Would you live on a 3rd floor apartment to save $50 / month?

[FrugalSaver]

As you know, I'm helping my friend with her next move.

She's passed, smartly, on buying a condo.  She'd prefer to not buy a house at this time for numerous reasons so an apartment for her is the best option in her opinion.

She found a great location this week that is within her mustachian price range for value and price and the same floor plan is available on the 2nd floor as well as the 3rd (top) floor.

The 3rd floor is $50 / month cheaper.  I've lived on 3rd floor before and have generally known my electric bills to be a little higher.  Plus there's the issue of an additional flight of stairs when lugging groceries, etc and she's debating if it's worth it every day for $50 / month.

How would you make this decision?  Any key things to consider that maybe she's not thinking of when making the choice to choose between top floor or middle floor of her apartment building?

[fuzzy math]

In the winter it should be cheaper to heat, in the summer miserable to cool down. Depends on your climate. I'd do it if summer isn't oppressive.

[terran]

Assuming the 3rd is the top floor she may find it's quieter (I type this as I listen to my upstairs neighbor stomp around above me).

[Bracken_Joy]

Yeah, with fairly mild summers here, (and the possibility of a cross breeze?) I would PAY $50 extra a month to be on the top floor. I spent years with both upper and lower neighbors, and let me tell you, it sucks. Free exercise, saving money, and no one upstairs? SIGN ME UP.

[Freedomin5]

Yes, it's only three floors. After a while, the extra flight of stairs won't feel like any kind of exertion.

In China, an elevator has to be provided only in buildings with more than six floors. That means the units for rent are routinely six-floor walk-ups. Three floors really is not that big a deal, even with groceries. We lived on a third floor walk up, and we had to routinely lug a stroller up the stairs, along with a kid.

[marty998]

Sunlight! It makes all the difference on a lazy Saturday afternoon :)

[FrugalSaver]

Sunlight! It makes all the difference on a lazy Saturday afternoon :)

What does this mean?

[Cranky]

When I was 20yo? Sure.

These days? Nope.

My 20 something dd and her dh lived in a 3rd floor walk-up in NYC, and hauling groceries, much less furniture, up there got really old really fast.

[Milizard]

I used to live in a 3rd floor apartment,  though it was only 2.5 flights on the side of the building I used.. i loved it, though the stairs were occasionally tiresome. It was nice and quiet, and I felt like I was living in the treetops,  as there were lots of oak trees surrounding the building.  When I had a downstairs neighbor, it was super cheap to heat. I did get some built in exercise,  which I needed.  I did not carry lots at a time,  as a rule. I kept my grocery runs small, and only washed one load of laundry a day, at my parent's house as I ate dinner there, and went for a bike ride.

[LWYRUP]

I lived on a fifth floor walkup to save money it was great.  It's sunny up there, and quieter. Good exercise to go up and down the stairs, even better with groceries. 

Think of it as a free way to build exercise into your day!  It's like a spin class, instead of you paying someone, you SAVE money. 

Now if someone is in their 60s or has a medical condition I could understand the concern.  But this is the mustache blog, normal adults should jump at the chance to be more active. 

[Rubic]

Free exercise.

I once had an office on the 3rd floor of a building with no
elevator.  Constantly going up and down the stairs to deal
with people on the first floor, sometimes several times per
hour.

I didn't realize how fit I'd become until I started noticing
visitors to my showing up completely out of breath.

[big_slacker]

No one above AND below you? How is this even a choice?

[BlueMR2]

The only downside of note for me would be the ease of escaping in a fire.  Jumping from a 3rd story window is a much worse proposition than 2nd story.  However, for $50/mo I'd take that risk!

[Hula Hoop]

We lived on a top floor apartment (with no AC as it's not standard here) and it was miserably hot.  I'd never do it again and when we bought we specifically exluded top floor apartments for this reason.

[Laserjet3051]

ABSOLUTELY!

Decreased expense, more exercise climbing stairs, quieter with nobody above me. Of course if I had to move a jacuzzi in to the apt, carrying it up to the 3rd floor might be a deal breaker.

[thegeebees]

I would absolutely do it. The only consideration I didn't see listed above is your friend's age. If there aren't any elevators and she is either signing a long lease or buying-consider age. Knees are some of the first things to feel the wear and tear with age and many people end up with issues climbing stairs. Our realtor told us that is one reason that 1 story homes are such hot commodities, they tend to fly off the market because more people are looking for them.

[Johnez]

Depends on a lot of things. Planning on kids? C-Section with stairs isn't fun. Also, the dangers  of falling. Happens rarely
but the results are tragic. Have pets? Dogs get arthritis, sick, or just plain old and while some valiently try the stairs it's often pain on them. Any weirdness in the stairs makes moving furniture a pain, might have to settle for different styles that you can haul up a few flights.

Personally $50 is not gonna do it for me. I'd go for $100 though. Maybe try negotiating.

[FrugalSaver]

added piece of info.  This area is annually 95-~102 degrees in the july through september time period

[bacchi]

added piece of info.  This area is annually 95-~102 degrees in the july through september time period

Forget it. That $50 savings could easily be eaten up by increased AC use. Take the 2nd floor.

