Can life in a condo be very quiet, serene and private?

It is very quiet in my Florida condo. We have an end unit and there is a single older man on the other side of us. A meadow behind us. Very quiet and peaceful.

Older buildings are the best for preventing noise. They usually have thicker walls and, if old enough, heavy plaster (instead of drywall).

If the floors are hardwood, rather than carpeting, the condo will have rules about the percentage of floor space that must be covered with rugs. If your upstairs neighbor ignores the rules, a call to the management will take care of that problem. (The call will also get you an enemy for life—the person will know exactly who complained—but you probably won’t care about someone so rude.)

Having an upstairs neighbor puts one at the biggest risk for annoying noise, it seems. We are in a townhouse, so we have neighbors on each side. We can barely hear it when they run a vacuum or when the golden retriever barks. It helps that our immediate neighbors are couples over 40 and without children, too.

If you are of an age and can find a retirement community, you will have peace and quiet and whatever level of social life you choose.

In my mother’s retirement community, like everyone else with a unit on the ground floor, she had a nice little garden. My sis and I had a landscaper plant it; then my mother puttered around to her heart’s content.

There is also a community garden for those interested…both flowers and vegetables.

@Aster Look at a condo with minimum age requirements. That could be a 55 and older clause, the townhouse with your own upstairs and downstairs would make only neighbors on the sides of your condo.

Another consideration—you’ll want to check out the condominium’s rules concerning rentals.

If there’s a requirement for owner-occupied units (this is allowed in some states, but not all states), you can expect an older, more settled, and more sedate crowd.

If rentals are permitted, you should get the statistics for owner-occupied vs. rented units. If the rental percentage is very high, and you’re really living in an apartment building; expect occupancy turnover and tenants with roommates.

I really have no intention of moving from our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. I was just fantasizing about condos. And I’d never rent anything.

@Aster It can bliss or hell and everything in-between depending on the construction of the buildings, the location and the individual owners.

In some cases the units have been built with great care as to sound proofing. In others, cigarette smoke travels through vents causing 2nd hand smoke in non-smoker owned units.

Condos can be very similar to living in a home, or very similar to apartment dwelling.