I've noticed a trend...even among young "able bodied" people. Most reject the idea of stairs to an apartment! My first apartment at age 18 had stairs to the 2nd story of the duplex! So did my 2nd apt! What the heck? Everyone wants to apply for the DOWNstairs unit but not even the youthful and seemingly spry applicants want the upstairs! Then again, I've noticed a lot more young people who are obese/out of shape than in my day.

Same ones park at a gas pump (close to the door)

and without getting gas,

Stairs are a fact of life around here - most of the houses are elevated due to flooding.

We live on the second floor of our home and I'll tell you a trip to Costco is no fun as a result!

In several cases I've added an elevator to an upstairs unit. Not a real elevator but one of my contractor lifts run by a 12 volt battery (hooked up to a constant charger). The tenant had an medical emergency and no longer could get the stairs by themselves. Even with help, using steps would take them 20 minutes to half an hour.

But you'd never guess what happened. No good deed goes unpunished. I had a written user agreement. NO ONE, except for my tenant or elderly guests could use the "contractor lift", and a couple times a day..

So I caught my tenant allowing their young grandchildren to use it during a visit, non stop. I disconnected it and rolled it into my storage garage on the property. Now my tenant was "stuck" in her apartment unless she had help.

Life as a Landlord is too short to focus on upstairs and down stairs duplexes. Do I totally rule them out - nope, but the deal really absolutely has to be a deal - if I purchase an upstairs/downstairs. Instead I like my side by sides.

I am lucky that all my dupes are side by side. The ones with a staircase are still side by side, just use stairs to get to the bedrooms.

Funny!

When my son & his wife (both young & healthy) rented their first apartment, they CHOSE the third floor because it cost less, the heat would rise from below & save them money (Winter in Minot ND), they wouldn't have noise above, and exercise is good for you!

Just a different way of thinking.

BTW: After leaving there, they bought a house & have already cashed in on the appreciation in this market (& some improvements they did) and now own their "forever" home in the country.

As a landlord, I prefer ranch style (single family) houses.

DJ,

I can agree with you on the concerns but the price per foot seems cheaper when you go up rather than spread out.

My 2/1 duplexes that are 2 story let me fit more in the smaller footprint. I have a brick single story duplex in another town. Takes up twice the space, has basically the same yard and same SF as the two story unit. I have two dupes in the same sized lot as the the single.

How many of us read Minot, and have to say in our heads, " Why not Minot?"

Just curious DJ, did either of your kids follow in your bootsteps? My oldest did 8 years Army, now works as contractor doing same job. And, you should be proud! Of both of your kiddos.

I am in complete agreement about having one story houses. Way too scared of heights! And, since there are plenty of little one story houses in my area.... One of the reasons I chose not to do duplexes; they are almost entirely over/ under in my area, so too tall for gutter cleaning. I do get houses with basements tho.... someplace to go when there are tornadoes, or, just cool off in the summer heat. And I prefer the easy access to the undersides of main floor.

Ha! My first apartment was over a garage, so up outside steps to a deck by the entry door. Then my bedroom was in the loft.

Next apartment - former servant's quarters in a Georgian revival 1890ish house - five steps to the entry into the kitchen, then a full staircase with a turn to the second floor bedroom/bath/living room.

I still shake my head over the two middle-aged sisters who applied for a sfh. They passed the pre-screening, and came to see the place, having seen both the inside and outside pics, along with the floor plan.

As a side note that might apply to all of us now, or sooner or later. I deal with a lot of elderly people that come to the office (not real estate), I see them about every two weeks and I don't know how many times I've heard this story.

"Hey! Great news! I'm moving to a new place, and there is NO STAIRS!"

I tell my colleagues, well ,.. in not too many months, we won't see John or Jane anymore. Why? It seems just those few stairs keeps their legs a bit stronger. Even just going up and down once or twice a day seems to keep them just strong enough where they keep their mobility much longer.

It doesn't take many months for those muscles to go down and they just don't want to use them the same anymore.

We also see some much younger people. Maybe high school kids that get injured and can't be very mobile for a couple of months. Some belong to a number of athletic teams in high school and have pretty muscular and well fit legs.

But in just in those couple of months it's amazing how fast their muscles go down. Some of these kids tell me after they're healed and now can go upstairs that to get winded from a single flight of stairs!

I hear that in older people too, that don't use their legs as much as they used to. Generally they blame it on age." Boy when I was XXX amount younger, I could run up the stairs like they were nothing."