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Condo living can include nerve-racking neighbors

December 5th, 2006 categories: Condos & Lofts, For Home Buyers, Real Estate News

This came from Sunday’s Dispatch in a column they have every week. I thought it was a little humorous at first in a Dear Abbey kind of way. After I thought about it though, when it is all said and done, condo owners still live right next door to someone. Inches, in most cases, away from someone else with an entirely different life and lifestyle and possibly schedule.

How can you know before you buy if the clod upstairs makes too much noise You can’t really. It’s important enough to find out some answers to though since it’s a quality of life issue. Most listing agents go on and on about the soundproofing that was done to the condo you’re about to buy. They’ll talk about the thickness of the drywall, the inches of insulation in the walls, floors, ceilings. They’ll mention that concrete and steel make great sound deadening material and the 80 year old structure is so soundly built (no pun intended) that there is no way you could hear that guy on top, especially with the 14 foot ceilings. Always ask, because it’s always worth knowing.

Then again, if you’re buying a home in say, Gahana, there’s no way of knowing whether or not the 17 year old next door has a punk band that practices in the garage. I sold a free standing condo-home recently where the neighbors extended family got together every Sunday and played Mariachi music on the back patio for hours on end. You just never know.