Better Than Blueprints: The “Jumping-Up-and-Down” Test
One of the issues that can come up for downsizers moving from a single-family home to multi-family housing (condo or townhome) is privacy ” specifically, noise.
I don’t know about townhomes (see below), but I do know a surefire, albeit not-so-scientific way to test how quiet a given condo is: go up a floor, stand in the hallway directly above my client . . . and jump up and down.
Really (note: it helps if you’re 6’2″, 215 lb.).
If the floor feels like a trampoline and every sound and vibration goes directly through . . . the client may want to keep looking for another condo.
Building Spec’s
By contrast, townhomes typically only have shared walls ” not walls, floors, and ceilings; ergo, the concern is who’s on either side of you.
But how do you determine that?
Somehow, I don’t see the neighbors being receptive to a knock on the door (“Um, I’m here showing the next-door townhome, and wanted to know if I could yell through your Master Bedroom wall to my client on the other side . . . ??”).
Instead, Plan B is to obtain construction specifications from the builder, then have them reviewed by a qualified professional like a home inspector.
That’s also preferable to asking the Seller, who invariably will claim they never hear a peep (certainly possible. Or . . . they just may be used to the noise; or, they don’t have very good hearing).
