What is the worst experience you had living in apartment or condo community

Lived in a pretty nice apartment complex in college. Must have been some sketchy person in the unit before me because I'd randomly get weirdos banging on the door at odd hours. The layout of the entrances made it unlikely to be a "mistakes". Just held my breath the first few times, then I picked up some 'home protection' at some point so I felt a little better waiting for them to go away but it was unnerving. The door was solid but I was on the 4th floor with no other viable exit.

Loved the place otherwise.

Years ago a single mother lived near my apartment and she was likely at least verbally abusive to her kid. Would always hear her yelling, swearing, telling the kid to STFU. Sad The kid obviously did not improve his behavior because he did not respect his single mothers authority. He needed a father figure to do that which he did not have, obviously I called the child protection services on her.

Another instance, a couple young women in my apartment building who i had a one night stand with (yes both of them who were best friends) got mad that I pumped and then dumped them so they started stalking and harassing me constantly. Phone calls, texts, banging on my door, making up lies to the landlord about me trying to get me evicted., showing up at my work pretending to be my wife (I'm not married) screaming that I cheated on her. They were pretty obsessed with me. Must have been the daddy issues and unfulfilled emotional void.

Another instance a guy right beside me who I didn't talk to that much but he seemed normal, had his door bashed in by the police at 6am on an arrest warrant and he never was seen there again. Probably in jail. Rumor was drug trafficking and armed robbery.

Apartment complex I first moved in to in Houston was an older 1970s garden style complex. There were some larger townhome style units. But I had a small 1 bed that I rented for $565 with free electricity and AC. When I first moved in, my next door neighbor was a legal writing adjunct professor. There was a retired couple in the large townhome style unit above me who had a spotless 1980s Mercedes-Benz and a huge collection of house plants.

The property got sold to new owners who stopped doing background checks on tenants and let everything fall apart. The pool turned green. An Asian drug gang moved into one of the townhomes and began selling drugs in the parking lot by the pool. Then, there was a SWAT standoff when police tried to serve a warrant on a guy and he let his giant pit bulls loose on the police and holed up with an AR15 for a few hours.

But the final straw was when there was a murder. First reports in the media were that a guy stabbed his friend to death. It later came out that the guy was a Muslim and his friend was Jewish. The Muslim guy nearly beheaded his friend. The Muslim guy used to go out and party with the Jewish guy, but had become very religious and broke off the friendship. He invited the Jewish guy over to his apartment and then came up behind him and slit his throat with a 6 inch butterfly knife. Everyone was sure this was terror related but prosecutors claimed that there was no evidence of motive and Homeland Security officials claimed that there was no relation to terrorism. Speculation was that the Muslim guy's dad pulled some strings with the Bush administration to just have his son plead guilty and get a long prison sentence in the US instead of going to Guantanamo. The dad was a Saudi millionaire and this all happened as the US was in the midst of the Iraq war.

it's the poors wrote:

Poor people are awful to live near. I've avoided the problems mentioned here simply by always living in apartments that require proof of income for all tenants. The minimum required income doesn't even have to be super high. There is a world of difference between a complex that takes all-comers and one that even requires people to prove that they make, say, $35K+. At very least, it means that your neighbors have somewhere to go and something to do other than just hanging out all day every day.

Describe some examples.

I noticed populations matter. Some people cannot act civilized regardless, and some poor people can, usually grouped in demographics.

People are whack wrote:

An obese woman who lived below me complained to property management because I was doing sit-ups too loudly. (Seriously)

This one gave me a good laugh.

Small fourplex with a central stairs in between two story units. Downstairs neighbors kids stole my potted plants and after a couple weeks of disappearance the ly were placed outside their apartment door entrance. I confronted the parents about the theft and it entailed an all out war, which I eventually had to move out of the unit because the hostility with the parent got so bad. Like, blatant loud music anytime I came home and more theft.

The constant smell of laundry detergent from the laundry room permeating the complex. Ugh!

I lived between a railway switching yard, and FedEx shipping depot. Nonstop short trains revving and moving cars around all night, with trucks backing up, door slamming, engine sounds.

Then two buildings over a spectacular murder involving the pool, electricity, and fire. News crews everywhere for weeks, then again periodically as the case progressed. People knocking on doors asking if we knew anything for months.

I don't miss apartment life at all. Leaking roofs. Sewage backups. People getting arrested at all hours of the night. Drunks falling asleep after they put food in the oven, filling the halls with smoke and having the fire department come out. Crazy ugly lady across the hall yelling at her cat and hooking up with the ugliest man in the world. Drug addicts, drug dealers, abusive drunk boyfriends, loud fat women, cars broken into, skanks turning tricks, etc. Apartment dwelling was a real eye opener at how many people live their lives, why certain populations remain poor while others succeed, and where Democratic voters come from.

