“Unit 14 Pros: Updated kitchen and in-unit laundry were the best parts of this apartment...that's about it. Neighborhood was great, apartment itself sucked Cons: 1. Huge roach and pest issue, even beyond what you'd reasonably expect for an NYC apartment. Roommate and I got a better handle on it after we started setting off roach bombs once a month, but even with that, giant water bugs could still come and go as they pleased due to the windows not closing all the way. Had to duct tape the window gap. Mouse droppings in the bottom cabinets, rats scratching in the walls. I'm not exaggerating when I say living in this apartment gave me intense psychological distress from all the pest issues, I've never seen a bug in my new apartment but still snap my head around when I see something moving out of the corner of my eye. 2. Management was horrific to deal with. Never answered phone calls, even during regular business hours, property manager Brendan (who we were referred to in case of apartment emergencies, such as our bathroom ceiling falling apart from water leakage from above) never once answered the phone and barely answered emails, even sending us to voicemail while trying to call about the water leak! 3. Noise, the neighborhood itself was wonderful and lively, I loved living in this area, but there is a school directly across the street which attracted a man from the church downstairs to go stand on the opposite corner for hours each day blaring sermons and church songs, really disruptive. 4. Shouldn't have been considered a 2 bedroom (apt. 14), my room was the smaller one and I could barely fit anything in there, felt extremely claustrophobic and suffocating. There was a hot water pipe right next to my bed and my boyfriend and I were constantly almost burning ourselves on it from how hot it would get. Had to sleep completely uncovered all year between the summer heat and the amount I would sweat from the heat coming off of that pipe. Advice to landlord: Quit your jobs, you are horrible at this. Maybe don't send your residents' phone calls to voicemail in an emergency! Care? At all?”
— 1480 AMSTERDAM AVENUE · Manhattan“Unit 18 Pros: Water pressure, cost, and being left alone by the landlord. Cons: Being left alone basically means an absentee landlord. They don't respond to emails much unless they need something. Had to talk to the super in person in order to get him to hire someone to spray for pests. Plus the neighbors...oh my god, that is the worst. Up at all hours of the night, playing loud music. Like, on a friggin Tuesday they're up until 4am partying. And then when you go upstairs to talk to them, they don't answer the door, hoping to ignore you. And then when they do after you're persistent, they don't know English so it's a whole thing. Also there's trash everywhere and the guys who "take care" of the building smoke cigarettes in the lobby. Advice to landlord: Do better? I don't know.”