Ground floor apartment in busy area

[great.success]

So... I'm about to buy a new apartment. Have been looking at a lot of offers, found one pretty much downtown in a very cool area with cafes and a lot of life. Unfortunately it is right by a main square on the ground floor.

Anyone here lived in a ground floor apartment ? I know it differs from country to country, etc, but would like to hear some opinions.

[Hybred]

Ground floor has the easiest access which is both a benefit and a detriment depending on the quality of the complex. It's also under everything which means you will be catching all noise that goes on. Essentially if you don't have kids, it's really not worth it TBH.

[WhenPeonsAttack]

As we speak!

It's pretty awesome. Basically, right on the perimeter of the town. A 20 minute walk to the university, stores/restaurants/bars around, but it's not too crowded an area. It's nice that I just have a few neighbors here and I live on the edge of the property across from a big wooded area, so generally little noise and little traffic. Occasional college parties, but they aren't too common and usually not audible from my bedroom. You can hear people walking upstairs sometimes, but it's not too loud either.

But I can't really relate it much to having an apartment downtime. I think the main concern would be traffic when you're actually driving though. When you're inside a building, traffic tends not to be that loud. If it is, earplugs maybe? I'm sure it will be fine though as long as your neighbors aren't really loud, crimes not an issue, etc.

Alone or with room mates? That will probably be the single thing affecting your experience the most I think. That and the space/comfort of your apartment of course. I got a larger apartment this January after living in a small 1 bed, 1 bath, small kitchen/livingroom. Just feels nicer.

Is there anything in particular you are curious about? Where have you lived before? With parents? In dorm? House?

EDIT:

I guess it depends who is above you. I used to live in a top apartment and live in a bottom apartment now. Unless the people above you are complete assholes or you're a cranky old lady, I don't think it's too bad. Granted, this is a one story apartment. My previous neighbor above me used to have people over frequently and it caused me hardly any discomfort to be honest.

EDIT 2:

I'd take this over having to lug things up and down the stairs any day as well. Groceries are the most often thing, but for me that includes instruments and amps on a regular basis which is no fun up and down stairs. For me, the benefits have definitely outweighed the cons.

[Mr.Cygnus]

Honestly i would say if you are buying this apartment you are doing the right thing even if it isn't perfect. Money paid to yourself every month is better than stuffing it in another persons pocket. Go for it. As you can see other people have positive things to say and nothing in any apartment will ever be perfect. In 10 years sell that apartment and you can find a perfect house : )

[SkywayZ]

OP I don't live on the ground floor but I live on the 3rd floor right above the busiest street on my campus. So far the location and such is fucking amazing, and no problems with sound or anything like that. But I could imagine that it could get pretty loud if you are just one floor up... I would others who live in that building what they think of it b4 signing anything.

[WC_ASD]

During my previous internship, I lived in a ground-floor apartment in a busy bar street (a bar and club were literally next door) and it sucked - massively.
I guess the points I'm going to list here are based both on it being a ground-floor apartment AND in a busy street
Here's a couple of things that stuck in my mind:
-In my case, it was loud every evening, I had drunks running around causing trouble and making noise
-I had neighbours several floors up who would call the police often
-I had neighbours indiscriminately pouring water at people downstairs (in the middle of December) so that they would disperse - obviously there were passerbys who got wet as well
-Empty cans and broken beer bottles infront of your door, along the boardwalk and street
-Vomit, food and smell of alcohol all over the place - someone vomitted right infront of my door and the city service never bothered cleaning it
- My bike got stolen when I forgot to lock it up properly once - I assume that the area draws the wrong crowd (obviously a biased reason but I'd like to just throw it in here)

-everybody can see what you are doing! I kept my shades down every day. When I was in because I wanted privacy and when I was out because I didn't want potential thieves to see that I was out. Obviously I had 0 sunlight in the apartment

Honestly, I put up with all of this because I knew I was going to move out of that hell-hole in 3 months.

YMMV obviously...but just thought it might be good to know.