Sleepover Apt before Buying?

maybe that was the reason they moved.

why don't you ask the broker if he/she can arrange for you to enter the apt in the morning? I doubt any building would allow someone to sleep over in a vacant apt without having an ownership stake or being screened...esp if it's a coop.

that seems extreme and i cant think it would ever be allowed. i second uptowngals suggestion.

I think it is a brilliant idea. I have never had the nerve to ask though I have thought to do so many times. It would be good to see if you have neighbors who make a lot of noise etc. My fear is that I move into a coop and someone who is heavy footed lives upstairs and someone from the side who practices piano, badly. Neither one has recourse yet it would ruin my quality of life. I am ok now but want to upgrade to a bigger place so love the idea.

I swear there's an HGTV show that does this. You go live in the house for a weekend.

In a different property, I had buyers come by late at night and then again early in the morning to gauge how much a street light (low-rise) would impact their bedroom. In the end, they ended up not making an offer for a different reason, and I suspect a decade later they still haven't bought anything.

I have no hard data, but my sense is that a second visit is always good, a third visit usually good. Beyond that, I feel like every additional visit *de*creases the likelihood of an offer. If you have to come back six times, like my "street light" prospects, then you have cold feet about something and those cold feet will usually win out.

If the seller said yes, would tell you how desperate they are for a bid.

lad, I remember that show. Don't recall seeing it, either because it conflicted with something on Bravo or because HGTV kids are even more annoying than their parents.

So many of the HGTV shows are so stupid. But I do so like to watch them while I'm on the treadmill.

If this is a big issue for you, stay in a parked car outside (obey all parking regulations).

Visit the apartment, leave behind an audio recording device with plenty of battery life in an inconspicuous spot, and retrieve the device at a later visit.

Supposedly construction can begin at 7:00 a.m., but how late it can go into the evening I am not sure. I would ask to see the apartment both at 7:00 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. AND in the late evening around 11:00 p.m. Personally I doubt that the broker will agree to either request because it is unusual and inconvenient, but perhaps they will allow the doorman or porter to go up with you to the apartment for a quick listen if they have the staff in the building to spare.

Another approach that you could try is to ask people who live in the building about the level of construction noise. You might get lucky and someone will answer your question honestly. Next time you go to see the apartment, get there very early, sit in the lobby and strike up a conversation with whomever is around.

Make sure you bring a exorcist too.

I once visited an apartment I was considering buying at 2 a.m. with the owners and a noise meter because of concern that it was adjacent to a nightclub.

But I am not sure that your proposal makes sense. If you made an offer today, it will be several months before closing. The nature of the construction may be very different by the time you are trying to sleep in. A more relevant question may be what stage is the constrution in, does it have any quality of life issues for the apartment, when is it going to be done and what will it look like. Visting some random day will not reveal much. The noise varies daily depending upon whether they are demoing, excavating, framing, pouring concrete, sheeting, etc. on any given day, as well as what stage the construction is in. Once the building is enclosed, the noise is considerably lower most of the time. And, construction typically does start very promptly at 7 a.m. and most often only weekdays.

If there's one advantage to working the graveyard shift, it's that you can easily get a handle on how much noise your potential home will have just by visiting during "normal" hours.

I work from 9 PM to 5 AM, and usually sleep from 6 AM to 3 PM. My condo overlooks a park, and when I was looking to buy it a few years ago, I made my visits with the broker at around noon so that I could see if it would be noisy when I would normally be sleeping.

The park was dead quiet, so I took the apartment -- only to discover that around once every two weeks, from 10 to 11 AM a gaggle of elementary school kids would be running around in there making a racket. And, worse yet, at 6:30 AM *every single morning*, about 20 of the neighborhood elderly would be out doing radio exercises. And being elderly and hard of hearing, their radio was turned way up.

I can endure it by simply staying awake until they're done, but most of the other people have adjusted by simply getting up really early every day. There's no way for us to stop these oldsters from making us miserable!

So I love Flarf's solution! Leave that recorder there many times and get a full handle on how noisy it will be. I wonder if there's software that will analyze sound levels and give you a report, in decibels, for each hour it's on. It would be a lot more convenient than having to listen to (potentially) eight hours of static!

I purchased sound proof windows to solve this problem but they are expensive. If there is construction across the street to me that is a deal breaker. Sleeping/reading in piece and quiet cannot be underestimated.

peace (sp)

Ss400k, with construction, there will be noise. No two ways about it. However, one buys apt for the long run. Presumably, there is a time line for construction and work hours. In addition, if you are very noise sensitive, look for a bedroom which does not face the street or get city windows. All these factors can be easily judged without sleeping in the apartment. If I am the owner, I will only let you sleep for one night if your offer were to be a few percent better than the next highest and make you pay $500 refundable against closing.