Replying to a message of Ardith Hinton to Bob Ackley:

 AH>           When they'd reached their eighties my parents considered
 AH> moving from a bungalow (i.e. a one-storey house with basement) to a
 AH> self-owned apartment.  But they kept dragging their feet... and I'm
 AH> glad they did!  For one thing, it would have crushed my father's
 AH> spirit not to have a yard & basement to putter in.  For another, the
 AH> building they had their eye on turned out to be one of those "leaky
 AH> condos" Vancouver is now (in)famous for.  It took over a year & cost
 AH> a gazillion dollars... as it usually does... to fix the damage to the
 AH> walls etc.  I've heard many horror stories about retired folk who
 AH> lost their life savings that way.

My sister lives in Pleasanton, CA.  Last weekend she told me about a recent
fire in an 'assisted living' condo complex.  Even though the nearest fire station
was only a couple of blocks away the 12-unit building burned to the ground.
All those folks' possessions - and memories - reduced to ashes.  Fortunately,
I guess, no fatalities.  At the time the building was built - early 1960s - there
was no requirement for fire-rated walls between units ( or that the attic spaces
be divided).

 AH>  An old house may have its problems too.

Oh boy do they.  This one needs to have its foundation replaced (might as well
dig a basement while I'm at it), a new roof, a new furnace, new insulated windows
and doors, and a paint job.  Plus replace the back porch with a sun room that runs
the length of the east side of the house (about 40 feet).  I figure the
whole bill will
approach $60K, but it'd cost twice that to build a completely new house of comparable
size.

 AH>  But the land is still worth something, and the owner(s) are
 AH> free to make their own decisions about the maintenance....  ;-)

True.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+