Units without lift?

Has anyone lived in old school units (e.g. three, four stores) where there's no lift? Is it practical to climb up everyday?

 

3 levels is ok... but 4 would be pushing it for anybody top floor and they would want a lift.

 

It would restrict the market to young or fit people only.
Also the rent or resell value will be lower when compare to ones exactly the same size that have a lift

 

Put yourself in tenant shoes - would you want to walk up and down 4 sets of stairs? I think 2 or 3 would be the maximum.

The main advantage would be lower strata fees with having to account for elevator maintenance.

 

I only purchase apartments in complexes that have no lifts. As recommended above, 2 or 3 levels is the max before a simple chore of bringing the groceries in from the car becomes a nightmare. The reason I prefer apartment buildings without a lift is the lower body corp fees for repairs and maintenance.

 

Was totally fine when I was young and married as dink's we lived top floor 3 storey block but once I have kids and capsules and prams it would be a nightmare. Even now they are grown the amount of gear coming up and down and food would be too hard. If you get good views some people really love it so I would be happy to invest in top floor, just remember the tenant pool is a little smaller. Flip side is ground floor when oldies and mums with prams love them, but others see it as a security risk.

 

Agree, g/friend has no lift, 3 storey, her saving grace is it's in a trendy inner city area, where in main are young professionals, but does limit your market. Also a pain fir landlord id is fully furnished

mtr

 

Strata is outrageously expensive in apartment complexes services by lifts. The ongoing cost would make me look elsewhere.

 

Yeah, we have a single lift servicing 6 levels. Costs about 10-12K per year to maintain...

 

3 is ok, if your buying on the 3rd level make sure it has parking, most people will store their daily stuff like push bikes or prams etc in the garage to save carting them upstairs. If your buying a very small unit like a studio on a 3rd level then maybe parking is not so important if its inner city close to transport.

 

Generally anything over 3 storey should have a lift.

 

Over the years, in the Inner West & Inner East of Sydney, we have made a business out of mostly only buying on the top floor of 3 x storey walk-ups. Why?

1. They attract tenants who:
   1. Will pay more rent for top floor, because of:
      1. Better perceived security
      2. Lower noise past their front door
      3. Breezes
      4. Views
   2. Who, after lugging their furniture & other belongings upstairs:
      1. Will not likely move in a hurry - so vacancy rates can be lower
      2. Will more readily accept rent rises (even above market) because of the inconvenience of moving

Younger people will tolerate this more than the oldies who prefer ground floor with a courtyard, (as long as security issues are considered along with whether or not stuff thrown from upper balconies is an issue or not).

 

A friend of mine is also paying the about the same in southern suburbs of Sydney, and was struggling to met her quarterly strata fees. That's a huge chunk of change out of your rental return. Or in my friend's case, her own pocket as she lived here.

Personally, I would find other options more attractive than buying in a complex with lifts. $10-12,000 a year could be better used elsewhere.

I've owned properties on 1st and 2nd floor apartments and leasing hasn't been an issue.

As for issues moving in and lugging furniture, that what moving companies and delivery services are for.

 

You can always consider blocks which are partially below street level (low side of the road) - street ramp goes to a mid-level floor.

Then it's only parking which is an issue for tenants (their property inspection will take them to midfloor anu up one flight to the top floor. As they leave they'll walk down to the parking and back up one or two levels to street level, so they won't experience the 4 floor hike until they move in.

 

I would assume this is total cost not per unit cost.

The 10-12k how many lifts does it cover and how many apartments are there? If there is 300 apartments that is $33 per unit p.a. (not bad) but if there is only 5 (one per floor) that is $2,000 p.a. (significant cost) and your rent should reflect the inclusion of the lift.

If you had two identical 5 leveled apartments side by side except one had a lift and the other one didn't. You would expect the lift one to demand extra rent as it would be more in demand for the convience, how much well good question.

If it got you an extra $20 a week in rent but cost you $500 to service it makes sense to get the lift + rentabliity/resale would be better.

If it cost you $50 a week but only got $20 a week more then you might be better buying the none lift one.

 

Yep, annual cost including both scheduled maintenance and ad-hoc repairs. Cost is spread across 20 units.

 

I kinda get drawn to a lot of these lovely units in eastern Melbourne, they seem to be a lot more cheaper and spacious than the new apartments, around $100k cheaper for a two bedders, and they are brick solid walls and spacious inside.... some art derco even better. Plus they have significant lower body corporate fees...

 

The problem with lifts is not just maintenance, but also if they need replacing... I had one in a block that needed it and it cost $125k to replace..... The strata has 2 lifts (two buildings) so I figure at some point in time the lift in the other building will need to be replaced too. And in the meantime, while the lift function is out... all the residents need to take the stairs the whole way up to their units.... lots of joy for the residents in the upper levels!

Also the issue too with high or mid rise is if say they need to do work on the exterior of the building... it costs much more than for a smaller building. I heard they needed to add anchor points or what not onto the exterior of our building (mid rise, 9 levels)... and we had a swarm of bees in an air vent half way up and the only way they could logically get to it is by someone abseiling down....

 

There are a lot of these in melbourne (if you look at southbank area towards the st kilda road area there is around a 3-4km radius of this (3-4 storey) as once you go over the 3 storey mark you gotto have sprinklers etc and it will cost more. They apparently sell very well and fast too.

 

Is your unit being rented for $10 a week more than one without?