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Hi!
I have been thinking about getting a new grand piano. My concern is that I live in a rented aparatment and might move from city to city. Is it a bad idea to buy one when you are in a rented place? I have this notion that unless you have your own house dont buy anything super expensive that is huge in size.

Do anyone of you who live in a rented house own a grand piano? What challenges one might face if not living in your own house?
I hope this does not sound silly.

When I lived in a loft apartment and also a 4-plex townhome style place, I had the best upright piano I could afford, with a practice pedal that worked well. I also had the cheapest digital piano I could stand for those times when I needed to continue practicing really late at night. Never a complaint from the neighbors. I definitely don’t miss those days, though!

I’ve seen grand pianos in apartments, and some forum members here have them. But I personally wouldn’t want to deal with complaints and the high cost of repeated grand piano moving if I were in your situation.

I'm in the same situation. I lived for 13 years in my previous rented house, but didn't have room for any piano. A couple years ago, I moved to a large house, and now I actually have room for a piano, and I'm considering buying a used baby grand. Sooner or later, I'll move again to another place, either rented or owned, and I'd either have the expense of moving the piano or have to sell or otherwise dispose of it. For me, it's definitely something to think about, but I'm not letting it stop me from buying the right piano when it comes along.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your decision!

I know of a senior lady, one of the Piano Buddies members, who has a small grand piano in a duplex apartment, which is more of an up-scale senior living community. She has a neighbor in the next unit (same building) who doesn't complain, but they do have an agreement, more or less, about not playing too late at night, or real early in the morning.

Her neighbor can hear the piano through the wall that separates the two housing units, but they seem to get along fine.

So, it depends, I suppose, on the specifics of your living quarters and your neighbors.

My philosophy is to live for today, as much as possible, and if you want a grand piano, can afford it, and get along with the neighbors, go for it!! And if you do move in the future, have the grand piano moved to your new place, or sell it and decide what to do at that time.

Good luck!

Rick

I had a grand in a 600 sq ft apartment. I was in an end unit and the piano was on the side without a shared wall. I was careful not to play too early or late and no one ever complained. I think people actually enjoyed the piano. The big downside is I didn't like to do any serious practicing because I was too self-conscious and it also felt like that might try the neighbors' patience a bit too much. Otherwise it was fine.

I moved from that apartment into a house I bought. Luckily it was a buyer's market and I had the luxury of taking my time to find a house that worked well for a piano. If I was going to move from apartment to apartment or was trying to buy in the current hot market, I would be much more inclined to go with an upright.

I had a grand delivered recently and i rent a 4 bed house. Have been here for about 25 years, and may well be here for another 25 years. Have looked into moving to buy our own place, but there is nothing that i like out there. I had thought about the difficulty in moving the piano, but if we do move, i have my quote for moving the piano, so i'm not worried about it. I've just added that into the moving costs.
As has been said already, live your life to the fullest. Don't cheap out on yourself in any way.

Go for it, budget for professional movers and everything will be fine.

I am in this situation and recently purchased a grand piano. We plan to stay in this home for the several years until the kids graduate high school.

I think these are two different issues that don't really have much to do with each other. Lots of people in NYC rent forever, for example. The size piano you own and place you live isn't an issue of whether you are renting or not. I've rented places that had huge rooms, the 2 things are not related.

Renting a house vs. owning a piano don't have anything to do with each other.

So you need to clarify what the issue really is. It sounds like the issue is that you plan to move around a lot AND that when you rent, you rent small places. There aren't any particular challenges related to renting itself, except that there may be a chance the owner decides to stop renting and evicts you, for whatever reason, I guess. But if you can't afford to pay for your own place, you could get foreclosed on and evicted there, also.

Personally, I would not buy a big grand piano IF I really planned to move around a lot within the next 10 years, no.

The comments on complaints are not related to renting per se, they relate to people renting in a unit with multiple other people and neighbors. YOu can rent plenty of places that are single family houses or just duplexes, I have (I had a piano and was the bottom floor, there was one family top floor). No one in an apt complex with neighbors should ever play the piano at odd hours, you shouldn't need any "agreement" not to do that. Besides, it would violate your lease in most places, anyway. And I don't agree that people ever enjoy hearing a piano through a wall. It's just not the same. I don't like hearing any instrument through a wall. And I sure don't like hearing it when that isn't what I want to be doing at that moment.

