Pros:
Rent-stabilized, apartment layout is of a decent size, landlord is slowly making building improvements, but at a snail’s pace, and largely due to pressure from a recently formed Tenant’s Association. Good location near the park and subway, but building and street are very noisy. Definitely not the worst building in the area, but lots of room for improvement.
Cons:
Incredibly CHEAP landlords that will have you begging for every single repair, and do the bare minimum when they do need to finally fix something, minor repairs take months or even years to be addressed, unless they become more serious issues. There is literally always something wrong with the apartment, but its also easier to live with most of the problems that it is to get them repaired. Windows are drafty and need to be replaced, sound insulation is dreadful, I can literally hear my neighbors coughing, doors slamming throughout the building, etc., there is a serious mouse and roach problem, inconsistent heat and hot water, hallway consistently reeks of weed, lobby door is broken frequently, huge issues with package theft in the building, and general noise (parties, barking dogs, etc.), building/facade repair has been going on for nearly a year with no attempts from landlord to address the noise issues or offer rent abatement. Building used to be much better with neighbors that mostly kept to themselves, but a younger crowd of tenants moving in over the past few years has it feeling more like a frat house, and less like a home.
Advice to owner:
A few major improvements would go a long way. Consider laundry in the building, don’t keep tenants waiting endlessly for the most basic repairs and maintenance, stop being so obviously cheap and hire appropriate professionals instead of having the super attempt to do work that he is not qualified to do. Try to actually fix issues instead of putting bands-aids on issues that need real repairs. Its frustrating for tenants and causes more money and time to deal with, in the end.