Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with newyork and apartments

Where can I find photos of NYCHA housing developments?

Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:42:38 -0800

I'm looking for photos of NYCHA public housing - particularly, the interior of apartments and communal areas. Where can I find photos like this online? I have no idea where to begin looking - I've found photos of building exteriors quite easily, but I'm having remarkable difficulty finding photos of the interior.

Photos of public housing in NYC is a priority, but if those are too difficult to find, I'd be interested in photos of similar public housing developments in Chicago, or other large cities. Floorplans would also be of interest, but again, no idea where to begin looking.

Cheap, nice studio within 30-45 mins of Manhattan?

shivohum — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:05:49 -0800

Where can you get a clean, safe studio apartment, if possible in a cool area with cheap good restaurants, for under $700/month or less, within 30-45 minutes via mass-transport of Manhattan?

Help me choose an apartment

sondrialiac — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:20:14 -0800

I am headed to law school in Brooklyn with a full ride and a great housing offer-- subsidized housing for 3 years. My partner and I can pick between two apartments, but we can't decide which we should take. One Bedroom
$1500/month
300 square feet
All but electricity included
Gorgeous historic brownstone building on beautiful residential street (Brooklyn Heights, trees, the works)
2nd floor of a 5 story walk-up
Laundry in basement
No A/C

Two Bedroom
$2040 a month
500 square feet
No utilities included
Great location, steps from subway and school, not particularly attractive street (bland, commercial, Downtown Brooklyn)
11th floor of an elevator building, GREAT view, Statue of Liberty, etc.
Laundry in basement
Central A/C

What would you do? Why? What factors should I be considering here? I can't view the actual apartments.

Thank you for any insight, opinions, anything that will help me brainstorm.

Appropriate holiday tips for building staff.

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:33:04 -0800

New Yorkers, please advise me on appropriate holiday tip amounts for building staff. I am preparing to give out end-of-year tips for the people who work in my apartment building, and I would love to hear how others determine end-of-year cash amounts for their NYC building staff.

I own an apartment in a ~40-unit Manhattan building. There is always a doorman at the lobby desk, but otherwise the building is not at all what one would consider a luxury, full-service building. There is also a non-live-in super. I live alone and don't really require any personal extra effort from the building employees, although I feel sure that if I ever needed anything they would go out of their way to help me. Every member of the staff is friendly and first-rate, so I'd like to err on the generous side of the tip scale. I need to tip my super and each person on the roster of six doormen, who work anywhere from one to six shifts a week.

I've googled and found several articles about what to tip but they didn't seem to be particularly applicable, so I'd love to hear about your personal decision-making processes. How much do you tip your building employees? What is a good way to determine appropriate amounts?

Broker/agent recommendations for Jersey City rentals, please!

cyrusdogstar — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:07:35 -0800

Looking for some specifics and some general advice: broker/realtor/agency recommendations for finding a rental in Jersey City, and/or links to general resources for someone new to real estate/apartment hunting. This is a semi-followup to my earlier JC-related question, for what it's worth. In addition, from perusing other such threads, I've already bookmarked Del Forno Realty and Armagno Agency. However, if possible I'd like recommendations for other such groups, or specific individual agents who specialize in Jersey City.

As with the other thread, please do not mention New York City or Hoboken resources unless they also deal with Jersey City, and yes, I have heard of that quaint little "Craig's List" WWW thingy, thanks :) And we've heard the "no brokers, they suck" argument ad infinitum, and have taken that viewpoint into account.

Journal Square is the dumps!

cyrusdogstar — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:23:24 -0800

We're thinking of moving to Jersey City from points west, and have some questions about it which aren't answered in this previous JC AskMe. Sincere apologies for the length! (I've bookmarked related threads here. Also: Please do not suggest we move to a NYC borough, or Hoboken--I will ask for that sort of advice if/when I need it :))

My fiancee and I live in the Jersey 'burbs (on the Raritan Valley NJT line, which runs once an hour off-peak and requires a transfer in Newark). While it's nice and quiet, the commute is getting old, especially since we've made lifestyle changes recently.

We're interested in Jersey City because it's centrally located (thanks PATH!) and appears more affordable than NYC proper, especially compared to those areas with similar commute times. Our target is a 2-bedroom place for ~$1000-1400/mo; we currently have a "1 1/2" bedroom for ~$900/mo.

With that back-story out of the way, my questions:

1. Neighborhoods. I'm looking for any advice about the various areas that you can provide, and I'll spit out my own observations here:

Most of the apartments fitting our criteria on Craigslist are near Journal Square, or in neighborhoods south. We visited that area last weekend, and it's as run-down as I expected.

Others are in the Heights, which looked nicer, but seems like it's a hike from PATH, and the closest such stop being in JSQ, which I'm not even sure I want to walk through twice a day. My fiancee was troubled by the power-plant on the slope west of the Heights, too (we saw it walking up JFK).

Then there's downtown, near the Grove Street PATH, Hamilton Park, Paulus Hook (nice, but unfortunately too expensive), Van Vorst Park, and etc. The old thread said the only nice areas were Paulus Hook and Hamilton Park; does that include the areas in between, the ones near the Grove Street stop? We visited the area last year but I don't remember it well, nor did we cover all of it. As far as I can tell it's our best bet w/r/t getting a nice-ish area close to PATH.

2. Groceries. One odd thing we noticed during that downtown trip was the relative lack of delis/markets/grocers. Was that just bad luck/poor perception, or does everyone hoof it up to the supermarket near the mall?

3. Crime. Just how bad is it? From reading JCList.com, you'd think that there are break-ins every few days, with scattered muggings for flavor. I realize that the area has crime, but is it any better or worse than, say, the gentrified neighborhoods in Brooklyn, or Astoria? Pointers to sources at which I can research this myself would be welcome.

4. Locals. If anyone reading this is currently residing in Jersey City and would like to give us a more focused tour of the better areas, or to just gab about the place in general, I'd greatly appreciate it. Email is in the profile.

Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!

anjamu — Tue, 16 May 2006 18:17:15 -0800

[New York City apartment filter] So my future roommate and I found a place we thought was perfect. We're thisclose to signing the lease. And then a search with HPD turns up 96 open violations in the building. How concerned should I be? We're working with a broker, and we have put down the security deposit but not the first month's rent (also required) and we haven't signed a lease yet.

The place seems almost too good to be true: spacious flex 2 BR for $2200 in the Financial District, replete with doorman, elevator, laundry in-building.

(I know, I know: if it seems too good to be true, well, it probably is.)

The 96 (!) open violations, courtesy of NYC HPD, include roaches, mice, all kinds of maintenance issues, and worst of all, bedbugs. Only 2 out of 5 tenants on apartmentratings.com recommended it, but I don't know how much weight to throw behind that, as I'd never heard of the site before today.

I should note that our broker is the only broker who rents places out in this building.

My questions include:

1) If a building has bedbugs, even if they are only cited in one apartment, do I run?
2) How many violations are normal? Is this excessive?
3) Are there any other city websites I should check out?
4) How much might it cost us to escape this deal?

Partitioning a large studio apartment

condour75 — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:23:23 -0800

I'm moving into NYC for the first time. It's a studio, but a relatively large one, and I'd like to partition it. I've looked mainly at shoji screens, but I'd rather not take up the extra space with the accordion footprint. I don't want to spend a huge amount of money, or do anything that requires a permit. What are some creative options?; for_name=condour75 and follow up question: any other advice for a NYC newbie?