I live in Houston. We have a grocery store in town that has a big apartment block over the top of it. A friend lives there and he jokes that he’s taking the elevator to the grocery store any time I complain about traffic or parking.
Unfortunately, living in a posh apartment that’s conveniently placed over a nice grocery store means the price of rent is astronomical. So he needs to work as a highly paid attorney in the oil industry to afford to live in a place where he doesn’t need to use a car to get groceries.
Well good on him at least for copping the first adopters price haha, hopefully you can put some stuff back where the city bulldozed to put carparks one day 😅 one apartment at time
The ironic (Or perhaps just interesting) thing is that apartments are supposed to be cheaper living because you don’t have a front or back yard.
It’s vaguely that here, if location is the same apartment is usually cheaper than a free standing house, but apartments are usually better located near public transport and amenities (the whole point), so there’s a slight premium for that.
The American description of apartments almost always coming along in the phrase “luxury condos” is perplexing (other than NYC, it seems)
In fairness, in Melbourne we also do not build many apartments. Far fewer than we should, mostly due to regulations and laws not being airtight around owners corporations, aka body corp, and conflicts of interest where the developer awards a building management contract before selling all the apartments… So people are a bit hesitant to sign up for that and apartment living is still a pretty foreign concept to most
The ironic (Or perhaps just interesting) thing is that apartments are supposed to be cheaper living because you don’t have a front or back yard.
They tend to be more expensive per sqft but smaller than a house you could buy. And there’s no mortgage, so you don’t need a big down payment to move in.
But apartment living in a private system means enriching a landlord first and foremost. That means whatever the actual cost of the space, you’re going to pay extra.
The American description of apartments almost always coming along in the phrase “luxury condos” is perplexing (other than NYC, it seems)
It’s just a marketing gimmick. The term doesn’t have any legal meaning, so everyone uses it to upsell their units.
Some of the dingest places I’ve lived have been billed as “luxury”.
Most people don’t buy a home outright. They take out a long-term low-interest loan (mortgage literally means “pledge till death” although they typically only last 15-30 years) to pay back the house in installments. However, before you can take out this loan, banks will often demand a down payment equal to 20% of the total value of the property. With the high price of housing, this down payment can be substantial - a $500k house requires a $100k down payment.
Renters don’t need to make these large advanced payments in order to get access to a rental unit. You aren’t required to have $100k in the bank before you get your own place.
I live in Houston. We have a grocery store in town that has a big apartment block over the top of it. A friend lives there and he jokes that he’s taking the elevator to the grocery store any time I complain about traffic or parking.
Unfortunately, living in a posh apartment that’s conveniently placed over a nice grocery store means the price of rent is astronomical. So he needs to work as a highly paid attorney in the oil industry to afford to live in a place where he doesn’t need to use a car to get groceries.
Well good on him at least for copping the first adopters price haha, hopefully you can put some stuff back where the city bulldozed to put carparks one day 😅 one apartment at time
The ironic (Or perhaps just interesting) thing is that apartments are supposed to be cheaper living because you don’t have a front or back yard.
It’s vaguely that here, if location is the same apartment is usually cheaper than a free standing house, but apartments are usually better located near public transport and amenities (the whole point), so there’s a slight premium for that.
The American description of apartments almost always coming along in the phrase “luxury condos” is perplexing (other than NYC, it seems)
In fairness, in Melbourne we also do not build many apartments. Far fewer than we should, mostly due to regulations and laws not being airtight around owners corporations, aka body corp, and conflicts of interest where the developer awards a building management contract before selling all the apartments… So people are a bit hesitant to sign up for that and apartment living is still a pretty foreign concept to most
They tend to be more expensive per sqft but smaller than a house you could buy. And there’s no mortgage, so you don’t need a big down payment to move in.
But apartment living in a private system means enriching a landlord first and foremost. That means whatever the actual cost of the space, you’re going to pay extra.
It’s just a marketing gimmick. The term doesn’t have any legal meaning, so everyone uses it to upsell their units.
Some of the dingest places I’ve lived have been billed as “luxury”.
I am not quite following you here. What do you mean there’s no mortgage? (Other than if you have the cash, and thus don’t need a loan)
Most people don’t buy a home outright. They take out a long-term low-interest loan (mortgage literally means “pledge till death” although they typically only last 15-30 years) to pay back the house in installments. However, before you can take out this loan, banks will often demand a down payment equal to 20% of the total value of the property. With the high price of housing, this down payment can be substantial - a $500k house requires a $100k down payment.
Renters don’t need to make these large advanced payments in order to get access to a rental unit. You aren’t required to have $100k in the bank before you get your own place.
Ah, you did not mention the renter part haha, I was considering how much each costs to buy