When I was in smaller units, I had an upright with a practice pedal (Kawai) that muffled the sound a lot. I would never ever pay it before 9 am or after 9 pm, but I never wanted to anyway.

I didn’t buy my grand until after we bought our house, but that was more about money than housing. When we were renting, we were in a single family home and the lovely living room could have easily accommodated the grand I have now. But we were saving money to buy a house, so I wouldn’t have been able to justify — to myself or my spouse — spending money on a grand at that point. But ironically enough, in our rental house, I actually had two piano rooms, one with an upright and one with a digital.

We bought our house in early spring 2019 and I bought my grand in August 2019. Probably the only reason we would move now is because of major work changes that I don’t foresee happening at this point. But if it did, then at that point, I would decide whether to sell the piano or move it with us.

Ah, btw, when we were house hunting, I knew I would be buying a grand and so that was one of our main criteria when we looked at houses.

I understand that in the US you are pretty much dependent on the mood of your landlord in terms of terminating a rental contract, which is why people hesitate to buy an expensive piano, when you cannot be sure to keep the place as long as you want and pay for it.

Things are slightly different in Europe where renting an apartment, especially in a big city, is the norm rather than the exception. And rental contracts usually have no end date and a landlord cannot simply decide to terminate a rental contract at his whim.

I rent an apartment in central Vienna and own a Steinway B that I play a lot. The apartment is pretty much perfect for a piano player. Top floor i.e. no other other apartment above mine, the living room is right by the house's wall and the neighbor on the other side of my apartment has his bathroom and entrance. We're on friendly terms and he cannot really hear my piano unless he's in front of my door. As to the neighbor renting the apartment below mine: I don't even know him or her. My floor has double insulation on a floating wood structure that serves as a perfect acoustic insulation.

Whoever constructed this new apartment on top of an old building did a great job for me as a musician.

It all depends on your long term plans. If you’re going to be renting for quite awhile and your rental unit has good sound insulation, I’d consider getting a grand and hiring a good piano moving crew. If you’re not staying in the rental for long, I’d stick with a decent digital until you’re in a long term rental or buying your home.

If you’re staying in one place long term, why not? If you’re moving around then maybe not.

You can also rent a grand piano.

I remember the movie about Beethoven, and his next-door-neighbor. She was an elderly lady; the apartment was a tiny and airless hole; but she observed to a visitor, "I am the envy of all Vienna." She kept her front door open a crack, by his permission, so she could hear Beethoven playing all day and all night.

So, there you are: some neighbors are just not going to complain no matter what.

Now as for my neighbors. I make it a point to go to each one, and ask them to let me know if the piano ever bothers them. It's almost always possible to fix this, and I'd far rather do it before they get really pressurized about it. We have before us the Queen of Bad Example, that inconsiderate Spanish woman who practiced in her apartment building for many hours every day, over the protest--- and finally the lawsuit--- of her neighbor, who prevailed in court. But the damage was already done. I don't know how much of this may be for real, and how much bombast, but she told the court that she would have a spell to the point of total meltdown, not only at the sound of her neighbor's piano, but any piano--- even a recording; even a picture of a piano, even a piano in a movie, let alone the thing itself.

How's that for bad PR.

But the nine-to-nine rule mentioned above is a very good one, and as Lady From Spain learned, making noise excessive enough to prevent your neighbors' quiet enjoyment of their property is against the law. There's some elasticity; people understand that an apartment house is not a mausoleum. People watch football on TV and scream along. There are moments of domestic infelicity, sometimes followed by--- what can I say--- noisy make-up sex. People have babies, who are known to cry. They have parties which can get festive and exuberant. Many dogs are suspected of barking. None of these can expect to be cast out by the courts.