I realized only after I moved into my apartment that the washer and drier doors open in the wrong direction. The doors should swing out away from each other in order to allow you to easily transfer your clothing from the washer to the drier. Instead, the doors on my washer and drier swing in toward each other so that both doors are in your was as you transfer items. The management company has failed to fix the issue even after being made aware (all they have to do is switch the way that the doors are hinged).

And this place is marketed as a "luxury apartment" lol!

Elvin wrote:

I realized only after I moved into my apartment that the washer and drier doors open in the wrong direction. The doors should swing out away from each other in order to allow you to easily transfer your clothing from the washer to the drier. Instead, the doors on my washer and drier swing in toward each other so that both doors are in your was as you transfer items. The management company has failed to fix the issue even after being made aware (all they have to do is switch the way that the doors are hinged).

And this place is marketed as a "luxury apartment" lol!

I had one once where a large door swung INTO the closet, blocking most of the storage. I removed the door. Re-hung it when I moved out. Maybe you could take the door off your washer? Give it a try

Elvin wrote:

I realized only after I moved into my apartment that the washer and drier doors open in the wrong direction. The doors should swing out away from each other in order to allow you to easily transfer your clothing from the washer to the drier. Instead, the doors on my washer and drier swing in toward each other so that both doors are in your was as you transfer items. The management company has failed to fix the issue even after being made aware (all they have to do is switch the way that the doors are hinged).

And this place is marketed as a "luxury apartment" lol!

This is the worst. How it was at my old place. Having to move laundry around the doors meant I would invariably fling clothes across the room when transferring.

Campus police at a tiny Junior college came in my room in the middle of the night when I was asleep. I don´t remember what time it was or how long they stayed searching for something, maybe drugs and guns. This was in 2010. It felt quite illegal at the time, more so now.

I think I´ve unconsciously tried to forget the 3 years I lived in a small apartment complex... I actually could have lived in a very nice apartment or a house but I wanted to save money.

I lived in an apartment for 8 years in my 20s while finishing my PhD. It was overall a decent experience, since the other tenants were all graduate/ professional students or recent grads in the workforce. It was an 11 unit 3-story building, so no elevators to deal with.

Biggest downsides:

- One nasty shared washer/dryer for the entire building. I'd get up at 6am on Sundays to do laundry since that was the only time it was open.

- Building was sold a few years after I moved in. The landlord used to be a super chill guy that was a total bro. The new owner was a tightwad and always around. He was super good about fixing stuff and even remodeled my unit when I was away for a few weeks.

- A water pipe leaked in the bathroom ceiling, causing a partial cave in. Responsive tightwad landlord from the previous point was over in 10 minutes, and had the place fully restored by that evening.

Never lived in an apartment or condo.

Lived above a group full of meth heads for about a year. Non-stop yelling, fighting in the parking lot, screaming gibberish at all hours of the night, other dope fiends banging on the front door a few times a day. One dude had a job initially, and allowed a few other degenerates to move in with him even though they weren’t on the lease.

Management refused to do anything because they were having trouble keeping tenants in general, and were trying to hold on to the small amount of revenue they were getting.

Apartment living - never again.

- homeless person trying to live/camp out in the parking lot and steal power

- no parking. Have to park across a busy road in the complex's other lot if I get home after like 5 aka after running.

-neighbor steals light bulbs from outdoor light owned by the complex bc "he likes it dark at night"

- party girl above me is always having loud gatherings fri and sat until 2 am, and even during the week on occasion. Super sucky if I have a race the next day or just have to go into work

- cockroaches - had to get the apartment fumigated once

-lead based paint on the walls from back in the day and asbestos in the ceiling

-many of the amenities are often broken, the crappy apartment complex gym has been closed for damage to the roof for months

- $6 to do a load of laundry

In 2007-8, just out of college and in my early-20s, I lived in an apartment a couple miles away from ASU in Tempe, AZ.

1. One day a worker fell through my ceiling and left a giant hole up there along with a massive pile of insulation on my floor. No note or anything left, had to call the office to figure out what happened.

2. Right around New Years, we lost electricity and water for three or four days. To make things up, tenants received a gift card to Boston Market.

3. One day I walked downstairs to find the SWAT team raiding the apartment below me.

Despite all this, rent was very cheap (which makes sense in hindsight) and I enjoyed my stay there and proximity to some fun dive bars.