Nice apartment, difficult management
Pros
Living in a duplex unit offers lots of space and storage, private patio is incredible, elevator is useful, great views of the east river, good light, friendly neighbors, nice neighborhood, laundry in building, moved trash outside to reduce pests
Cons
Management was consistently incredibly hard to work with. It took dozens of phone calls and emails to get in contact with them about pressing matters, including inspections and issues with their online rent payment portal. Have had rats and roaches (though they are usually responsive about sending in pest control). There is a lot of street noise from the FDR and 1st ave and you can definitely hear your neighbors through the walls. Only two washers and dryers can make laundry difficult and there has been mice droppings in the laundry room several times.
Advice to the owners
Improve tenant communications, including response time and proactive communication.
Not bad for a New York walk up
Pros
Affordable rent, location is good, apartments are pretty big for what you pay, elevator to certain floors
Cons
This is a typical walk up building in New York. It’s rough around the edges and can use some work. However, the landlord is too cheap/lazy to do anything because he knows people will rent regardless. They are too cheap to hire a weekend or holiday porter, so trash builds up in the basement on weekends and holidays. This leads to a foul smelling hallway and also exposes the building to pests. I lived here 2.5 years before I ever saw a mouse in my apartment which was surprising. There are tons of holes/open basement doors that invite rodents in. The trash overflowing in the basement doesn’t help either. I’ve had a handful of roaches over the years, typically when the summer started. I never ask management for much because they’re lazy and do the bare minimum for any issue. When I first moved in, the boiler broke and we had heating issues for an entire winter. All they did was provide a $20 space heater from Home Depot that didn’t help. Once the boiler was replaced, heat has not been an issue however. Hallways are not regularly swept or cleaned either. Dead roaches have remained in common areas for weeks until a brave resident decides to clean it up. Taking a mop and a broom to the hallways weekly is very little effort on the landlords part, but they just don’t care. I think I saw a porter cleaning the hallways maybe once per year. Lightbulbs in stairways regularly go out and you have to tell management since their staff doesn’t seem to notice/care to replace them on their own. Overall, a typical New York walk up renting experience. However, my apartment was nice and affordable for the time I was there. Could have been much worse.
Advice to the owners
Regular common area cleanings, weekend and holiday cleaning staff, better rodent abatement and treatment (putting down glue traps and hoping for the best is not resolving the issue, which would require plugging holes, putting down poison etc)
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