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A friend looking to rent is trying to decide whether it's better to go the big-apartment-building or the floorthrough-in-a-brownstone route in Park Slope and the area. I'm biased because I rent out an apartment in my house (and most of my renting was in private homes), but what do the renters here think? Pros, cons, what would you do next time?
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Anonymous
Posts: 9,622I'm curious to see the results of this, too, as I plan on moving in a year. I've been in my floor-through for 9 years. Many of those years went very well, but when things go wrong, they go very wrong. My LL (specifically, her son, who is running things now) doesn't make repairs in a timely manner, didn't want to turn on the heat, doesn't know how to communicate (either completely DOESN'T communicate (things like construction, etc.) or just doesn't have the skills to have a difficult converstation without making it a full-on confrontation). He doesn't think he needs to obey the laws, etc. On the flip side, my place is quiet, a bit below market rate, and I feel safe here. They rarely have company, and I don't have to worry about things like people leaving crap in the hallways, etc. -
There's probably more variability in the quality of landlords if you go the small house route. The big apts are run by professional mgt companies, which may not be great but you're likely to know what to expect. On the other hand, with brownstone owners you might get some irresponsible ones like flexi unfortunately seems to have, but you also might get some really good people who aren't obsessed with maximizing profit. Also, since they share the building with you, they're likely to respond in a very timely way to any major problems as far as heating, water, etc., as it probably will affect them too. Since they are sharing space with you, I know a lot of landlords whose main concern is renting to someone trustworthy and responsible, and who'd be willing to cut you a deal if you fit that description.
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I think it's really hard to generalize. I've had good and bad experiences in both kinds of apartments. My best apartment-living situation was in a big building in Manhattan, and the worst was in a brownstone-type building in Park Slope. Unfortunately, you can't assume that just because the owner lives in the building, s/he is committed to maintaining it and keeping the building clean. It's probably best to talk to the neighbors if you possibly can.
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escap » There's probably more variability in the quality of landlords if you go the small house route. The big apts are run by professional mgt companies, which may not be great but you're likely to know what to expect. On the other hand, with brownstone owners you might get some irresponsible ones like flexi unfortunately seems to have, but you also might get some really good people who aren't obsessed with maximizing profit. Also, since they share the building with you, they're likely to respond in a very timely way to any major problems as far as heating, water, etc., as it probably will affect them too. Since they are sharing space with you, I know a lot of landlords whose main concern is renting to someone trustworthy and responsible, and who'd be willing to cut you a deal if you fit that description.
Good points. However, you should keep in mind that even in brownstone apartments, the landlord may not live in the building. There are plenty of people who live in Park Slope who managed to buy one or two buildings besides their own during the years that PS was really cheap and use the entire extra building(s) for rental income. -
Exceptions apply and certainly the actual apartment is a major factor but all things being equal - generally with 'professional' management your going to at least have someone who knows how to handle major problems like no heat, leak, etc... and probably have a super on premises. With owner LL things generally take longer to resolve often with significant impact on renter. Further I generally prefer the personal 'distance' that a large building affords me as a renter toward the LL. I find it uncomfortable to be living in someones house - especially if a problem develops and tensions rise.
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Having done the brownstone route for 2 yrs, we're now in a ~35 unit apt building. One thing we immediately noticed about brownstones is that they tend to be very noisy. I always assumed that this was because they were built as single-family homes, the insulation btw floors was not as good as it is in apt buildings. We could hear our neighbors talking and their tv at low volumes. Of course, we're now in an apt building and are blessed with a downstairs neighbor who listens to tv at the highest volume.... sometimes you just can't win.
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A six + unit building can also have the advantage of rent stabilization."Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah!
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8thandPrez » One thing we immediately noticed about brownstones is that they tend to be very noisy.
Good point. We've been in a townhouse for about a year and we can hear the 8 year old upstairs run back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Personally I like living in houses, but there are advantages and disadvantages to them and to big buildings. I lived in a 4 BR house in Williamsburg and had the laziest most inattentive landlord ever. There were major problems which we could never get fixed. Now we live in a 1 BR unit in a house in Clinton Hill and our landlord, despite not living in the building, is pretty attentive. One of the reasons I love houses so much is having a back yard space. I couldn't live without it, especially in the spring. Also I find townhouse blocks to be way more friendly than big 30-unit buildings. The people who live on my block really care about our little corner of the nabe.Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org -
The worst situation for us was renting someone's co-op in a brownstone that had been turned into three co-ops. Our landlord had moved to California and had no interest in our apartment except as a source of revenue. There was no super onsite, obviously (or offsite) and the building was effectively controlled by the one resident co-op owner, who did not give a shit that we didn't have much heat (his unit had heat) or that our door was broken or any of our other problems because, as he pointed out, he wasn't our landlord. We didn't want to withhold rent or complain too much because we really didn't want to have to move. It sucked, and then the landlord told us to move anyway (after our lease ended) because he wanted to rent it to a friend.
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Full service apartment building is better than house with owner-occupier down/upstairs is better than faceless no service apartment building is better than house with absent landlord.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. -- Abraham Lincoln
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8thandPrez » Having done the brownstone route for 2 yrs, we're now in a ~35 unit apt building. One thing we immediately noticed about brownstones is that they tend to be very noisy. I always assumed that this was because they were built as single-family homes, the insulation btw floors was not as good as it is in apt buildings. We could hear our neighbors talking and their tv at low volumes. Of course, we're now in an apt building and are blessed with a downstairs neighbor who listens to tv at the highest volume.... sometimes you just can't win.
Yes this is so true. I can hear my downstairs neighbors having orgasms and peeing. That's wayyyyyyyy too close for comfort.Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Diana Ross -
Subject: Definitely Brownstone
I moved from a coop off 8th ave to a 6 unit brownstone off 7th ave, both in prime slope. I save about $1000/mth in rent now. It's rent stabilized, near the Q (I hate the F train) and the landlord believes in communication. (that seems to be rare). then again, i realize i lucked out. im never moving.lol -
Subject: Re: Renters: private house or big building?
linusvanpelt » A friend looking to rent is trying to decide whether it's better to go the big-apartment-building or the floorthrough-in-a-brownstone route in Park Slope and the area. I'm biased because I rent out an apartment in my house (and most of my renting was in private homes), but what do the renters here think? Pros, cons, what would you do next time?
being a LL - i would love to have a MUCH bigger building where it becomes more controlled by a managment company than myself who has to call someone in for a smaller building...when i have rented - i preferred the larger buildings - for my above reason - things get fixed faster and problems solved a lot quicker...with smaller buildings and some individual LL's - too slow or go through a lot of bullshit! rather pay a bit of premium for peace of mind! -
Having living in a house while growing up then moving into an apartment in a private house the only difference to me was water pressure. This was an older house and we all took our showers around the same time in the morning. If you woke up late you had not hot water for about a half hour. It may not sound like much but its a bitch when you get in the shower and 2 minutes later it it freezing cold. The first thing we did when we bought the house was put in a larger hot water heater.
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