[DreamFIRE]

I had an upper floor apartment temporarily between selling and buying houses.   In my case, what sucked was that the stairs were outside, so that was extra time out in the cold going up and down stairs in the winter.  If the stairs had been inside, it would have been a lot nicer.  Midwestern climate, so it wasn't particularly hot.  I ran the AC when needed.

[Zikoris]

I definitely would. I lived in a third floor walkup for a couple of years and it was fine. It was interesting getting my washing machine up. Me and my aunt had a dolly, and one step at a time she'd pull from above and I'd push from below. It took awhile.

[Roadrunner53]

Definitely not! I am almost 65 and have two dogs that want out 50 times a day! Carrying groceries up 3 flights would be hell on earth! If there is no washer/dryer upstairs you gotta carry that crap up and down. Any purchase has to be carried up. If you ever hurt your back or knee or some debilitating illness it would be the kiss of death. If you had to be carted out by ambulance, you'd have to be toted down 3 flights of stairs. Not an easy chore! Then think if you have visitors who are old or even disabled, they would not find the stairs easy to climb. For $600 a year it is just not worth it. Maybe if you are very young, don't have animals, eat out a lot it might be okay! But if you ate out a lot it would blow the savings of the $600 a year! Good luck!

[I'm a red panda]

I have before. I wouldn't if I had kids.

We liked not having footsteps above us.

[Optimiser]

Absolutely. This seems like a great deal to me.

[2Birds1Stone]

Great deal! Noisy upstairs neighbors are the worst.

[alewpanda]

Pros:  Less noisy neighbors, free exercise.

Cons: Her age/health could be or become a factor if she is staying long.  A broken ankle makes a 3 story walk up impossible to live in.  Also, does she have pets?  Carrying a cat in a case isn't easy, and a pup might be young now, but they may not be as agile in a couple of years.  DH and I almost went for a lovely apartment recently that we though was on the second story (which would be like, half a flight of stairs, instead of garden level).  However, a video tour of the place indicated its actually 3rd floor, with 3 full flights of stairs to get to the laundry.  I have an 8 year old dog.  A half flight or one whole flight would have been an ok option for another year or two, but 2 full flights is too much. 

[Optimiser]

Pros:
Climbing stairs can prolong life
Saving $50/month means you need to save $15,000 less for retirement

[asauer]

Yep.  I sure would, and I have.  And I had 2 four-year olds at the time.  Totally worth it.  the heating costs were less and I save $1,000 more that year.

[partgypsy]

3rd floor unless she has mobility problems, is really nothing. When I was in my 20's I lived in a 8? 9th floor walk up in a city (it probably wasn't completely legal). I didn't have a car, so any grocery shopping was done on public transportation and then walked up. We were allowed to use the freight elevator for furniture moving only. All I can say, if I wasn't in good shape before, I was afterwards! My ex during that time lived 5 floors up and had a dog that he took out at least 2x a day. Since it was the top floor (actually the attic) it felt very private.
I also like views. I would go for it, and then open windows in summer for good cross ventilation.
  I used to be on 7th and 9th floor offices,and would take the stairs to my office. Now I'm on the 6th floor so I make sure each work day I walk up and down 11 flights of stairs for a "7th inning stretch".

[Proud Foot]

added piece of info.  This area is annually 95-~102 degrees in the july through september time period

Forget it. That $50 savings could easily be eaten up by increased AC use. Take the 2nd floor.

Absolutely this! When I lived in an apartment I was on the second floor and we very rarely had to run the AC/Heat as the units around us and above and below us kept the temperatures comfortable. 50 per month is only $600 for a year. You could easily have that big of a utility difference just due to the July-September time period of AC usage.

[JLee]

In order to avoid having people walking around on my head, I'd probably take the third floor.

[TVRodriguez]

I'd take the 3rd floor to avoid the noise of upstairs neighbors, as others have said.  I find it interesting that the 3rd floor is cheaper in that building, actually, since my experience is that many people prefer not to have upstairs neighbors.  So I would expect that to balance out the extra work/walking and the extra power bill.  But obviously the owner has thought this through and found that people in that area need the incentive to take the top floor if a second floor unit is also available.

[Samuel]

I'd take the 3rd floor to avoid the noise of upstairs neighbors, as others have said.  I find it interesting that the 3rd floor is cheaper in that building, actually, since my experience is that many people prefer not to have upstairs neighbors.  So I would expect that to balance out the extra work/walking and the extra power bill.  But obviously the owner has thought this through and found that people in that area need the incentive to take the top floor if a second floor unit is also available.

Yeah, in my area the top floor units are more expensive, for noise and sometimes view reasons. But we have pretty mild summers. Sounds like in the area in question the climate makes that calculation different. The landlord must know the local market.


In general I prefer top floors and don't mind stairs. I lived on the third floor in a building with an elevator and used the elevator maybe 10 times a year. Stairs are great exercise and one of the easiest ways to sneak in extra fitness.

[TVRodriguez]

In general I prefer top floors and don't mind stairs. I lived on the third floor in a building with an elevator and used the elevator maybe 10 times a year. Stairs are great exercise and one of the easiest ways to sneak in extra fitness.

Totally agree.  I wish that my office building didn't lock the doors in the stairwell other than the first floor, making it impossible for me to use the stairs to reach my 3rd floor office.  I've asked, and I've been given the old "security reasons" nonsense.  I have a key to my office--why don't they make another key to the door at the stairs that office-tenants could use???