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> America Needs Small Apartment Buildings. Nobody Builds Them Nobody builds them, because people don't want to live in them. I lived in a "small" apartment bu

> America Needs Small Apartment Buildings. Nobody Builds Them Nobody builds them, because people don't want to live in them. I lived in a "small" apartment building with like 8 units in New Orleans, and also in Seattle. They tend to be older, quaint, and rife with issues... heaters that don't distribute heat evenly, no amenities like a "full-size" apartment complex would offer (gym, pool, covered parking, in-unit washer / dryer hookups, proper cooking ventilation, someone to sign for package delivery, etc.), and not nearly enough sound insulation. Granted these things could probably be slightly improved with new buildings... but for a housing developer... why go through all the hassle of getting a lot zoned for multi-family if it's "cheaper for renters" (meaning probably less profit margin). Having lived in small apartments and big apartments, and having my own house now... man, I love having a yard and space and not worrying about a line when I go to do laundry. But if I had to go back to apartment life, I'd want one of the big, resort-style complexes that felt like a college campus.

bbarn 10y ago
I'm the opposite. Have lived in high rises, small buildings, medium buildings, rented houses... the 6-9 size is the sweet spot for city living. Intimate enough where things like bringing in packages, giving a neighbor a spare key, etc still happen, but not so much that everyone is up in your business all the time.
- dbg31415 10y ago
  It's about economies of scale. If you're in a 6-9 unit building... you can't employ a full-time handyman for maintenance... you're stuck using whatever contractor comes in lowest bid. That won't lead to quality in the long run. But if you have a few hundred units, you can have a maintenance staff that cares about the property (or at least their jobs)... and that keeps everything nice. My mom own a few 4-12 unit apartments in CA. She bought them in the 90s, and charges what seems like a fortune in rent -- but after taxes, and maintenance, and all the various costs involved... she pretty much just breaks even. Her plan is to sell the buildings when she retires... and that'll be a nice windfall when that day comes. Until then... as much as I hate to say it about my own mother, she's basically a slum lord. She does only the bare minimum to fix anything when it breaks, and drags her feet for tenants who complain too much in hopes they just move out. She has to manage the properties herself... deal with tenants who are late on rent, deal with all the hassles because if she hires someone it puts her into the red. We've had long discussions about it... the profit isn't there to justify spending more. She'll do the basics... whatever is legally required of her... past that she has no incentive to spend money on the properties. Anyway I know there can be nice small multifamily structures, but in many places I think the landlords hit the scale issue. They don't make enough off the properties to hire better property management, or keep things as nice as the apartments that have hundreds of units. Maybe a brand new 6-9 unit building would be OK, but one that's 30-50 years old... it's going to have a lot of issues or sky-high rent -- or both.
astrange 10y ago
Does anyone use the pool? Does anyone use the gym with one treadmill and some random circuit machines? Honestly. If you lived in a city you could go to a gym run by someone who cares instead of something contributed by the original developer that will never be maintained.
jimlawruk 10y ago
People do want to live in them. It is the people who control what gets built that don't. Consider a neighborhood with a great school. You don't think families would jump at the chance to live in a new apartment in that town? The town planners, however, will fear apartments will bring in people that might lower the quality of the school, bring town test scores, etc. The only apartments allowed will be retirement communities.
- nonford150 10y ago
  This exactly. Where I live (suburbs large city SE US) the school district created redlined school clusters to group the dispersed apartments towards one HS/MS/ES cluster and high priced single family housing to another. The result? What you expect - the disparity between the 2 HS is shocking. The apartment schools are older, in disrepair, have higher crime/drug rates, etc. The SF HS has a big new stadium, fancy street front LED signage, and lots of tech. Single moms and low income families are just where you expect - many cannot participate in the discussion due to work, inability to understand what is being discussed, and the other foibles of lower class life in America.
- dbg31415 10y ago
  You're sort of missing how the school got to be a great school. Low-density neighborhoods, high relative property taxes, parents with time for PTA involvement... without fail, the "good" schools in America tend to be the ones in neighborhoods without apartments. You can't change up the population density, the property tax each family pays, and expect nothing to change about the school. Once I buy a house, I don't want that school to change... so yes, people do whatever they can to keep the population density of their school district from changing. Can't really blame them, can we?

bbarn 10y ago

I'm the opposite. Have lived in high rises, small buildings, medium buildings, rented houses... the 6-9 size is the sweet spot for city living. Intimate enough where things like bringing in packages, giving a neighbor a spare key, etc still happen, but not so much that everyone is up in your business all the time.

dbg31415 10y ago
It's about economies of scale. If you're in a 6-9 unit building... you can't employ a full-time handyman for maintenance... you're stuck using whatever contractor comes in lowest bid. That won't lead to quality in the long run. But if you have a few hundred units, you can have a maintenance staff that cares about the property (or at least their jobs)... and that keeps everything nice. My mom own a few 4-12 unit apartments in CA. She bought them in the 90s, and charges what seems like a fortune in rent -- but after taxes, and maintenance, and all the various costs involved... she pretty much just breaks even. Her plan is to sell the buildings when she retires... and that'll be a nice windfall when that day comes. Until then... as much as I hate to say it about my own mother, she's basically a slum lord. She does only the bare minimum to fix anything when it breaks, and drags her feet for tenants who complain too much in hopes they just move out. She has to manage the properties herself... deal with tenants who are late on rent, deal with all the hassles because if she hires someone it puts her into the red. We've had long discussions about it... the profit isn't there to justify spending more. She'll do the basics... whatever is legally required of her... past that she has no incentive to spend money on the properties. Anyway I know there can be nice small multifamily structures, but in many places I think the landlords hit the scale issue. They don't make enough off the properties to hire better property management, or keep things as nice as the apartments that have hundreds of units. Maybe a brand new 6-9 unit building would be OK, but one that's 30-50 years old... it's going to have a lot of issues or sky-high rent -- or both.

astrange 10y ago

Does anyone use the pool? Does anyone use the gym with one treadmill and some random circuit machines? Honestly. If you lived in a city you could go to a gym run by someone who cares instead of something contributed by the original developer that will never be maintained.

jimlawruk 10y ago

People do want to live in them. It is the people who control what gets built that don't. Consider a neighborhood with a great school. You don't think families would jump at the chance to live in a new apartment in that town? The town planners, however, will fear apartments will bring in people that might lower the quality of the school, bring town test scores, etc. The only apartments allowed will be retirement communities.

nonford150 10y ago
This exactly. Where I live (suburbs large city SE US) the school district created redlined school clusters to group the dispersed apartments towards one HS/MS/ES cluster and high priced single family housing to another. The result? What you expect - the disparity between the 2 HS is shocking. The apartment schools are older, in disrepair, have higher crime/drug rates, etc. The SF HS has a big new stadium, fancy street front LED signage, and lots of tech. Single moms and low income families are just where you expect - many cannot participate in the discussion due to work, inability to understand what is being discussed, and the other foibles of lower class life in America.
dbg31415 10y ago
You're sort of missing how the school got to be a great school. Low-density neighborhoods, high relative property taxes, parents with time for PTA involvement... without fail, the "good" schools in America tend to be the ones in neighborhoods without apartments. You can't change up the population density, the property tax each family pays, and expect nothing to change about the school. Once I buy a house, I don't want that school to change... so yes, people do whatever they can to keep the population density of their school district from changing. Can't really blame them, can we?