[eulers_secret]

You can have these things without owning a house.

Community is IMO easier in apartments, the higher density means there’s a bigger pool of folks you might click with.

Community gathering spots are more prevalent as well: pools, playgrounds, green spaces, etc are common amenities. Especially if you get a dog, you will meet lots of people.

Of course it depends on which complex you live in. If I move I will miss my apartment and its community. I won’t miss my window aircon though, central air would be awesome.

[100percentjake]

And then after 3 years in the apartment the landlord (or a new owner, if the place you call "home" is merely a line on some out-of-state investment leech's spreadsheets) decides to "adjust" the rent and price you out and you are, with little to no warning, forced to move and very likely abandon many of those connections.

[NiloCK]

> You can have these things without owning a house.

Yes this is feasible, but respecting it as a design problem, renting is more transient than ownership and tilts the floor away from deep communal relationships.

Comparing the neighborhood I grew up in with the one I now live in is night and day. My mom has had the same next door neighbors for 44 years. Up and down the street there are many similarly familiar persons.

By comparison, from my own front door, I can only physically see two houses that are owner occupied. There are good neighbors (and friends!) in the rental houses as well, but investing in those relationships pays off with lower certainty because circumstance is very likely to uproot them at any given moment.

[Fargren]

You can own and appartment and live in it. For some reason ownership every discussion with USAmericans seems to come with the premise that home ownership implies houses. The vast majority of home owners I know personally own a flat.