[Amchara]

I hope the person who lives above me can faintly hear the Katy Perry I am playing (at 8:34pm), because I can faintly hear them walking every night when I try to sleep (creak, creak).

Also, the first night I am kept up from drunk people people being loud is the night before the first morning I vacuum at 9am. The complex actually has a superb noise policy, but hey, its like the five am, fifth of July suburban lawn mowing, yard maintenance tradition

[kateh]

I'm 2 windows and 5 ft from my neighbor. Who for a week did not own blinds. I didn't realize he'd moved in until I woke up one morning and opened my blinds to the sight of sunlight hitting a bare arm. Awkward! All of our windows directly face their windows, I hate it. It makes me feel like at total creeper every time I want to open any blinds.

[bits619]

In one REALLY well-insulated flat, (ok, we learned when they bought either a new office chair or their son's new rollerblades, not sure which, but that was it) I was having the worst migraine I have ever experienced, and actually heard their alarm going off that morning (i was up through the night).... A very, very, very faint bipbipbip, bipbipbip... But to me so grating and painful!!! BF at the time thought i was hallucinating and thought it may be time to visit a hospital ( i convinced him otherwise on the hospital, but not the alarm!)

[Rhyadawn]

I live in a single house that backs onto row housing.... I have no privacy!

I hate it. Really and truly hate it. In the morning I take my dogs out first thing and am usually still in my nightgown (sleeveless, below knee length, moomoo type thing. Nothing sexy going on here), and it never fails at least twice a week my neighbors are out on their decks with their morning coffee, waving and calling me over to say hi. No thanks!

[Gray Horse H/J]

My boyfriend and I rent the upstairs of a house. It's small, but has been okay. We are moving to a MUCH bigger apartment on Nov 1st. Yay!

It's an older house. It's in an older neighborhood so all the houses are old. I spend a lot of time when I am home (I am not home quite a bit) on the internet or reading, so it's very quiet up here. Which means I can usually hear EVERYTHING going on downstairs. I can hear my landlord and his wife talking, I can hear their toddler running around. It doesn't bother me though. They're a super nice and laidback family. The only thing that annoys me sometimes is their dog. He is yapping his tiny little head off as I type this. Our "front door" is the actual side door of the house. Our stairway is next to their kitchen, and their is a connecting door (that stays bolted) between the kitchen and our stairs. Every. Single. Time without fail their dog has galloped up to the connecting door and thrown himself at it barking when my SO or I come and go. He thinks he's a viscious guard dog I guess. He actually weighs five pounds and is friendly, just a barker.

We would never complain about the dog though. For one thing we love our landlord. For another, Mrs. Landlord gets to hear my SO play his guitar during the day when they are both home.

Mr. and Mrs. Landlord only bought the house on Jan 1st. Before that we rented from the other owner, but he also rented out the bottom level. Our old neighbors were AWFUL. There were three people that actually lived there, but every night different people were crashing. I think only one of them actually had a job. They were NICE enough, but really really messy and lazy. Almost every morning my car would be blocked in despite the fact that we each had a designated side of the driveway. You can fit three cars on each side if you really pack them in, and SO and I each have a car. Neighbors were supposed to work it out amongst themselves as far as rotating cars on their side, but one always ended up behind ours in the middle of the night. (No overnight parking on the street here.) It was usually a friend crashing on the couch who blocked me in. I got a LOT of dirty looks when I would pound on their door at 7 am to move their car, but too bad. Some people have jobs. I was so happy the day they got evicted.

[BlueEyedSorrel]

I moved to a new apartment about 18 months ago because of the upstairs neighbors from hell. I was in a duplex with 2 downstairs units and 2 upstairs (I had a lower unit). Previous upstairs tenant was a nice older woman who limited her noise producing to vacuuming mid-day and occasionally playing the piano (OK because she was quite good). Then she moved out and the Jerry Springer family from Hell moved in.

