Room for Improvement

Room for Improvement: Card-carrying laundries, more outlets and sunlight, closer subway

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By Kelly Kreth  |
April 22, 2011 - 3:50PM
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Five New Yorkers tell us the one thing they would change about their apartments if they could:

  • Exchange card for coin washers and dryers: We have a laundry room in the building, but the machines take coins, and the dryers fill up with quarters on the weekends and stop working. I'm hoping that we'll switch over to cards someday.—Jen, marketing, Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, 2 BR rental, $1828
  •  Add electrical outlets: I love my one bedroom apartment; it's sunny and spacious. However, I wish there were more outlets. I didn't think to look when I was getting the apartment. Adequate outlets just seemed a given. Now, I have to use extension cords for everything, the electrical outlet situation is that dismal.—Dana, public relations, Astoria, Queens, 1BR rental, $1175
  •  Reinvent the vents: I would change the antiquated, non-functioning ventilation system that not only allows the smells of cooking to seep into my apartment, but also, more disturbingly, the smell of smoke.—Jill, Copywriter, Upper East Side, 1BR rental, $1800
  •  Let the sunshine in: I wish I had more natural sunlight. We have to keep the lights on much of the time even when it is sunny out.—Ilene, author, Upper East Side, 1BR co-op, $500K
  •  A shorter distance between two points: I love that my roommate and I have an extra room for storage and a backyard at an amazingly low price. The thing I'd change is how far it is from the subway. I have to walk 12 blocks to the subway that takes me directly into the city. There is a slightly closer subway, but that require two transfers, which is even more time consuming than the long walk.—Izabela, stylist, Williamsburg, 3BR rental, $1800
 
 

 

 

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Kelly Kreth

Contributing writer

Contributing writer Kelly Kreth has been a freelance journalist, essayist, and columnist for more than two decades. Her real estate articles have appeared in The Real Deal, Luxury Listings, Our Town, and amNewYork. A long-time New York City renter who loves a good deal, Kreth currently lives in a coveted rent-stabilized apartment in a luxury building on the Upper East Side.

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