Apartment vs house

P

pokerhead

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Hello all,

I have 1 apartment investment property.

It has been rented since i had it (2 years) and the rent is covering the mortgage payment,

I am preparing to purchase a second investment property.

Do people have an opinion on houses versus apartments.

I am looking at an apartment for EUR 178K which i could rent for 700 PM.

What do people think of this as an investment?

I have recieved a lot of advice that houses will appreciate far more than the apartments. What do poeple think of this view?

Thanks,
P.
 
As a renter at the moment, I would never consider an apartment and to add to it there are so many on the market. So many too choose from. Don't mean to put you off but it all depends on the area and for that price it doesn't look like Dublin or Cork (Main cities of Ireland).
 
Interesting topic,
Do renters prefer houses or apartments? I own a house but I often envy those in apartments with no lawns to mow and I've always just prefered apartment living. Most people I say this to say "are you mad?" etc. So I presume I'm in the minority. It would be interesting to hear from landlords with both types of stock as to which prospective tenants prefer.
 
Well. You have to look at the market and what area you are in (which market you are aproaching) i.e. students, families, professionals (if this can be considered) as we are a family and professionals????? Local amenities. buses etc.

I am very interested in buying a property for rent in the Dublin area but I have to say the "terraced" house would attract me more than an appartment because people whether a family or professionals (however you want to view it) want some out door life.

(especially for our hot summers days)
 
pokerhead said:
It has been rented since i had it (2 years) and the rent is covering the mortgage payment,
Click to expand...
I presume you've taken your tax liability into account in this calculation?
 
"I am looking at an apartment for EUR 178K which i could rent for 700";Where is the apartment if you dont mind saying !
 
I feel a lot safer and secure (rightly or wrongly) by myself in an apartment then I ever did in a house. You have the extra code protected door down at the building entrance. I don't know whether other women also feel the same.
 
The thing that used to always put me off appartments was the service charge element. I'm always a little concerned that it could be put up every year and become quite a burden. Then there's the management company and dealing with them (some sound difficult). As more and more new housing estates now have a kindof a service charge for common areas its less of a reason to go for a house over an appartment.

Also the service charge should mean that the building and common areas are kept in a good state of repair etc without you having to do the work of checking, getting somebody in etc. It's really a question of personal taste and as said before your market. If you buy a house you have alot more upkeep. I do find however from discussing property purchases with friends that most people outside the larger towns seem to prefer houses and an outdoor area however small.
 
Apartments are going up in value but not as quickly as houses. When there's a downturn apartments will be first to go. There are huge amounts of apartments for sale everywhere.

Service charge is also a big problem. In 10 years time the mortgage won't appear too bad but the service charge will be a big burden.
 
Thanks Dobroden,

For A99.

Location of apartment = shannon.

You can see it on daft

Search - for sale - clare - shannon - on site at approx 175
 
I note that a few posters have concerns about service charges on apartments but bear in mind that assuming the management company has been handed over to the owners which I understand is what normally happens (at least eventually when the development is complete) that

a) You the owners ultimately decide what needs to be spent and whether you pay for a management agent or do it all yourselves voluntarily. Of course you will always have to pay the essentials which are subject to inflation but there should not be cause for concern that there will be "padding" to increase profits because you are the owners of the management company.
b) Some of your insurance (i.e the buildings) is included in this fee
c) Other charges may also be included in the fee e.g. refuse charges that you would have to pay seperately if you lived in a house.
 
This is a very interesting thread for me at present as am looking at either appt or house in south city dublin for investment. dam099 would you say therefore that management fees are not exhorbitant in general? I currently see fees of the order of 1.5-2k per annum for any of the appts I have researched. If one assumed building insurance and refuse was included in this, the effective managment figure (on a level playing field compared with a house) might reduce to a thousand or less?
 
I'm in a self managed apartment block and the fee is €470. If you see a apartment you are interested in and the fees are high then it might not be so bad if you are prepared to take a place on the board of management.
Throw the management agent out and you'll cut your management fee in half.
 
The management company is essentially the three board members. What little needs to be done is done in our own time. I reasonably expect that if we weren't self-managing we'd be paying at least 700 Euro more each.

I definitely know that if we had left it up to a management agent to sort out noise pollution issues we'd still be kept awake at night.
 
very interesting as we own two investment houses, and were considering converting them into three apartments as we felt they could achieve more rent that way......
Not so sure now if we would be devaluing the houses and may leave well enough alone.
These are two three storey houses so only appeal to people with no children as they are not child friendly at all.
I always thought young professionals preferred apartment living to sharing a house with others.
 
sorry posted in error........not finished!!
In England in late 80s the appartment market was the most severe sector to tank during the crash.
I remember going to a bank manager in 1992 for my first purchase (4 bed detached) and he said always buy a house with front and back garden rather than appartment as it appeals to the broadest spectrum of buyers and renters.
He also said to never buy a house if there was a queue which I think was the best advice I ever recieved.
However it is more difficult to keep to the advice in this market!!
Yes I can see how security could be a concern for a house. In Spain we have cameras front and back.
They are dummies with a flashing LED which seems to help with break ins etc. Two of our neighbours villas have been broken into and they do not have cameras.
 
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