StreetEasy’s Most Wanted: Here's where to find that outdoor space you're craving
by Sara Alessi | 5/11/12 - 10:56 AM
This $2.095m six-bedroom townhouse in Park Slope includes this sunny deck, garden access, and an income-producing garden rental.
Nothing sells an apartment with private outdoor space like spring (or summer). And this week's StreetEasy's Most Wanted--the 10 sales listings apartment-hunters on StreetEasy.com saved more often than any others--demonstrates the lure of the great outdoors, particularly in Brooklyn, where the indoor/outdoor combo is more affordable.
For instance, you can see the Statue of Liberty from the large private roof deck of a two-bedroom, $675k co-op in Park Slope. The 4th floor walk-up--located in a non-doorman building on 8th Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets--has a new washer/dryer and the full bath has just been renovated.
Also in Park Slope is a six-bedroom (yes, six) two-family townhouse on 8th Street between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue for $2.095m. The space consists of the owner’s upper duplex (five bedrooms, two baths) with a deck and garden access,plus an income-producing garden rental.
- Transitions
From Hell’s Kitchen to Astoria, Queens: I'll take Manhattan
by Loraine as told to Hong Le | 5/11/12 - 8:17 AM
I left Hell’s Kitchen seven years ago and moved back to the neighborhood where I grew up, Astoria, for financial reasons. This time, I didn’t go to my parents’ place, but my own two-bedroom apartment located in the Ditmars area, by Astoria Park. It’s still a strange feeling to come back 'home' after 15 years of being away.
My old one-bedroom apartment was conveniently located on West 44th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. I loved being in the center of it all.
But I didn’t love my rent -- $1,650 a month. My current rent in Astoria is $1,250, and this is for a very large two-bedroom with seven closets, a lot of natural light and a small backyard!
The transition to Astoria was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It took me three years to finally get used to the neighborhood, and accept the fact that I was no longer in Manhattan.
I hated being back where I grew up. It felt like I was moving backward and not forward. In the beginning stages, I thought it was just a dream and I would wake up and be back in my apartment, enjoying life in the city again.
- Real Estate Want
Your personal spahhh
by Emmalie Vance | 5/10/12 - 2:43 PM
Protect your piggies from the shock of a chilly floor with the radiant heated floor tiles in this $4.5 million duplex penthouse at 151 West 17th in Chelsea.
Attention spa rats: If you've got access to $4.5 million, you may be interested in getting that relaxing, rejuvenating feeling every day without even leaving your bathroom--specifically, the master bathroom of this $4.5m Chelsea duplex penthouse at 151 West 17th Street.
We can’t decide whether the jumbo-sized steam shower or Jacuzzi tub is more exciting. Cold feet will also never be an issue with the radiant heated floor tiles. The modern double sinks aren't bad either.
Real Estate Want is a weekly column featuring New York City apartment details we're coveting right now.
- Hell's Bitchen
The case of stolen soda and missing bones
by Kelly Kreth | 5/10/12 - 1:05 PM
I've mentioned the issues with my super in relationship to building security before but as my time here lengthens, the issues are getting more intense.
A few weeks ago a friend was in the neighborhood after having had a steak dinner. He had the restaurant pack up the bones and he dropped them off at my building, leaving them with my super for the gnawing pleasure of my dachshund Mini, making it clear they were for me.
He left my name and apartment number and got verbal confirmation the super understood, and would get them to me.
My friend just assumed I forgot to say thank you, but then when he mentioned it two weeks later, we both realized I never got them.
I didn't say anything to my super because, well, they were just a bag of bones. I assumed he forgot to leave them for me and because they looked like garbage, he treated them as such.
I also conjured up the rather comical image in my mind of my super gnawing at them himself.
Rent Coach: The downside of renting a fully furnished apartment
by Mike Akerly | 5/10/12 - 10:21 AM
Rent Coach Mike Akerly
Q. My wife and I are considering renting a fully-furnished apartment for the next year. The landlord seems pretty concerned about the valuable antiques amongst the art and furniture, which concerns me that I could be held liable for any damage, alleged or perceived.
What would you suggest we do?
A. Your concern is understandable. First, make sure that the lease clearly lays out the respective responsibilities of landlord and tenant in this situation.
For example, will your landlord provide housekeeping services to ensure the furniture is kept in good condition? If not, are you obligated to? The landlord will likely also have a provision requiring you to immediately notify her of any damage that occurs while you’re living in the apartment, which you should do immediately if anything does happen.
