amazing Super is worth it
Pros
Our superintendent who lives on the premises is AMAZING. So responsive, hardworking, goes above and beyond to make the building nice and clean. We have not had issues with roaches, mice, or ants. (I've only seen 1 roach living here for 2 years which is huge for a NY apartment) The bones of this building are so good - the floors are in great shape, the walls are thick, the doors, the bathroom - everything is old but really well maintained. Location is great for access to the 7, across the street from a grocery store, liquor store, close to a Rite Aid, and walking distance to Roosevelt Ave which has the best food in all of NYC, in my opinion.
Cons
The windows are a little wonky - some don't open/close very well. The radiators are unpredictable - it'll be 60 degrees out and sometimes they'll come on. It definitely tends toward too hot/too much radiator, rather than too cold/not enough. Living on Skillman down the street from a fire department can get loud with the sirens and traffic, but our bedroom is quiet since it's in the back of the apartment furthest from the road. We did have bedbugs once. Our super guessed that it came from a fellow tenant who refused to keep his apartment clean which is worrisome and gross. But the Super was so, so, so helpful and the exterminators were here within a couple days of us finding the bugs and we haven't had any issues in the year since this happened.
Great but no
Pros
So I love our apartment. Building is so-so but the super is great and doing what he can. The neighborhood is lovely and seems safe.
Cons
It’s too hot - unbearable in the summer AND in the winter (the heaters are blasting heat all winter, can’t turn them down so we end up with windows open in the winter.. such a waste!). The worst of all tho.. roaches. They came out of nowhere 3 months ago and no matter what we tried - glued up all the possible holes and non-holes, taped up the windows and spread so much pesticides I’m now seriously worried about our health, exterminator sprayed here and there (I think we did much more ourselves anyway!) - we still find them..
Advice to the owners
You should check the number of apartments that signed up for the exterminator and treat it seriously.