My neighbors say they enjoy the piano, a six-and-a-half foot grand. One neighbor said that hearing the piano would be his very favorite way of being disturbed. I do appreciate my good fortune in my neighbors. They're telling me this in the face of actual practice, including scales and get-your-head-in-the-game warmups, not, you know, playing for an audience. I think they are actually proud of it.

As for moving with a piano. I dragged a heavy upright made in the 1920s from pillar to post and from state to state. It was sturdy; it stood up to it, and I loved that old beater, and just played it to death. My orthopedic surgeon dragged a piano through a whole medical education; it's in his online cv.

WPianoY, our OP: if you love it, you'll make it work. There is some good will out there, waiting for you. Yes, even a grand. A baby, I'm not sure what you mean; the expression is somewhat tainted in the eyes of some. If you call it by its size and make, it is a lot more clear There are small pianos that are really bad, and there are some that are really excellent because manufacturers have recognized that there are a lot of people with needs like yours. In my mind, something of the size and quality of make of the Kawai RX-2 (now GX-2, I suppose) is the kind of piano you can grow with for a very long time, yet it is quite compact enough for a livingroom or an apartment. And, when you settle down for good, it is sought-after in the resale market, and you'll have a good start at moving up the piano food chain.

When I was younger I lived in apartment with a grand piano.Even though people were tolerant, there were constant hints,sudden loud music turned on and off by someone down the hall, strange soft tapping sounds while I practiced.There was a student of law studying in the next apartment.We became neighborly, and got on well.Perhaps that was worse because then I was constantly worried about bothering him..
I was relieved when we moved into our first house.
I would say buy a good tall upright where you would probably get a far better sound anyway than a small grand.There is always the practice pedal as TD has mentioned as well.

We have never rented a house, some do that and stay for years and are happy with their grand pianos.If the future seems uncertain and you feel you may be sharing a wall with a neighbor or you may be living in an environment where you may feel inhibited in your playing I would say an upright may be the best practical option.

I think this is super location-specific and the options for renting a grand (or even an upright) are more limited than one would think for how often this suggestion is made.

Come to think of it, I don’t know how economical renting a piano might be for the person renting or the piano store renting the instrument. I’ve never been convinced that leasing a vehicle or renting living room furniture was a practical decision so I’m wondering exactly how practical renting a piano really is. I’d be interested in other’s opinions.

j&j, I think it all boils down to short-term economics. It takes less money to rent houses/apartments/flats, furniture, vehicles and pianos, usually, although there may be exceptions.

I remember years ago I leased a new vehicle because the monthly payments were cheaper than buying, although there was a hefty down payment. When the lease was up I actually purchased the vehicle at a predetermined cost. It may have cost less to just purchase it to begin with, but it worked out. Plus, the option of turning the vehicle back in after the lease may be a good option to have.

As for renting pianos, I'm with Dr. ShiroKuro, I'm not sure all piano dealers do that. But, again, the rent/lease option may still cost less than buying a piano outright, at least up front. So, that option may work well for some folks.

Again, it all boils down to economics and what we can afford or not afford at the moment. Also, we need a place to live, and furniture, and a vehicle, depending on where we live; however, a piano, being a non-essential item, is something we could live without, if I should say such a thing. So, yea, renting a piano is an option, where available.

Rick

"Googling" monthly piano rentals is not always immediately informative because many companies ask to "call for a quote." That said, I found some dealers in both Toronto and New York, where an entry level upright can be rented for around $50.00 a month. I could find nothing more than a five-foot grand available for around $135.00 per month. These seem to be mainly rent-to-own prices and are good for 12 months with the rental fee applied to the original purchase price.

There are some dealers who rent higher-end uprights and grands for specific occasions. Since this includes delivery and set-up the prices are pretty high and are on a daily basis. Pianopiano, for example, will rent a Yamaha upright for $995.00 plus $50.00 per day for extra days, while a 6' 1" Young Chang rents for $1295.00 plus $50.00 per day for extra days. These rates include delivery, tuning and pick-up after the event.

https://pianopiano.com/event-piano-rentals/

I've not yet found a dealer who rents pianos for an indefinite period of time. Perhaps someone else will.

Regards,