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I'm missing something, why is it assumed that living in an apartment is short term?
by distances 3y ago
I'm missing something, why is it assumed that living in an apartment is short term?
- mdmglr 3y agoUnited States
- red-iron-pine 3y agonot everyone is in a tech hub and can jump jobs without moving. and the parent comment implies they're doing a 3-5 year jump / move. that doesn't mean people can stay in the same place long term, but if you're going to be there for 10+ years it might make sense to buy. yeah yeah i get no one can do that in SF or London, but plenty of HN posters who aren't in those cities.
- distances 3y agoBut if you buy, it would be more common to buy an apartment than a house, no? At least in European cities. Which would counter the assumption of short-term apartment living.
- burnished 3y agoUniversal rent increases.
- distances 3y agoIt's common both to own an apartment and rent a single-family house? I'm probably missing some US cultural assumptions.
- burnished 3y agoNo, if you live in an apartment your typical experience right now is one of rent increases pricing you out of your neighborhood - if you owned a home this wouldnt be a problem. So living in an apartment kinda has an implicit expiration - your time is up once you get priced out.
- distances 3y agoMy point what I tried to make above -- why the assumption you're renting if you live in an apartment? Some naming convention I'm not familiar with that implies renting?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- burnished 3y agoFrom reading other snippets - yes! Funnily enough, to me apartment exclusively refers to rentals, you would call it a condo if you purchased it but the connotations of condo to me are 'some one with too much money paying too much for too little'. Too funny.
- balfirevic 3y agoAnd why is it assumed that living in apartment is renting?
- dabluecaboose 3y agoGenerally the colloquial way to refer to an owned unit is as a "condo" whereas an "apartment" is assumed to be renting It's more complicated than that but it's basically how it works in normal conversation
- liotier 3y agoUSA bias I guess: they consider apartments undesirable, only to be tolerated by the younger and/or poorer - but families are expected to try for a house.
- K7PJP 3y agoPeople who live in apartments in the US tend to move to another apartment frequently, either to get a better unit, to avoid a sharp rent increase, or to move to another neighborhood. We moved 7 times over a 20 year span.
- liotier 3y agoYoung people do move often but, once they settle and buy their family apartment, they are just as static as occupants of any other type of dwelling.
- oblio 3y agoThat sounds super stressful. Especially since moving is considered one of the most stressful moments in life.
- its_ethan 3y agoIt's definitely something you adapt to - I moved 7 times as a kid growing up with my family (one of those being overseas) and now it's something I actually look forward too when the comes around.
- asciimov 3y agoMost people in the US don't have any rent control, not even controls for percentage increase year to year. When I was renting, I could expect a 10-15% increase year to year. With the current average apartment cost being $1700, that can mean paying an additional $500-$800 per month after 3 years. At that point it becomes worth it to look elsewhere.
- krat0sprakhar 3y agoUS bias. Sorry, should have clarified that in my comment.
- distances 3y agoNo problem, I'm indeed not from US so I was just confused for a moment there.