Dad looked like your basic idiot meathead and mom was a trashy, bottle blond thing with heavy eyeliner. They had a 7 year old and a 2 year old who ran around constantly. Apartment was old and not terribly well insulated so it sounded like a herd of elephants. Sometimes the father would join in the running around. Kids also played in the basement, where their shrieks would echo. Oh and parents drank too much, would having screaming matches at 1am, wake up the kids, who would start crying. I am a light sleeper And, even though it was a non-smoking building, the mom smoked like a chimney, setting off MY fire alarm, never hers. She probably disabled it. Plus, the apartment units all had balconies. Their 2 year old was left out there unattended on their second floor balcony. I swear I came home every day expecting to find splattered kid on the sidewalk.

At the time, I had a major project going on at work, requiring me to bring data analysis and writing home at night. Oh, and did I mention that I get migraines too? I could have throttled all of them. Talking with the parents did no good because making noise "is just what kids do." Nevermind that my lease specified that I was entitled to "peaceful enjoyment" of my apartment, with specific bans on barking dogs, loud music, stereos etc.

The property manager was relunctant to get involved but luckily for me, she also did not care if I left, even though my lease wasn't up for another 4 months. I was so miserable I was ready to leave even with a penalty. She even gave me back my deposit.

Funny enough, the other upstairs tenants, a nice older couple, also moved out about a week before I did. Their comment to me was "well, you know, things have changed around here and it's time for us to go." In other words, they were fed up with the Hell Family too. By letting one bad family move in, the landlord lost 2 longterm good tenants within the next 6 weeks. Bet they screen more carefully next time!

My new place has thick plaster walls, good insulation and no kids, so it's blissfully quiet most of the time. Plus the management takes noise complaints seriously. Some undergrads in the building once had a loud party and when I called to complain, they arrived to break it up within 15 minutes.

Still, I long for the day when I have my own place, preferably with a couple acres between me and the nearest neighbors.
BES

[Amchara]

I briefly woke up to what I think was a giggling elephant going up and down steps at 4am. Luckily I was exhasuted from a 30 mile bike ride (yikes) and passed out shortly after the elephant found its way home to the zoo.

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

I love the people next door to me who insist on blaring their tv even though they been called many times.
and the nice lady next door to me who chain smokes and smoke actually rolls out when she opens her door. And the people behind me who crank their stereos BEFORE they back out of their garage.

[Lambie Boat]

I used to hear my neighbor READ! (turn pages)

one of the many reasons I now live on a 5 acre farm

[Sithly]

Oh, I can't WAIT to move into a noisy apartment. Right now I live with my inlaws and it's a MILLION times worse than any apartment I've ever had.

[MistyBlue]

LOL Sithly...betcha an apartment overlooking a train station would be heaven right now, huh?

When we visited FL to see my MIL, she was so thrilled to have us there she started driving through her neighborhood showing us units for sale. As a hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Mentioned if we ever wanted to move away from "winters in the woods" she could buy us a place near her.

Ummmm...yikes? Yeah, they're very nice condos and free standing condos in a very nice golf coourse/marina/private club gaited community thing. And sooooo not worth it!

[ReSomething]

When I was in town living alone I lived in the best kept apartment complex in the hood. The guy upstairs was great, he got up at 5 AM and left, came back at 2 PM to go to work, but then he moved. Next door the lady was quiet but she had a teen son who would show up in the afternoons and play rap music and smoke dope, and the catty corner apartment had two nice older people with a drinking problem, they'd start to drinking and start to arguing. I was working up to 6 12 hour shifts per week, usually third shift, and it was the new young lady upstairs who finally drove me out. Baby, boyfriend, loud sex, loud arguments, yelling at the baby, I got better sleep in my car in the parking lot. I moved across the parking lot to an upstairs two bedroom, $100 more dollars but now I was the one creaking my way down the hall. It was bad too, those floors were worn out. I got even with the smokers downstairs, did I say smoke passed between the apartments in both buildings? by buying some really pungent incense and burning it on a plate on the floor right in front of the air intake for the furnace, and I slept in the second bedroom so I didn't hear their noises.
Sirens, traffic, the bus station PA system, don't miss them one bit.

Had to add that it was better than living with the MIL, as well as 42 miles closer!

[HighFlyinBey++]

My neighbor's shower is on the other side of my stove. We share the vent. I can also hear him argue with the girlfriend of the month and slam doors and stomp up the stairs. I'm sure he LOVES my blender, coffee grinder and whatever I'm watching on TV.

On a positive note, I can hear the neighbor's smoke alarm, so I'd have some warning in case of fire.

