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Yeah. Around the world people buy apartments and own them. I personally know friends in Mumbai, Delhi, Geneva, Singapore*, Zurich & Paris who own apartments. The apartments are as liquid as any other type of housing. Because the apartment complexes have large shared facilities, it promotes a natural sense of belonging and community. Makes it great for families.
Here are some attainable upper-middle class apartment complexes that I have personally visited. Hongkong, NYC, Zurich, India, Paris, Geneva and Boston. (generally, ignore the ugliness of some of them. They were built during a tasteless modernist era. But they're quite pleasant once you're there)
These are all fairly dense family oriented complexes. Here, people do not own cars or have a single hatchback for out-of-town trips. You'll notice how the density doesn't mean compromising on green space. Instead, consolidating people into vertical spaces means that the remaining flat land can be used for green space, community gardens and playgrounds. Also, the condos are distant from arterial roads, so quiet and safety, that's associated with suburbs, aren't compromised. The gated nature of many pseudo-public spaces facilities as communal sense of child supervision. You can leave your kids alone, but they're never alone or vulnerable.
Admittedly, I didn't grow up in the US. I grew up in a less fancy version of my above examples, back in India. I don't have the same visceral dislike for apartments like some Americans. I know that American apartments are usually sad motel-esque setups, premium millionaire homes or yuppie share homes. Not a lot of normal 30-40 something families in cities.
That being said, suburbs don't seem all that great either. From my experience living in American suburbs, every house I around me was cookie cutter. Yards were empty. Kids were always supervised. No one walked. I frequently visit French and Swiss cities. Here, people live in apartments, but I see a lot more kids outdoors. Parks are well used. From my anecdotal experiences, European city life is superior to American suburban life in every way.
How is that different from an HOA or interest payments on a loan ? Maintenance costs are constant. Once enough has been collected, condo associations spend from their budget. Random one-off bills are unheard of.
Wouldn't missing your loan payments put you at the same risk ?
This is not an out-of-the-blue unexpected additional cost.
(A sudden spike in interest rates can be - but tends to be on a significantly longer lagtime, and fixed-rate mortgages are a thing.)
Interesting. I am mostly unfamiliar with international housing. Does 'own' here include:
The right to know if maintenance is being deferred on the building?
The right to remain in the building if the building has e.g. been condemned due to deferred maintenance outside your control?
The right to remain in the building if someone buys the land to tear down the building?
The right to replace appliances / flooring / roof / etc?
The right to decide on which ISP will service your unit?
The right to have accurate forecasts of the cost of rent in the future?
The right to have a friend stay the night at my place?
The right to store my bike inside my place?
All of these I have seen violated by landlords in the US. (Which makes sense, as these normally are not rights. They are, however, all control that is normally given up by renting versus owning.)
This is one of the major reasons why fixed-rate mortgages exist, yes. To allow for better planning and mitigate tail liability.
This is one of the pushes away from buying property in cities, yes. Not the only one.
On the contrary: random one-off bills are common, at least in the US. You may wish to look up the term 'special assessment'.
Condo association decides that the parkade really needs redoing now instead of next year on schedule, majority of condo owners agree... welp there's a sudden unexpected 4-digit bill outside of your control regardless of your personal financial situation. To name an example a coworker went through.
Yes, they have monthly society meetings for communicating these things. It is similar to an HOA, but with significantly less power. I grew up in an apartment, and we never faced sudden costs. All one-time spend was delayed until the collective 'savings account' had enough in it. The monthly maintenance bills stayed constant. (adjusted annually) Also, because the housing society consists of your peers, they're generally receptive to late payments in a way that banks simply are not.
If a family stops paying maintenance (electricity, water, building upkeep, heating are often pooled through common systems), then the building will cut off electricity and water to the apartment. But, that's about it. You can continue living in Squalor if you so wish.
Yep. Your house is your house. The building's rooftop and the outsides are upgraded with collective investment and decision making. But once you're indoors, it's all you.
Yep. The ISP have already put in the cables. But, we always had a choice among 2-3 different providers. I was quite surprised to find out that people in the US often do not have choice of ISPs.
Doesn't apply to ownership. Maximum rent increase/yr is generally capped by the city govt. So, buildings don't play much role here.
Yes, it's your house. Why would the building need to know or care ? Similar things were very common back home.
Hope we're talking about the same thing. There are no landlords here. There is usually a housing collective or housing society. It's like being a joint shareholder. All decisions are made by committee.
Sounds like a USA problem. Not sure what would cause this. It's very rare for large apartments to need sudden spending. Any scheduled upgrades/revamps are planned 3-ish years in advance. Monthly maintenance rates are accordingly increased, but the pain is distributed over years. So when the time comes, the money is already there.
Yes, this happens. But, I've never heard of it being a sudden bill. Always distributed over many years. Also, major expenses in our colony requires a super majority (66%+).
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The fatal flaw of the American suburb for kids is the total lack of mobility. About a quarter of the drivers in my area drive trucks with lift kits that have enormous front blind spots. The roads don't have bike lanes and most are too busy to ride on the road. I live on a quiet street and kids play here sometimes with their parents supervising, but they have no ability to go anywhere outside the neighborhood and they can't even get to a park without crossing a five lane arterial and walking another mile through another neighborhood. The only thing they can do is wait until they turn 16 and get a license.
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