Words like house, flat, and apartment are often used interchangeably, in a manner of speaking, to refer to spaces of personal dwelling where people return to in order to refresh and rejuvenate after a day spent working and travelling.
While the actual unit one occupies depends on several factors, the most important being budget and geography, the terms themselves hold specific meanings when one is in the market for a home.
What is a flat?
Falling more on the affordable side, flats are common structures in bustling cities where home buyers/renters are looking for living spaces that offer standard features that cover basic needs. Usually occupying a single level, accommodations here can share several amenities like washrooms and laundry areas. ‘Flat’ is also more commonly used in countries speaking UK English.
What is an apartment?
Apartments can occupy a broad range of residences, affordable to both middle-income home buyers and renters to high-rise luxury apartments exclusive to high-net-worth individuals where amenities expand to private gyms, pools, luxury decks and more. They are individual units in multi storey set-ups. The word ‘apartment’ is more commonly used in the USA.
What is an independent house?
They refer to standalone housing units. It consists of a ground floor or one or more upper storeys. Typically, the most luxurious out of the three, an independent house comes with a bigger price tag where the biggest advantage is developing the architecture to suit your tastes and needs. Also called as villas, these luxury residences are found behind gated communities.
One of the biggest advantages that comes with living in a multi-unit dwelling like a flat or an apartment is the ability to share the maintenance cost of amenities like elevators, parking space, and security with the other residents of the apartment building. They can also provide a sense of community with apartment neighbors, as well as amenities like sports areas and gardens bringing residents together.
Taking out an insurance or a loan is easier for people seeking to live in flats and apartments as any damage to building property is covered by the society as a whole whereas individual home owners have to pay monthly premiums to safeguard their property. There are also pre-approved loans for flats and apartments whereas a stricter process is attached to seeking loans for individual properties.
Similarly, a flat or an apartment is relatively easier to sell as compared to houses as the selling price attached to it is often too high to be affordable to the general public. Ensuring security can also put a stain on one’s finances when it comes to independent house owners whereas for people living in residences, paying for security is a part of the monthly maintenance costs.
One is more likely to find independent houses as places of residence in semi-urban to rural areas whereas apartments and flats are relatively more common in cities.
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