Buying a house or apartment? Pros and cons.

Think the main ones you said. Cons is noise. Pros is heat. Also major pro for apartments is they're cheaper. A major con would not having a private garden and service charge. Another con would usually not having natural light in bathrooms or kitchens but some do. Also no attic storage.

I live in what you would say is a hybrid between apartment and house. Official description is an apartment but it feels very much like a little house. Own front and back door. Fire place in sitting room and GFCH. As development is all own door with no eletric gates the service charge of €770 which includes building insurance and bins which is what a house would pay o recon. I would have preferred a little a house but ones the same size in area would be about 25% more expensive I would estimate. I am not as security conscious as you. Personally hate developments with big electric gates to front. That would put me off. Always think it looks prison like. A development you can just drive in park and go to your own door without the need of going through communal building space and lifts. Development i am in is 20 years old and asked a neighbour who was here since the beginning and she remembers hearing of no break ins. I think break ins are less common these days as a crime.

Btw I am also single. I think apartments for single people in good locations are no brainers.

Under ground car parks are not secure. The thieves or vandals can be working away with little chance of being interrupted or seen.

Another issue with under ground parking is they increase the management fee as they need pumps for flooding and electric gates, maintenance and running costs aren't cheap for these.

Would it not be the block insurance paying for that?

Which brings another pro of apartment living - your insurance is much, much cheaper as you are only insuring your contents - the building/block insurance is covered by the management fees.

For me, the only con of apartment living (lived in apartment for 14 years now) is lack of garden, which really only was an issue during the pandemic lockdowns.

In terms of you not wanting storage heating - is there a reason? Do you work from home regularly? I find it very handy & cheap. I just have a single heater in my living room turned on from early December to early March and my apartment is constantly warm. I have other storage heaters in the living room and hallway, as well as standard electric heaters in the bedroom and the office (formerly bedroom 2), which only get turned on at very rare times for an hour or so when there is a serious cold snap in the weather etc.

As an Engineer who works with residential property, I would never ever buy an apartment.

Too much control given over to other parties and too much chance of block wide issues that may need sorting at untold cost.

Buy a small house with parking, own entrance and own roof. At least it yours then and you can extend, repair or not depending on finances at any given time.

With house, you can have a comprehensive survey done pre purchase to know what you are buying. That is not so easy with a large block where a distant roof issue might suddenly be your problem in a couple of years.

Apartment is just all risk imo. Fire detailing issues, general construction standards, lack of overall control of your property, unknown repair costs at random intervals, management companies behaving like landlords, clamping running out of control, it's all nightmare stuff.

Fair enough. It might be different in different apartments. For me, I just have it on constantly for 1 heater in living room for the 3 months of winter. It's cheap enough that I don't ever turn it on/off on a daily basis. And when you are home most/all of the day, you really get the benefit of it.