317 Putnam Avenue,

Brooklyn, NY 11216

Generally well maintained, neat and clean. Neighbors are polite and pretty quiet. Not a huge party building. Common backyard area can be really refreshing. Apartment itself is OK but its an older building, so kind of a lipstick on a pig renovation. Kitchen appliances are nice and work well, though we need a new dishwasher. And the front room is the only one that gets good light and natural airflow. They've made improvements the past year or two - new maintenance company is great (love David!), they repaired interior front door lock and installed a non-see-through shield on the front entrance to deter package pirates from targeting the building. They also cleaned out old tenant garbage in the basement (health hazard) and replaced the old leaky garbage cans. Very happy with new maintenance crew!

Management is very hands-off which can be great but small issues start to pile up. Such as - Weed, yes, it's Brooklyn, but one of the apartments on the 2nd floor is crazy, it's constant and pretty disgusting. The building needs a clearly posted smoking policy. Tenants have a tendency to abuse the storage in the basement leaving large piles of old crap (outside of designated storage areas) which become other tenants' problems. Likewise, old tenants left an old grill and some sort of crazy composting set-up in the backyard - which affects other's enjoyment of a common area. Some sort of reminders about common courtesy might help.

New laundry machines appreciated. But pay attention to the small stuff, maybe visit more often and think about what you would improve if you lived here.