Apartment Or House

[Misshappy]

Will we find a good size 3 bed roomed house or apartment in District 10 area for 9000SD. We have never lived in an Apartment and are concerned over noise levels from neighbours are they fairly sound proof.

[sundaymorningstaple]

House? No. condo, possibly.

[taxico]

some apartments are very well insulated (sound and sight) from neighbors.

if you're expecting to live like one might in a plantation, then that's not possible.

[Strong Eagle]

I lived in District 11, Watten Estates, and I know you can find 3 and 4 bedroom semi-detached for a lot less than 9,000. I paid 4,600 for 43 Watten View... look at it on Google maps... or email me and you can see my pics of FB. It's more now... but I doubt it made 7,000... maybe 5'ish.

For this price, you will get a house built in the late sixties. It will have original floor tile, original bathrooms, louvered windows, older fans, pretty much original kitchen. You may (but probably not) get a fridge, washer, or dryer. Air con will be present, but usually as window units, with sometimes a split unit or two, usually in the living room. I also know that you can find similar deals in other districts in the area.

The catch is this: The deals are few and far between (people stay in them for a long time), and when they do move, it is usually by word of mouth. The new tenants in my old place were friends of people who lived down the street on Watten View. We got the place from our friends who were moving out, and they got it from a recommendation from a friend who had a friend living there. In other words, our landlord has rented to five different sets of tenants without ever advertising, and without any large gaps in her rental income. She gets referrals from tenants and prices accordingly.

You should also be aware that you really don't get a lot more sound proofing. Houses are close to each other and windows are nearly always open as most people do not air con their houses except at night... neither did we. And in semi-D neighborhoods there are so damn many yappy ass dogs that I was tempted to bring back an alligator from Texas and let it run loose in the neighborhood to clear out the population.

On the whole, though, I much preferred a semi-D to an apartment. I had a great patio for eating, a small yard, and a sense of privacy.

[x9200]

Another option is a penthouse. It will pretty much insulate you from the most annoying component of the daily noise (direct neighbors from above) and if high floor also from the street noise. It will not protect you against incidental noise like renovation (so holes drilling) etc.