Real Estate

Am I the only one on RFD who lives alone in a detached house?

  • Last Updated:
  • Feb 24th, 2017 9:35 am
Deal Expert
May 30, 2005
49009 posts
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Richmond Hill
GrandePike wrote: Does your gym have 30ft ceilings?

I have a gym in my basement too but it's so ghetto compared to a proper gym and ceiling height is only 9ft which doesn't work for a gym...Can't even fit cardio machine be it treadmill, elliptical or anything down there

Yard work and plowing itself is OK if I can choose when to do it, but in a house you don't get to choose. I also like travelling so I definitely need people to come do it for me anyways since I'm away for week or two quite often

A detached house is a prison for single person
Why do you need a 30ft ceiling to fit treadmills and elliptical?

They fit in 8ft basements just fine.
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Dec 5, 2015
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Concord, ON
Jon Lai wrote: Why do you need a 30ft ceiling to fit treadmills and elliptical?

They fit in 8ft basements just fine.
Uhh...No

I'm 6'2... A regular treadmill is around 1' off the ground....I don't like that I'm one big stride away from bashing my head...an eleptical is totally out of question since it's even higher

Can't even have a pull down bar in basement ...Can't skip rope either
Member
May 15, 2015
233 posts
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North York, ON
You're not alone. You should form a club!

Any plans on another property?
Sr. Member
Feb 3, 2015
970 posts
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Toronto
Prob why you're still single....... No ways to meet anyone stuck in your detached home.
Member
Jan 20, 2007
474 posts
130 upvotes
Niagara
GrandePike wrote: You should've just bought a nice large luxury condo with great amenities

Pretty non attractive to live in a detached house as a single person...I only bought a house because my gf moved in and I needed 3rd parking space but I miss my condo everyday

2/3 of house is unused ..I have to drive 5-10mins to gym, I had to find/get ppl to do yard work, snow plow , no concierge so I send packages to my mom's condo, no sauna , no pool and I had to get people to restain fence and deck and wait for them to come and do it..Have to take my trash out and back and on set days...It's a big downgrade in lifestyle to move to a detached.. Definitely don't recommend a detached if someone is single and can afford not to have to move to a detached
I sold my detached home last year and decided to give condo life a try. I decided to rent for a year to see if I liked it first. The points you make are true and I didn't miss shoveling the driveway this winter or mowing the lawn however it has it's drawbacks too. Such as next to no parking for visitors. Smells - especially from people who smoke in the building. Noise - from the 400 pound rhino above me that starts getting to work at 5 am to the guy next to my unit that just bought himself a new sub woofer. I'm glad I tried Condo life by renting. My lease is now up and I'm looking for another detached house.

Condo noise :
God always forgives. Man often forgives. Nature never forgives.
Deal Fanatic
Dec 5, 2009
5768 posts
3612 upvotes
GrandePike wrote: Uhh...No

I'm 6'2... A regular treadmill is around 1' off the ground....I don't like that I'm one big stride away from bashing my head...an eleptical is totally out of question since it's even higher

Can't even have a pull down bar in basement ...Can't skip rope either
So your complaining that you can't fit a treadmill in your basement, and in the same breadth complaining that you have to drive 5 minutes to the gym and complaining that you have to do yard work at your house. Do you see the irony here ?
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Dec 5, 2015
2038 posts
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Concord, ON
fdl wrote: So your complaining that you can't fit a treadmill in your basement, and in the same breadth complaining that you have to drive 5 minutes to the gym and complaining that you have to do yard work at your house. Do you see the irony here ?
Nope. Not at all...whats the irony?

5 min drive is a 35min jog..5km one way ..Not doing it at night or when weather is bad or when it's freezing outside or when it's sunny ....yard work is not gym ..Pushing a lawn mower, weed whacker isn't working out.

Also ever consider I don't want to do a 10km jog everyday with a detached I'm forced to if I want to goto gym and take your advice .. Jogging is highly inefficient..Hiit is way better

What's the irony? Are you one of those that think being outside is somehow working out or healthy? Lol it isn't
Last edited by GrandePike on Feb 19th, 2017 11:39 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Dec 5, 2015
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Concord, ON
ancodia wrote: I sold my detached home last year and decided to give condo life a try. I decided to rent for a year to see if I liked it first. The points you make are true and I didn't miss shoveling the driveway this winter or mowing the lawn however it has it's drawbacks too. Such as next to no parking for visitors. Smells - especially from people who smoke in the building. Noise - from the 400 pound rhino above me that starts getting to work at 5 am to the guy next to my unit that just bought himself a new sub woofer. I'm glad I tried Condo life by renting. My lease is now up and I'm looking for another detached house.

Condo noise :
No visitor parking? What kind of condo doesn't have that except right downtown? Condos have visitors parking...

Your issues aren't condo issues but bad neighbor issues which is worst in a detached...An idiot on my street doesn't use green bin so his organic waste is all over the street and some ends up on my property because racoons get to it...There's another guy who doesn't restain his fence and it looks awful...Always that lazy and cheap guy who doesn't have someone fertilize and spray his lawn...So it becomes an eyesore as overgrown weed garden. Or the guy who doesn't even trim the edges and makes it look even worst.And then there's the guy who thought a bright yellow garage door is a nice idea

Detached are full of cheap people who do it themselves when they do a crap job and is on full display for all to see.

And there's another guy who just took off his Xmas lights last week

Detached neighbors suck too
Last edited by GrandePike on Feb 19th, 2017 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Deal Fanatic
Jan 18, 2003
6484 posts
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Mississauga
there is nothing wrong with a single guy in a detached house.... same as a single guy going to the movies, eating at fine dining, etc.... to each their own

i would never do the above things but that's just me...

who cares what other people think.... if you can afford it and want the larger space, so be it...

is it common? i would say no.
Member
Jan 20, 2007
474 posts
130 upvotes
Niagara
GrandePike wrote: No visitor parking? What kind of condo doesn't have that except right downtown? Condos have visitors parking...

