Cheap Rents, OK Living
Pros
-Very cheap rents -This is either a pro or a con but it’s predominantly an Asian neighborhood. I’m still in the same neighborhood now but not the same building, and though things are cheap in the neighborhood, it gets crazy despite the pandemic. It’s like a herd of people wearing masks and walking single-file on narrow streets
Cons
-My family and I rented the basement of a house so that we’d get rents much lower than $1,000 for a 2-bedroom. It meant that we sacrificed any type of decent living: the place was infested with bugs and roaches, but we lived through it. -When Hurricane Sandy happened and there was an earthquake, we really felt the shaking to the core -Winters were spent without any type of heating besides the portable ones we bought for ourselves. -My family and I had a hard time feeling safe. The basement used to be right next to a space that was still the landlord’s (imagine a door between our “apartment unit” and their basement). The landlord’s family member lived there. It was so difficult to actually feel like we had our own apartment unit when just 2 inches away, blocked by a “locked” door was someone foreign to us.
Advice to the owners
-My family and I have moved out for over 7 years now but please take care of the bug problem if it ever emerges again.