Quiet prewar building
Pros
Quiet, small, clean building. Site manager and owner's daughter are responsive. Super cleans weekly. Noise between rooms in apartment is non-existent. Generally quiet street (though a large luxury building just went up across the street). Very close to 7 train, LIRR, bus to LGA -- great transportation access.
Cons
Super is often tasked with jobs beyond his ability. No laundry. Heat isn't well regulated because thermostat is in the stairwell rather than in an apartment. Noise between floors is significant. Building has many leaks and other issues that could be avoided if super lived in building, doing regular maintenance (like the old landlord did). Basement apartment (the "9th" one) always wafts strong pot smoke, even though turnover seems to be frequent. Planes landing at LGA take this route several times a week, a few feet above the building. Landlord likes to make inappropriate personal comments to women, lives out of town and is elderly. This is apparently the first building he has owned (as of 2018).
Advice to the owners
Trust your long term tenants to protect your asset instead of seeing them as an obstacle or business transaction.
Great neighbors, landlord doesn’t listen to tenants
Pros
Small building- only 9 apartments. Convenient to public transportation
Cons
Sometimes planes fly very low overhead on the way to LaGuardia. The sound drowns everything out. The owner used to also live here and things were well cared for. Now the tenants have to constantly keep on top of the new landlord. There has been water damage from flooding and the landlord has done nothing about it. The heat is up ridiculously high because he doesn’t know how to work a thermostat. He refuses to keep hallway lighting on all day so the entry to the building is dark and unsafe.
Advice to the owners
Please listen to the tenants. We are living here and we know what we need. None of us are being unreasonable.