XL Apartments, Good Building
Pros
XL king sized pre-war apartments, not chopped up into tiny boxes, private yard for building, 24 hour door person, dog friendly, friendly neighbor-community for those who participate, beautiful Ditmas Park, free bike storage in basement, laundry room inside building, building well built with windows in every room, heat is good, new boiler went in 2021-2022
Cons
Our apartment is ok no bugs or rodents, but others have issues with roaches. Sound carries between floors, we have very heavy walkers and running children above us. Sound also echos in the terrazzo floored common hallways, but this can be lessened by not yelling and stopping your dog from barking :) Our bathroom could use an update but it’s spacious. Because the building is so well made, a lot of the doors slam closed loudly from air pressure, but you just have to be courteous and not let your door slam. Our landlord is the main owner in the building and it’s very hard to get in touch with them, but thankfully we tend to fix things ourselves like upgrading our kitchen faucet ourselves to a better one that we liked.
Advice to the owners
Communicate with your tenants, so everything doesn’t fall on the Super.
A Partial Co-op Building - Majority Owner Michael Orbach is a Slumlord
Pros
- Beautifully maintained prewar building with large apartments. - Reasonably reliable door people. - Warm in the winter. - Super is responsive - kind of an asshole and expects tips for everything, but does good work. - Bicycle storage - reasonably close to the train
Cons
- Landlord Michael Orbach (MJ Orbach Associates) is a typical slumlord. Doesn’t respond to issues unless threatened with lawsuit, hangs up on you if you finally do get them, and explain issue, constant lies, uses intimidation tactics like threatening “tenant blacklisting” Will likely have to sue him eventually. - There was a major roach issue (it’s finally getting under control by the buildings management) - Washing machines are often broken, and there are very few for the buildings size. - Buzzers and intercoms don’t work. - Elevator is having issues - gets stuck on floors. - Lots of untrained dogs in the building that bark like crazy, and the entire front of the building, and halfway up the block smells like dog pee. - No gyms nearby - All good restaurant’s are at least a 15 minute walk away. - Neighborhood is very unsafe coming from the train.
Advice to the owners
Hold up your end of the lease agreement, and hire professional real estate agents, and people to manage your properties. Fix elevator, buzzers/intercoms, and washing machines.
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