The wedding venue across the street sucks no matter how you look at it. They're so freaking noisy that I have trouble hearing my TV on evenings that I have the window open.

[Mara]

My husband will be 55 in two years (I'm 42), and I keep telling him we are going to take advantage of that and move to a senior living community. He thinks I'm kidding.
We own right now, but thanks to the number of foreclosures in our little neighborhood, we now have a LOT of trashy renters (though there are some nice ones too) with hideous children.

I mean it. I am dying to live in a NFK neighborhood. I think it would be heaven.

[JanM]

Mara-you need to find a 55+ that allows absolutely no permanent residents under 55, and has very specific rules on visiting relatives under 55. You don't want someone moving next door with a bunch of younger relatives (think kids with their own families moving in, or grandchildren staying for the entire summer). A lot of places did this after they had people move in who had second families with younger kids, or people who were raising grandchildren. The other residents objected to the noise and increased traffic so many places have specific rules now. Actually, everyone who moves to a new community needs to know all of the rules, covenants, and restrictions and what fees they will be liable for to avoid suprises later.

[Mara]

Mara-you need to find a 55+ that allows absolutely no permanent residents under 55, and has very specific rules on visiting relatives under 55. You don't want someone moving next door with a bunch of younger relatives (think kids with their own families moving in, or grandchildren staying for the entire summer). A lot of places did this after they had people move in who had second families with younger kids, or people who were raising grandchildren. The other residents objected to the noise and increased traffic so many places have specific rules now. Actually, everyone who moves to a new community needs to know all of the rules, covenants, and restrictions and what fees they will be liable for to avoid suprises later.

Thank you. I had kind of figured there would be a few people who would try to cheat the concept.
I wonder if we'd be DQ'd on account of my age? I'll happily provide paperwork documenting my spay surgery.

I remember my first apartment - when we moved in, it was adults-only. Then it was ruled that "adults-only" apartment complexes violated the Fair Housing Act, about 3 months after we were happily established. (I was a college kid, but a quiet well-behaved one).

No sooner was that overturned than we got a family with two toddlers in upstairs.

[Natalie A]

My building is rather quiet (especially for being 70 years old)... but the person in the apartment above me does this weird exercise routine periodically and I can feel her bouncing and running in some kind of weird rhythm above my head. Nothing like my last apartment where I heard everything in the apartment next to mine through the closet, but still a bit annoying. I also can't figure out why people vacuum at the weirdest times.

[Amchara]

I can also hear the boys above me walking around there place. I'm assuming its the strapping 20yo who carried in my heavy, awkward boxed ikea desk down the steps in the hill and up the second story in one single bound. Sometimes the man beef isn't always in the gym .

If I'm outside walking to the building I can hear a dude playing his System of a Down and related music. I walk in the apartment, shut the door, and silence!

Other than that I just hear drunk kids with enough coordination to run up and down the steps like elephants while giggling, but too drunk to realize that maybe at 4am some people are sleeping, or trying to :eyeroll:.

[JanM]

Mara-some states not only have 55+ communities, but adult only communities. And make sure that the rules state that there is to be no babysitting or other care of non-related children, or you might end up living next to a day care (it does happen). And some communities have a transition period where former residents aren't subject to the rules so find out how long the place has been adults only. I think many 55+ places would make exceptions for adult residents, but not waivers for families. The really nice thing is a lot of the 55+ communities include all kinds of activities and amenities, and many include all outside maintenance so you don't have that to worry about either.

[SteppinEasy]

Not my apartment, but a good friend of mine lives in an uber-upscale historic building built in 1901. Historical preservation has dictated that any improvements must "maintain the historical integrity," which essentially means that there aren't too many improvements, lol. The windows are the original glass, there is no insulation between floors, etc. I was visiting her the other day and as I was climbing the stairs to her second-floor apartment, I actually heard the neighbor's cell phone conversation--she had it on speaker and I could hear the voice of the person calling her 100% clearly. I'm so, so glad I don't live there!

This place is going to be flooded with subletters for the WEG in a couple of weeks. I feel sorry for the residents who will still be there; I also feel sorry for the unsuspecting visitors who will be coming in. :-) A couple of the judges will be staying in the building next door, which I'm sure will be interesting for all!