BrickUnderground

The perfect alt-beach summer rental?

Wondering where to rent this summer? Depending on your pricepoint, you may want to trade in the Hamptons house for this rather amazing Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, carriage house....

The $15K per month three-bedroom carriage house at 36 Strong Place is available starting June 1 for three to five months.  It features rustic wood ceiling beams, sliding windowed barn doors, a private driveway, a chef's kitchen, and bluestone patio with private dining area and BBQ--enabling you to skip the three hour drive to the beach and have all the steamy cookouts you want any (or every) night of the week. 

Real Estate Want is a weekly column featuring New York City apartment details we're coveting right now.

Susan NYC

A bathroom with two entryways, beepless elevators, and neighbors that don't smoke… six New Yorkers tell us what they’d add to their homes--or subtract--if only they could…

• Less social neighbors I’m in the basement of a brownstone and my neighbors like to sit outside and talk and sometimes they smoke, too. I’d say something but I know they are moving out soon anyway. I hope the next tenants don’t smoke -- or entertain -- much.  - Kwenelle, Harlem

• It’s getting hot in here With the weather warming up I remembered that I really want ceiling fans throughout the apartment. -Gerald, Gramercy Park

• What happened to good ole elevator music? I wish the elevator on my side of the building didn’t have that loud, high pitched beeping sound every time it passes a floor. The beeping turns into a long squeal whenever it reaches a floor where it has to stop. I can hear it from my bedroom. - Joyce, Hamilton Heights

This tiny lofted studio at West 20th Street and Eighth Avenue is only $1,500 a month, but you'll have to share the bathroom.

There are highs and lows in this week's Hot Dozen--the 12 rental apartments Streeteasy.com visitors clicked on most often over the past seven days. Among the lower-end apartments are single room occupancy studios in the $1,000 per month range, and on the high-end an over-$7,000-per-month three-bedroom on Central Park West.

A compact, lofted $1,500 studio (pictured) at 20th Street and Eighth Avenue (another hip and convenient neighborhood) is a single room occupancy unit in a townhouse. Again, utilities are included and pets are allowed (if you can find room for one), but note that this apartment features a communal bathroom, shared with two other tenants. 

Photo Credit / lusterbr

We've already touched on some of the considerations when buying an apartment IN a brownstone -- issues such as noise (since brownstones often weren't intended to be divided the way they are); chimney, fireplace and overall structural problems; and the general upkeep required.

If fractional living isn't your thing and you're looking to buy an entire brownstone, here are some things to consider first.

1. Upkeep and responsiblity 

A brownstone is a more hands-on investment than any other property, warns real estate agent David Schorr of Heddings Property Group.

Unlike a co-op or condo, “If anything goes wrong with the property it’s the owner’s responsibility to get on the phone with the contractor or electrician,” says Schorr. “You can’t just call up your super and say I’ve got a problem.”