Infested with Mice
Pros
The super is AMAZING and so helpful
Cons
Every single apartment has a mice problem. No exceptions. The washing machine is cheap and it takes about 7 hours to dry a small load of clothes. There are structural issues in the building that management refuses to deal with. Also mail gets stolen.
Advice to the owners
Get rid of the mice problem and fix the roof.
Abysmal, DO NOT live here
Pros
The neighbors in the building are a God send in this otherwise AWFUL experience living here. They are always willing to listen and validate the ridiculous conditions that we have to live in and offer solutions when the property management( old prop, new prop is much better) is slow walking their duties to the building. Definitely a sense of community here. Choice NY took over the property in March and they are definitely better then Clearstone. They inherited an absolute mess, I can't fault them for taking a bit to figure out exactly what all they need to do. But if you make them aware of an issue, they make moves ASAP.
Cons
Literally everything: There are pests (mice, roaches, etc) EVERYWHERE. The previous property management couldn't care less about getting this major issue taken care of. They hadn't even done the yearly pest inspection which is REQUIRED in NY before I moved in. There's no record it had ever been done. When I requested the paperwork, I was met with radio silence. Now its an extensive problem with mice/roaches likely in every apartment, all the way up to the top floor, which you wouldn't think probable. Security in the building is a joke. We have a keyed door with access codes to get into the building, but we always have random people coming in, doing who knows what. My neighbor had to kick out someone doing drugs in the building last week! While you may think people on the top floor in a walk up would be safe from that, we were not. The roof door was left unlocked, no alarm for who knows how long and we would have roof hoppers come into our building just hanging out in front of our doors. Maintenance in the building is super slow, if you ever get things fixed. This is not so much because of the super, but more because the super is expected to do 3-4 jobs at once for 90 units between two buildings. And because of the inaction of the Clearstone, a lot of units are in extreme disrepair, so he has to prioritize what he fixes. Heat/hot water would go out once a week in late fall/winter. Had to have a back up plan of where to shower or even to stay if it was too cold to be at home. The lobby is rarely if ever cleaned. I believe the only time they clean it is when they know the fire department is coming to check for violations, and they still manage to get violations. I think that's what invites the mice/roaches in honestly.
Advice to the owners
I know y'all inherited a mess from Clearstone. So you will be dealing with a lot of exhausted/frustrated tenants because of Clearstone's inaction for these issues. LISTEN TO THE TENANTS. They've been in the building longer than y'all and know what worked to keep it well before. Ask them what you could do to improve the conditions since a lot of them have been here for decades. Get a porter and electrician. Frank, the super, can't be everywhere at once. Can't do three different jobs. He's overworked/spread too thin. If anything, get two supers for a temporary period of time (as well as. porter and electrician), just to get things under control.
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