Quiet People Should Be a Protected Class!

April is National Fair Housing Month. I’d like to make a suggestion. Could we please petition Congress (I know, almost an absurdity at the very suggestion) to create a subsection of protected classes and include QUIET PEOPLE? 

I rent an apartment. This is my second renewal which means I am in my third lease. However, it is under duress that I am re-signed leases because, although I like the apartment and I LOVE its location (balcony faces a pond and a beautiful tree full of singing birds, quacking ducks, screeching geese (and I don’t mind those sounds) I unequivocally detest the noise my neighbors make.

At 12:44 am music blaring, at 2:05 am and the music is turned down but the bumping bass is still rattling and reverberating throughout each and every wall of the master bedroom, living room and kitchen. My only recourse is to try to sleep in my Office which is not really set up for sleeping. Usually I resort to medication because once my brain is activated in the middle of sleep, it is very, very, near to impossible to shut it up, too.

I considered moving to a senior community, except I don’t qualify. 

I would love going to a Grad Student Housing apartment community, but I don’t qualify.

I cannot find a single family house that I want to pay so much for.

I am now considering going back to being a homeowner. For my own peace of mind even though it would be difficult to tackle all those weekend maintenance chores on my own. It would be a burden having to pay someone else to do them.

It would be simple to solve this problem though if every apartment community was required to set aside one building devoted to the Quiet Person. You know that person – he works all the time, doesn’t practice a musical instrument for hours at a time, is not hosting rock concerts in his living room every night or every weekend, and pretty much sticks to saying “Hello” and “Have a nice day!” whenever interacting with the immediate neighbors as he delivers his rent check on or before the first of every month. Yes, having that kind of rental opportunity would definitely make me a lifelong renter for the rest of my life.  

Apartments Are Homes, Too!

I don’t miss owning a house. I do miss the sense of freedom I had when I lived in a house. When you live in an apartment, there are all kinds of things that make it easy to not miss a house, such as having someone readily available to make repairs 24/7. I like that! And I don’t have to worry about who to hire to make the repair or the cost of it. If the disposal isn’t working, call maintenance. Have a problem with the internet, call the office and they reset it. 

With that upside, though, the trade-off is not having the freedom to enhance your living space, sometimes in any way. That can be a very difficult adjustment. I am still reeling and dealing with this one. I am allowed to paint, sort of. This means even if I plan to live here for the next ten years, when I move out (even if it is in a body bag from old age, which I hope won’t happen in the next 40 years) I have to make sure the walls are returned to the condition in which I took possession. And it might be hard to match that 10-year old paint color. 

They don’t even allow me to install my own light fixtures, even if I hire an electrician to do it. I find this to be very discouraging – every time I walk into my apartment, I am greeted by those ugly boob lights at ceiling level. I hate them. And, it does affect how I feel about being “home.” It completely sends the message that this is a temporary residence, plus, did I emphasize how ugly those lights are? It’s as if Management is expecting me to move.

Do we want our residents to look at apartment living as always temporary? 

I do miss having an attached garage. Not that I putter, but it would be nice to have a place to hammer and construct my projects without completing taking over the dining/kitchen area (which incidentally is the only tiled area so if I spill something, clean-up is easier.) I have a carport space that I pay for, but I can’t really store anything there, plus they keep raising the rent of the carport every time I turn around. They don’t even give you a lease for the carport, except at move in time, which guarantees your rate for that first year. After that, the price can and does, often, go up. This is frustrating. 

There is the perception that if you live in an apartment, you don’t really live there – it’s just a place to stay until something better comes along. I don’t like this thought at all. Why can’t your apartment be the “something better” that came along? You know what I wish? I wish apartment communities created private outdoor entertaining spaces where you could invite friends and families for an impromptu cook out gathering – and not at the Clubhouse. I’m talking about green space with updated, modern, outdoor kitchen areas with nice outdoor furniture and good lighting options so you can actually spend time there. Including a fire pit option would just tickle me to no end. When you have a house, there is usually a deck and/or backyard area to do this in, and I do miss that. My family used to have some great outdoor parties.

I think people want a simple life away from work, to be happy, to be free to dream, play, create and enjoy just “hanging out” when “home.” I just wish Owners, developers and management companies placed the emphasis on designing homes and not a temporary “rest stop.”

Taking the Idea of Room and Board to a New Level

In the multifamily industry, all of our relationships are conditional, and basically, quid pro quo. Except one. And that relationship is the one that starts with the individual who has a dream, a fleeting momentary spark of imagination that gets set on fire. That first idea of, “Wouldn’t it be great if …”

Our entire world has changed since the last recession hit and dug its heels in for a “short” haul. It’s changed due to many reasons, of course, not just that one, and part of what propelled the change has to be due to all the technological advances of The Computer Age. Baby Boomers aging out of their single family houses and suburbs have added to the trendiness of moving to cities and thus relocating to apartments, rather than other, single family houses that may now be not modern with up-to-date amenities. There is a definite shift in the perception that it is hip and trendy and chic to live in cities, the preferred “Urban Playgrounds” in cities all around the country, and not just large metropolitan areas.

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

I am truly intrigued with apartment living, the concepts of creating communities and who participates. In my mind, I want to know, wouldn’t it be great if apartments were based around creating its own viable Walk Score? Apartment living needs to get rid of, once and for all, the idea of it being a “Complex” and start acting like a “Community.” What better way of doing this than including amenities such as onsite restaurants, onsite convenience stores, valet recycling services and meditation areas? I would love to live somewhere like this! I would pay more for an apartment that also includes these amenities because it would cut down on my need to always have to drive to purchase groceries or food, always have to tip the delivery driver of the local sandwich shop and give me the option to meet my neighbors, even if I have to initially go it alone. I think it would be nice to also include a “watering hole”: a nice wine/coffee bar with desserts, so that the fun would not have to end at 10:00 p.m. The idea of "room and board" apartment communities appeals to me.

Student Housing competes with dorm living a lot in most university towns. So what is so great about living in a dorm? Dorms are usually cramped, hot (no air conditioning) and rule-oriented. There is not a lot of education offered about independent living, such as how to select the floorplan that meets your needs, budget, and lifestyle, how to read a legal binding document (lease) and how to budget your income to fulfill the lease terms. The benefit of living on campus though is it may feel more secure and you can get food pretty much any time, whether you have a meal plan or fast food options on campus and you generally don’t have to have a car, even if you go to school in the suburbs. You can usually do your laundry on campus, too.

I think it would be fantastic to offer this same kind of truly all inclusive, easy lifestyle to students who want and would greatly benefit from living off campus. I also think it would be a viable lifestyle option for those who do not want to commit to a thirty-year mortgage (or even a 15-year one) because they aren’t sure the job they have now is the job they will have in 15-30 years, much less even next year for many. Couples who are starting out, but who opt to delay marriage or childbearing may also wish to have more time to pursue fun activities like weekends away, instead of mowing grass, raking leaves, buying and preparing food and having an onsite restaurant and/or coffee shop might be just the ticket to keep them renting longer.

I can build the castles in the air. Ahhhh, someday I would like to put the foundation underneath, too.