavy concrete debris.
A fire in neighbors will only be their problem, not a common one. Modern and rigid building materials minimize the possibility of fire spreading.
√ Another indisputable advantage: psychological comfort and feeling of reliability... You can not be afraid that the neighbors will flood from above, ruining expensive repairs and your favorite furniture. As well as the chance, in turn, to flood the neighbors from below disappears, which is usually fraught with conflicts and many other unpleasant moments.
Leaking taps or a broken hose of the washing machine are just an annoying nuisance that is solved by fixing, and not by the need to "sort out" a difficult situation, smooth out the conflict, calm down and please the neighbors in every possible way.
√ If the house has a garden and a vegetable garden, then this always fresh, natural vegetables and fruits, the cultivation process of which is completely controlled by the owner of that very vegetable garden and orchard. The chance that food grown on chemical fertilizers or treated with hazardous pesticides will end up on the table is minimized.
√ You can breathe on your own plot fresh air filled with the scent of flowers, not exhaust fumes. On the grass, you can safely walk barefoot, without the risk of hitting a nail or being cut by glass from a broken bottle.
√ In the private sector, as a rule, no noise pollution... That allows you to fully enjoy the silence of summer nights. And, conversely, due to the size of the plots and the distances between buildings, you can live a full life without fear that this will interfere with the neighbors behind the wall. All these little things are very relaxing and contribute to an overall positive attitude and optimism in life.
√ And the last is the priceless privacy of personal space, privacy, which can only be provided in a private house. No wonder they say: "my home is my fortress." High fences allow you to do anything on your site, even walk in the nude style and not be afraid that someone will see and judge. This is an opportunity to isolate oneself from the whole world, and this is what we all lack so much in the age of total urbanization.
- Negative effect:
− Along with all the positives behind fencing and privacy, there is a possible negative one that may seem serious to many.
A private house is forcing a little more secluded lifestyle compared to overcrowded high-rise buildings. If you suddenly need a drill, salt, life advice or help, in an apartment building it is enough to look at the staircase and knock on the next door. In the private sector, this is already more difficult.
− Children are also forced to spend most of their time alone, when their parents do not have the opportunity to take them out to sections and hobby groups. In the private sector, it is simply impossible to collect the number of children that runs around the courtyards of the sleeping areas, which means that the child is deprived of the opportunity in the most active way socialize.
− Another factor of concern for home owners is theft... The private owner has a constant fear for property, because it is not difficult to take something from an unguarded yard. And the gardens are constantly exposed to the invasion of gluttonous children who believe that the neighboring Antonovka is much tastier than the Kosteli from their own garden (remember your childhood).
The financial side of the issue
The financial issue causes a lot of controversy and discussion. The opinions of homeowners and tenants differ, which prompts a more detailed study of the issue.
According to some expenses for the maintenance of a private house and apartment approximately are the same.
According to others - significantly above.
And still others argue that the monthly costs of maintaining a private residential building are much below than in a similar apartment. Moreover, all the arguments are supported by facts and figures.
And yet, in the opinion of the majority, in the financial question home maintenance comes out expensive rather than apartments, even though prices for living space in apartment buildings are unreasonably high due to the pricing policy of developers and the corruption on which they depend.
√ However, rough comparisons of monthly payments on utility bills in a private house and apartment they show only minor differences... In winter, the main item of expenses for homeowners is gas (if the heating is gas). In the summer - water (watering the lawn, vegetable garden, etc.). But with the right, competent approach, these costs can be reduced by insulating the house or your own well.
And yet we will not dissemble your home is very, very expensive pleasure... And it will cost much more than an apartment in an area close to the center.
− Medium house of 120 sq. m. + a small plot of 4-6 acres comes out in 5-7 million. rubles (for the Russian Federation). All of this is due to enough dear land... However, having compared the cost of apartments and land plots in different cities and districts, many still prefer to buy land (with or without a finished building), calling it a more profitable and economical option than purchasing an apartment.
− Private living space is not only bought expensive, but also service... Small and large repair work will have to be done independently or hire craftsmen. You need to constantly monitor everything in the house and it needs investments much more than an apartment: either the roof is leaking, then the wiring is time to change, then the fence is tilted (important for very old buildings), etc. to infinity.