StreetNoise: Roommates for married couples, the pre-written offer letter (??), and more
by Ronda Kaysen | 5/10/12 - 8:10 AM
- It's bidding war season: So come armed with those pre-written offer letters (NY1)
- Roommates! They're not just for college--or the unattached--anymore (New York Observer; previously)
- You thought smoking neighbors were bad, try a smoking couch surfer (Urban Baby)
- Even the prime minister of Qatar can't get co-op board approval (New York Post)
- Jealous much? Mitchell Lama tenants get 65% off purchase price (The Roosevelt Islander)
- Gut It: Landlords renovate apartments to jack up rent (Wall Street Journal)
- .... And why wouldn't they when rents are sky high (The Real Deal)
- Carpet beetles, like bed bugs, only furry (The Village Voice)
- Restaurant odor stinks, even if it's pizza (Brownstoner Forum)
- Is breaking a lease on a co-op sublease as bad as breaking a regular lease? (Urban Baby)
- SurvivalList
Neighborly nuisances, and how to avoid them
by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 5/09/12 - 2:43 PM
Along with a sitcom-sized apartment, we’d all love to have a Monica/Rachel -Joey/Chandler neighbor situation where your neighbor also happens to be your best friend.
In NYC reality, though, neighbors can be nuisances. In this week's SurvivalList we've rounded up some of our favorite neighbor-focused BrickUnderground posts to help you deal with just about any situation.
Whether your problems are odor/smoke related--say, dealing with constant cigarette smoke or a serious pot smoker--noise related, like loud sex and pianos, or even more serious--like living next door to a brothel--we can give you some pointers.
Of course, all of that (yes, even the brothel) seems like child’s play if you’ve got a neighbor you suspect has bed bugs.
Even if you get along swimmingly with your (bug-free) neighbors, there are some issues that might arise -- like laundry room etiquette and whether or not it's cool (or even legal) to leave strollers/shoes in common spaces.
Then there are those neighborly conundrums even live on after death -- like how soon is too soon to ask a loved one about the availability of the deceased's apartment?
And what if you find out that you -- with your noisy, dusty renovation, constantly barking dog or rowdy sex -- are actually the problem neighbor? Well, there's hope for that, too. Read on for more after the jump.
Your celebrity neighbor: Katie Couric
by Sharon Krum | 5/09/12 - 12:31 PMWHO: Katie Couric, champion of cute girls with brains everywhere, shows New York why 50 is the new 30.
WHERE: The former morning show host and newsreader about to launch her own talk show lives in the Upper East Side's Carnegie Hill enclave, where the median sales price is $1.644 million and the median rental price is $3,537, according to StreetEasy.
Your Celebrity Neighbor is a weekly heads-up on the A-listers who call your neighborhood home and (in theory) shop the same Duane Reade as you.
- Not-so-super-supers
UWS renters get $2m after being sexually harassed by super; and then there's the one about the dog
by Lucy Cohen Blatter | 5/09/12 - 10:28 AM
There are good supers, bad supers, and really, really bad supers. We're pretty sure that sexual deviants and bestialists fall into that latter category.
The New York Times reports that six female residents of an Upper West Side building have received a $2 million settlement over a super who sexually harrassed tenants and pressured them into sex in exchange for lower rent.
The residents filed the suit against the building's super, William Barnason, and its landlord, Stanley Katz, who they say hired Barnason despite knowing that he was a registered sex offender, and supported him for years as one of his most "prized" employees.
Yesterday's NY Post brought another not-so-super-super story, in which a Westchester super was arraigned on charges of burglary and sexual misconduct involving a Labrador retriever. Prosecutors say the bestiality incident was captured on cameras set up by the apartment's resident, who suspected there had been break-ins.
These guys make your not-so-proactive super seem pretty great, huh? They also underscore why it's so important to ask the neighbors what they think of the super before buying or renting.
- NYC Renovation Chronicles
Don't want to relocate during your reno? You may not have to
by Yoel Borgenicht, General Contractor | 5/09/12 - 8:13 AM
We always recommend clients move out of their apartments when they renovate. The contractor will be able to finish the job faster and the clients will be happier not living in a construction site.
But sometimes it just isn’t feasible (or anywhere near affordable).
Here are four projects that allow you to stay put -- some easily, and some a bit less so.
Kitchen... if you don't mind takeout
You can live in your apartment while you renovate your kitchen as long as you don’t mind eating takeout for the duration of the project -- which can take 8-10 weeks (for custom cabinets and counters). Make sure your contractor financially guaranteeshis schedule or you might find yourself pretty sick of Chinese food.Another option is to set up a (no-frills) temporary kitchen in your living room with just a fridge and a microwave.
The StreetEasy Hot Dozen: 12 rentals that may or may not be available by the time you read this
by Joe Lazauskas | 5/08/12 - 1:45 PM
The combo living room-bedroom at 111 Christopher St. and Bleecker. The apartment gets points for location.