Your issues aren't condo issues but bad neighbor issues which is worst in a detached...An idiot on my street doesn't use green bin so his organic waste is all over the street and some ends up on my property because racoons get to it...There's another guy who doesn't restain his fence and it looks awful...Always that lazy and cheap guy who doesn't have someone fertilize and spray his lawn...So it becomes an eyesore as overgrown weed garden. Or the guy who doesn't even trim the edges and makes it look even worst.And then there's the guy who thought a bright yellow garage door is a nice idea

Detached are full of cheap people who do it themselves when they do a crap job and is on full display for all to see.

And there's another guy who just took off his Xmas lights last week

Detached neighbors suck too
The condo I'm at already had limited visitor spaces but due to lack of spaces for owners they converted a bunch of them into regular spots. Now most visitors need to park on side streets. This condo (in Burlington) is only about 4 years old and got it first special assessment earlier this year so I watched that transpire first hand too. Endless notices about the issue under the door, the politics and the eventual replacement of the condo board. The smoking owners are a problem for me - the guy down the hall chain smokes cigars which goes out in the hall. Each of the units has a separate hvac unit but if I open the window/balcony door or turn on an exhaust fan it draws air into the condo from the hallway.

The penthouse/top floor isn't without issues too - they opened up a roof top patio which resulted in all the people on the top floor complaining about the noise from the people on the roof. A lot of them sold and moved.

99% of the people here are great. But as you know it only takes 1 and the odds of being around that 1 is greater in an apartment building.

All I'm saying is condo life or detached life each have their pluses and minuses. No one solution fits all and if doesn't work for you doesn't mean it's wrong for everyone else.
God always forgives. Man often forgives. Nature never forgives.
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Dec 24, 2005
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BeapChastard wrote: Haha touche... My choices with my budget were a condo in Toronto, a really old/small bungalow in a bad part of Scarborough, or a much bigger and newer detached house in Newmarket. The choice was obvious.
yeah - so why didn't you take the condo?
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Dec 23, 2015
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Newmarket, ON
milolai wrote: yeah - so why didn't you take the condo?
I rented a condo in Toronto for a few years so I already knew I didn't like it. Also I don't like Toronto itself, too crowded. If I didn't have to stay in the GTA for work I'd move way up north to a small town.
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Feb 2, 2014
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BeapChastard wrote: I have no wife, no kids, but I own a detached house in which I live all by myself. I also bought it without any help from anyone.

Out of all the people I know in real life who are single and near my age (early 30s), all of them either:
-live with parents
-live with roommates
-rent
-if they own, it's a condo

Just curious if anyone else on RFD is in my position. I gotta say, having all this space is great! Not to mention the peace and quiet. There are so many empty rooms I can put stuff in, it just seems like I have endless space.
Good for you OP...when I was younger and single, I wish a bought a detached house instead of a condo. Prices were so low and mortgage rules were so relaxed, that I could of done it.
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Sucks...Saw that the grass is already half green ...The lawn guys will have to come do aeration fertilizer, spot serdingand of course mowing soon
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Sep 1, 2013
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New Tecumseth, ON
GrandePike wrote: Sucks...Saw that the grass is already half green ...The lawn guys will have to come do aeration fertilizer, spot serdingand of course mowing soon
It's not exactly hard to maintain your own lawn if you're not a sloth.

Anyways, same as you op. Lived in a condo in Toronto for a year, hated every moment of it and bought a detached house far away from that god awful city.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
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booming
only a fool would read anything posted by grandepike.
protip: don't feed the trolls.
grandepike aka littlefish (same size brain).
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May 31, 2007
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I started alone in a detach then moved in with my now wife in a condo, however the neighbours in condo would smoke weed 24/7, and would fight with his girlfriend, sometimes throwing stuff against the wall, the noise and smell alone was worth moving into a detach.
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Oct 23, 2003
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The only 2 things wrong with condos are loud neighbours and monthly maintenance fees you have no control over as they keep on climbing.

Im entertaining buying a place as a home base to store my stuff while i work overseas, but on which coast, and which city, i have no clue. Might do Montreal just because its cheaper, and I'd only be there occasionally, probably during the summer.
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Jun 24, 2002
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Good for you op. I lived in a condo for 4 years and although it seemed nice at first I started hating it more and more. There's always some asshole that sets off the fire alarm at 1:30 AM. You have to be home whenever they check dryer ducts or alarms. Some of the neighbours are entitled pricks and have no manners. The crazy cat lady that would hit my floors with her broom if I dared to walk away from my couch. I don't miss the crying children at night that I drowned out with a portable air conditioner because it was so hot higher up and I couldn't open the windows anyways because of the pot smoke and cigarette smoke wafting up. There drunken clubbers all around the building every weekend, and no visitor parking available ever. Not to mention the dogs that would jump all over me on the elevator, I happen to be super allergic.

The final nail was the assholes that parked by my new car constantly dinging it up whenever they opened their doors. Oh and did I mention underground condo parking and storage lockers gets broken in to all the freaking time?

I have to mow the lawn now and my gym is a 5 minute drive, but I get to crank the music as I work from home or on my car and my 200" home theatre screen wouldn't fit in a condo.
Deal Guru
Dec 11, 2008
13064 posts
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No, at 30 I was renting in Toronto after selling a semi in Sauga.

Hated the maintenance and yardwork. Plus location is the #1 for me.

Now I live in a condo townhome in the best location for me, love it. No yward work, but plenty of space 1900 sq ft + basement.

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