− The cost of maintaining the house should include the purchase of equipment and tools , without which it is impossible to provide high-quality service to both the house itself and the adjacent territory. Lawn mower, electric or chainsaw (for cleaning the garden or preparing firewood), garden tools (shovels, rakes, hoes, pruning shears, garden shears), fertilizers and chemicals. plant protection preparations, etc. Even banal garden furniture is a pleasure, but rather expensive.
− Of additional costs: mandatory insurance, and tax on land and real estate (once a year).
As you can see, there were almost no advantages in the financial issue. To refute the opinion of the majority about the high cost of living in a private house, you will have to conduct more detailed research.
And yet, no minuses will outweigh the scales in their favor. Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of a private house, once again you are convinced that living in a private house, especially in the suburbs, is very cool! Do you agree with me?
Everything has its pros and cons. Living in your own house, and not in an apartment, also has two sides.
About the pros
It's a thrill. Fresh air.
What I like after the fresh air is the view from the window not of the concrete structure opposite, but of the normal village and landscape. Well, this is from the second floor. Immediately a minus is drawn - you can't see it from the first nifig. On one side there is a bathhouse, on the other there are plums and apple trees. Although what is there. On the first are technical rooms and a kitchen.
Neighbors. Although I am a social phobia, the neighbors are extremely important to me. And the fewer, the better. In the 10-storey building, I knew all the neighbors: I was friends with someone, I swore with someone. But it was hard (and did not want to) find a common language with everyone. There were different moments. The neighbor on the floor below will always fall apart in front of the entrance, for example, you had to enter "to the hut" so as not to freeze, and then listen from his wife: "why did he drink my dear so much." Or a request from neighbors opposite for a wardrobe for potatoes and clothes (a very decent one), an iron door to the wing and linoleum in the same wing. Here, in the village, a common language was found and everyone began to follow the street together - subbotniks twice a year and mutual assistance.
Parking. This is a serious problem for urban people today. It comes to fights. And sometimes you get so used to in a sleeping quarter that you get out through the trunk at least. And if someone closes? That's it, sushi paddles. Here, near the tower, I can park my bucket, and there will be enough space for 3 friends. Not enough? Park along the road - there is no traffic, the remaining lane is enough.
Communal payments. This is also a definite plus. All housing maintenance costs are on me. But I do it the way I need it and the critical one on time (not the critical one lasts, oh, how long, it's a shame). But I do not pay, as, for example, many 6000 for heating in three rubles. And that's just heating. Plus water, hot and, as I remember, about 10 more points. In addition, I can regulate the temperature in the house, I installed high-quality heating radiators, there are no problems in this regard.
Food. We don't plant a lot of vegetables. A few tomatoes, cucumbers. The rest is more profitable to buy in the store. Fruit - understandably: apples, plums, pears, berries. The bread at the local store is just song, no polyethylene, crunchy, delicious. My parents, whenever possible, buy bread here.
Children. Always outdoors. Normal children's games. We haven’t played rounders yet, there is no suitable place nearby, but I’ll figure out how to organize a trip to a suitable meadow.
There are many more pluses, but you can't write it all right off the bat.
Minuses
There are also disadvantages, but not so significant if you put on the opposite side of the scales from the pros.
Make. You always have to do something. This is the main disadvantage for lazy people. Patch up here, patch up there. Shave the lawn, the lawn of the fields. Field vegetables. Fix the plumbing yourself. The electrician himself. Although all this is also a thrill, but there is always enough time.
Expenses. And there is not enough time because it is necessary to earn money, tk. expenses have grown simply unrealistically. It is necessary to build. You have to do it all the time. I bought a house with no heating and no windows. No, there were windows, but in such a state that new ones had to be installed. It was a shock for me, I did not expect such additional costs. And just finished the house insulation and cladding. Expensive. Maybe not expensive, but a lot of money, by my standards. And nerves.
Sheathed. Now at the bottom we need to change the linoleum to tiles, because linoleum does not like heating from below and is covered with spots (did not know when to lay it). In general, spending out of nowhere seems to be constant.
Would I sell and return to the apartment? No!