to love living on a flat

[LovelyBath77]

It was hard when the children were really small but now they are bit older I love living in a flat in the city centre. They can walk to good local schools and to the shops and the park. Mostly pedestrianised and well lit. I feel from some relatives they think we should have a 'family house' from hints we get, but I really don't want to. After all, when we're older we'd probably want to downsize back to flat. No urge to be out somewhere in suburbs. AIBU? Any other family flat lovers, or most love to have a house?

Was a ftb last year - yearned for a house but ended up buying a flat on the basis of location. I love it. It's a basement flat, which lots of people aren't keen on, but it's brighter than you'd expect (bits of it anyway).

I previously rented a flat where my bed was directly over a hairdresser's salon, and my, did sound carry. I could stay in bed on a Saturday morning and learn all the town gossip, which was interesting in one way but became a bit wearisome.

I've always felt that as a family grows, a town centre house or flat would be the best option.

Rural or suburban houses with gardens are great when they're young but when you have teens, they can go to the cinema and all that palaver...meet their mates, go shopping.

That would be ideal for me when mine are older.

Love the flat I have been living in:
LOCATION
Purpose built modern small block of 14 flats with good security and good sound and heat insulation.
Big floor to ceiling windows and lots of light - we are double aspect on the living space and bedroom as well.
Overlooks greenery and has a balcony but don't have to worry about mowing a lown or doing any mowing.
Bin bags go into the big bin and its taken away by the council.
Lift for moving in/out.
Cheap/quick to clean and heat.
Good storage and v big room sizes (unusual for a new flat).

Things I didn't like:
Open plan living space (even if big, sometimes want to get away from the washing machine or cooking smells)
Internal bathroom always smells a bit damp
One bedroom so no spare room for guests (although if I owned it I would divided it into 2 beds as it is easily big enough)

Another one here who loves flats. Our first house (out of London) was a 3 bed link detached with garden. Then moved into London and have been in flats since. Firstly without a garden (which was a big issue to me when kids were young) and now in a garden flat with big garden. Honestly, the garden is only an issue when they are young. Recently we looked at moving to a house. My biggest concern was how spread out we will all be. The teens in particular. I thought i would never see them. Living on one level with the bedrooms and living space very near means that I never feel like we are all living separate lives. I love it. And as mentioned already, being a house does not necessarily mean more square footage. Now I am set on living in flats til I die!

We swithered between moving to a larger flat in the city or moving out to a house in the suburbs.

What swung it was the compromises we'd have had to make about location plus our money wouldn't have bought us the house we would actually have wanted.

For the price of our 3 bed flat in a decent area, close to a great school, several parks, and lots of amenities we'd have got a new build shoebox with an overlooked postage stamp garden and tiny rooms.

Our flat is well insulated for both noise and heat and we do have a large grass area out the back for the children to play in.

The downsides are:

• No back door. Pain in the arse taking the rubbish out or if you need to clean muddy boots etc.
• No loft space for Christmas decorations and other clutter
• No vegetable garden/place to potter, but that was probably a pipe dream. We've talked for years about putting our names down for an allotment and never have.

That's about it.

I'd love to live in a flat. I can't really put my finger on why - I just like them! We live in a small house very close to the city centre so it's not really proximity.

We live in a flat with a balcony and I actually love it. i always said i'd hate to bring children up in a flat as i felt they should have a 'proper house' but it's been fab for potty training, making night feeds etc! Only issue is lack of storage really; we're looking at camping but don't really have anywhere to store all our stuff, but thats what my dads shed is for right?!

I love our flat, it's a ground floor in London with a big garden and close to everything. Four our budget we could have bought a 3 bed house much further out. Our first day of house hunting left us really depressed!

Only downside is noise from upstairs. Has anyone had any experience of ceiling soundproofing?

Not in a flat but a smallish house very close to shops, schools, transport links - pretty much everything we need on our doorstep. I sometimes feel I would like to live in a quieter place and bigger house but the convenience of living here would be hard to give up.

ThirdWheelSally definitely! I gave my head a wobble when I realised we were prioritising space for 'as yet unbought camping equipment' over location and an all other ways perfect flat.

I've definitely found some good bits of living in a flat with a baby.
Our bedroom is opposite the living room and kitchen so I can easily pop him in his cot for a minute if I need to do something quickly. Similarly I don't need to go upstairs to use the changing table. Plus it's well insulated and the communal garden is nice.

I'd like to move to a house eventually though so I can grow my own veg and hang laundry outside.