Living Car Free - Curious..Live in apartment or house?

I enjoy biking, but live in a rural area, and have a house with 3 acres. Would be almost impossible to be car free.
For you people who live car-free, what type of dwelling do you call "home"? Apartment? Condo? House?

We've discussed this in quite a bit of detail recently here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=473169

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=473169

32 CF people voted "rent", while 13 CF folks voted "own". So someone CF in our self-selecting sample is 2.5x more likely to rent than s/he is to own a place of residence.

I hadn't read through that thread real well, thought it was just a "do you own or rent" poll. Wasn't concerned if you rent or own, but what type dwelling you live in.
True, most apartment dwellers rent, but condo could be owners, and a house could be owners or renters.

Well technically I live in a house (its not connected to any other building), but its really more like an apartment. I think it may have once been an over-sized stand alone garage.

I'm in a townhouse, close to the centre of town. For me, proximity is more important than the type of building itself.

I live in a condo, which means I pay rent for an apartment to the bank rather than to a local landlord, and if I'm lucky enough to enjoy increasing housing prices, I get to count the increased equity against the interest I owe. So far, it's been a good deal, but only because I bought a while ago and had the good sense to insist on a fixed interest loan.

More to the point, though, I live in an area with a lot of high density housing not too far from the center of a large urban area. In my neighborhood, to own a free-standing house, you'd have to be rich, so a lot of people have settled for condos and crappy townhouses. Many people here have apparently decided that a small place close to work is preferable to a large place a long ways from work.

Own a duplex. Live in one half, rent out the other (the rent covers the mortgage).

I live in a house in a dense suburban neighbourhood, close to most amenities. I'd actually prefer to live in a apartment-style condo, downtown, even closer to amenities, but my husband would miss having a yard terribly. Admitted, I would miss having a garage to hold all things bike related. :)

I live in condo, about a mile and half front downtown. There is a grocery store within one block. My job is about 5.5 miles away by bicycle. I can run almost all of my common errands on foot or by bike.

The biggest downside is that we have to keep our entire stable of bicycles inside our tiny apartment. We used to keep our bikes downstairs in the shared garage, but after two bikes got stolen from there, the replacement bikes all live upstairs, currently one hybrid, one tandem, an urban utility bike, and a touring bike, all stacked in front of the unused fireplace.

I live in condo, about a mile and half front downtown. There is a grocery store within one block. My job is about 5.5 miles away by bicycle. I can run almost all of my common errands on foot or by bike.

The biggest downside is that we have to keep our entire stable of bicycles inside our tiny apartment. We used to keep our bikes downstairs in the shared garage, but after two bikes got stolen from there, the replacement bikes all live upstairs, currently one hybrid, one tandem, an urban utility bike, and a touring bike, all stacked in front of the unused fireplace.

Same here. I live in a dense urban area in an apartment that is 1.8 miles from downtown and 1.8 miles from my work. There are numerous shops, markets, and restaurants within walking distance, and even more within biking distance. Being car free here is a no brainer.

When i was in tennessee i had a car but drove it maybe once or twice a month. I still lived near the center of the city and within a few miles of a major supermarket. If you want to be car free or extremely car-lite then you need to factor that into where you choose to live.

We live in an apartment that is part of a 4 plex that used to be a ranch style house. It's clean and in good condition, and the landlord is nice, but we don't like it too much. It's kind of expensive, and all the neighbors smoke and it seeps through the building. Bleh. We were the last ones to move in, so we really can't complain. The rental market for apartments is very tight here, and few places take pets now (WTH?). We have 2 cats. All 10 of our bikes stay in the apartment. 4 in the living room, 6 in the spare bedroom. We are keeping our eyes open for another place.

The location is great though. I walk 15 minutes to my classes at the local college. Also within a mile radius walking distance is a large grocery store, subway shop, hardware store, rite-aid, post office, our bank, bakery thrift store, 2 brew pubs, pizza joint and several other stores. I bike to my p/t job 3 miles away.

I'm pretty lucky (or smart ;)).

I live in an apartment, but it's the converted upper floor of an old farmhouse, with not only a large yard (11 trees) but an entire park immediately adjacent. I have use of 1/2 of a 2 car garage for my bikes. I'm only 2 miles from downtown, and within 4 miles of almost every kind of store there is. The city bus stops right at the end of my driveway.

Carfree Nirvana!

I'd love to live in a house so I could have another bike. And a garden. Oh, and a dog!