Affordable finds in hip 'hoods are (perhaps unsurprisingly) the focus of this week's Hot Dozen -- meaning moreStreetEasy.com visitors clicked on these rental listings over the past seven days than any others.
A studio at 55 Leroy Street and 7th Avenue passes the test for one-room living. Closet space? Check. Cooking-capable kitchen? Check. Full bath? Check. Windows? Check. The big draw, however, is the West Village/Hudson Square location. It sits on a tree-lined street next door to the superb Little Branch speakeasy; for quieter times, the ball fields and park on the water are just a few blocks away. You just have to decide whether you can stomach paying $1,700 for a single room.
Stroll up a few blocks to a $1,895/month walk-up (floor unspecified) at 111 Christopher St. and Bleecker; it's a one-bedroom if you count an arched doorway as a room splitter, a studio if you don't. But an arched doorway is pretty sweet, and so are the hardwood floors, big kitchen and oversized windows that let in a lot of light. Be prepared for a lot of loud twenty-somethings pouring out of the surrounding bars; it's probably best if you're one of them.
Ask an Expert: Almost pregnant and up to here with the neighbor's pot smoke
by Teri Karush Rogers | 5/08/12 - 10:52 AM
Q. In our UWS high rise apartment, we have neighbors who really, really enjoy marijuana. As soon as we get off the elevator, we are bombarded by the smell in our hallway, and it frequently wafts its way into our apartment.
My husband and I don't want to be complete squares, but it's getting worse and worse, and we're trying to get pregnant (so a contact high is not a good thing!).
Should we narc on our neighbors? To who? And we don't know for sure whose apartment it's coming from - could be one of three. What should we do?
A. Let's start with the fact that it's no use calling the police unless you suspect your neighbors are pot dealers as well as consumers.
"Absent a well-founded allegation of selling drugs from an apartment, the NYPD does not generally have much of an interest in casual usage," says real estate attorney Eric Goidel of Borah Goldstein Altschuler Nahins & Goidel
Fortunately, note our experts, New York courts are increasingly putting pressure on landlords and co-ops to correct secondhand smoke issues.
A board member explains why it's all your fault
by Anonymous as told to Marjorie Cohen | 5/08/12 - 8:21 AM
Feeling a little snappish about your co-op or condo board? Take a deep breath, and consider the possibility that your board is feeling a little snappish about you. And that maybe you deserve it.
Below, one longtime Upper East Side condo board member explains how you can do better.
1. Be grateful for the work the board does.
Some owners are nice and appreciative but the rest can make your life miserable. Frankly, some of them are off-the-charts nuts.
In the time between the regularly scheduled monthly meetings, there are non-stop conference calls about the many, many things that the board has to think about: People who don't pay their common charges, what you can and cannot have on your balcony, hiring and firing elevator maintenance companies, what can go down the garbage chute and what can't, and what the lobby furniture should be.
Farm to City: The secret life of my drycleaner, and more
by Emmalie Vance | 5/07/12 - 2:27 PM
It's been three months since I came to NYC and moved into my $975/month studio sublet on the Upper East Side. As I've related in my first two columns, finding the place was challenging, and sharing a small space with a total stranger has been an adjustment for someone accustomed to a lot more space and privacy.
But it's clear that my education as a NYC apartment dweller is just beginning.
Feeling the heat…not
The guy I am subletting from (Adam) swears this has never happened before, but of course I receive the warm New York welcome of a broken water heater the morning of my first day at my new internship.
My power outfit was ready to go, I had my game face on, and I looked a hot mess. Not the best first impression, but luckily my desk is somewhat secluded, and I just made a point to avoid the kitchen and other common areas.
I wrote Adam about the issue, and he contacted the super for my roommate and I. I am unsure whether the super knows we are currently living in this apartment in place of the gentleman whose name is on the rent check, but I figure it’s a don’t-ask-don’t-tell situation.
The Open House Scorecard: No doorman, no problem
by Sara Alessi | 5/07/12 - 11:48 AM
This $695k one-bedroom condo on the UWS has a video security system in place of an in-your-face doorman.
Not all New Yorkers need or want a 24/7 doorman. This week's Open House Scorecard--the 10 apartments StreetEasy users saved to their open-house calendars most often this past weekend--features a few places that that may appeal to the DIY crowd.
On West 90th Street, half a block from Central Park, a $695k one-bedroom condo (pictured) is in a prewar elevator building with a video security system rather than a doorman. There's a renovated, windowed kitchen and a master bedroom with southern views over townhouse gardens. Low monthly charges ($669) include a $126 monthly assessment until December for common area renovations.
A renovated $949.5K two-bedroom/two-bath prewar co-op on the corner of West 72nd and Columbus doesn’t require board approval as it's a sponsor unit. Here the doorman is part-time, though the $2,065/month maintenance seems closer to a full-time doorman price.
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