I have an apartment and odds are good that the next place will be an apartment too. I'm hoping to at least get a larger apartment with a balcony and that way I can get a second bike.

Financially renting is the way for me to go and I live close to everything I use: library - across the street, laudromat - 1 km away; grocery store - depending on what I'm buying a block away, or 8 km roundtrip bike ride, or a 10 km roundtrip bike ride, or a 15 km roundtrip bike rid; movie theatres, museum, people watching all are a 20 minute bike ride away.

But if I did buy a house it would be in the general area I live in now. And I'd definitely get a dog!

Inexpensive rental apartment, two of us in a 1bedroom.

Landlord lets us grow food in the front yard.

I'd love to live in a house so I could have another bike. And a garden. Oh, and a dog!

I have an apartment and odds are good that the next place will be an apartment too. I'm hoping to at least get a larger apartment with a balcony and that way I can get a second bike.


It's all about your priorities. I'm pretty sure my apartment is <500 sq. feet, and I've got two bikes in the living room.

apt in the city for me

single house own with the wife in an older suburb

I live in a rented apartment only a couple of blocks from a small grocery store and my post office box. I'm six miles from downtown and four and a quarter miles from the nearest big store where I do most of my shopping.

The bad part about living here is I have no control of who moves into the other three units in my thin wall building. In the past two years there have been noisy neighbors and quiet ones. In the last week the husband of the newest neighbor just arrived from prison. He seems friendly but he is noisy. Twice I've had to ask him to turn down his stereo.

He sure can tell some stories. I wish his story of joining the military soon were true. He would be shipped out and the place would be quiet again. The government has removed the restriction that prevented violent felons from serving in the military.

Today was the first day in a while that I've wanted my own house. My dog could bark all she wants and I wouldn't need to keep her quiet. It would be unlikely that I would hear a neighbors stereo playing inside their house too.

It would be great for me to get a tiny odd shaped lot and build an 800-1000 square foot home without a lawn. I hate lawn mowing. Since moving to an apartment I really love not having to do lawn work.

Own a duplex. Live in one half, rent out the other (the rent covers the mortgage).

+1, but for us it's a triplex

Friends of mine bought a fourplex. They live in one quarter an rent out the other three units. The rentals pay for their mortgage and allow them to have the lifestyle they want. I'd consider doing something similar but right now the cost of any housing here is in the stratosphere.

Small apartment for me. It's technically a 1 bedroom, but that's name only. Studio with a den or walk in closet is a better description. It's just south of one of the largest universities in the states. I can easily walk to coffee shops, my bank, movie theatre etc. Bus line is 500 feet from my door. Work is about 8 miles.

I'm playing with furniture and what not to make the space better. Trying to squeeze another bike or two in here.

Row-house condo. Currently have a spare bedroom, but will be used (again) next summer. Front yard belongs to the condo corp, but we have a small back yard. Great compromise all around.

Apartment at home with the parents (they're a weird combo of Mennonites and hippies and don't want to own a house or a car) and apartment at college. And biking is my main transportation everywhere. it's very easy being car free when you're in the city.

By the sixth post, we're already saying that the key factor is location, not apartment vs. house. The same thing happened in the other thread about renting vs. owning.

What this says, then, is that a residential location close to numerous amenities and/or the workplace is likely to have more apartments than houses.

Small house on a large piece of family property (40 acres) 7 miles (from a small town with few amenities) 19 miles from a much larger town. Main reason we stay put is because the property and houses are paid for, we have chickens, large gardens, small fruit orchards and can add additional livestock if we choose. We have looked at alternates, but this works the best for us at the moment.

Aaron:)

Small house on a large piece of family property (40 acres) 7 miles (from a small town with few amenities) 19 miles from a much larger town. Main reason we stay put is because the property and houses are paid for, we have chickens, large gardens, small fruit orchards and can add additional livestock if we choose. We have looked at alternates, but this works the best for us at the moment.

Aaron:)

Having read Betty MacDonald's The Egg & I has removed whatever interest I may ever have had in raising chickens.

Having read Betty MacDonald's The Egg & I has removed whatever interest I may ever have had in raising chickens.

Never read that. But as a general rule I wouldn't want to look too close at ANY form of mechanized food production:lol:

Aaron:)

Never read that. But as a general rule I wouldn't want to look too close at ANY form of mechanized food production:lol:

Aaron:)

Do you remember the Ma & Pa Kettle Movies? They were based on characters from "Egg."