Should I take this apartment?

Great idea to get a sense of the neighborhood at night.

And your big mistake re rent was in not getting an apartment 25 or 30 years and staying there. Not much help now, though. Sorry.

Are you determined to be in only one borough? You mentioned hills. Are you looking or living in northern Manhattan?

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Wow, things have changed in Hoboken. I had a large two bedroom sublet in the 80's for $500 per month, and I was told by the neighbor that the guy subletting the space was ripping me off. And yup - it's Hoboken (although I loved living in Brooklyn).

Northern exposures tend to be dark.

I'm sure McD's uses tons of pesticides, rodent poisons and whatever else they need to keep the vermin down. It's worse to be in a basement apartment near a subway - tons of bugs and rats come to visit.

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When I was in Manhattan last year, I liked seeing all the remodeled
apartment houses and brownstones around MalcomX & 105th. It was
quite safe to walk around there too...

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CalamityJane wrote:

When I was in Manhattan last year, I liked seeing all the remodeled
apartment houses and brownstones around MalcomX & 105th. It was
quite safe to walk around there too...

Not to be rude, but it was safe in the 80's too (at least during the day). It was middle and lower class Black, but it was not East New York or Brownsville. As college students we went to the local "soul food" restaurants for good cheap chow. Where else in NY was macaroni and cheese listed under vegetables? Plenty of street music and a funky ethnic flea market on Saturday mornings where you could get beautiful craft imports from So. America and Africa. What disturbs me now is that so many people doing the renovations are white and male. I know Harlem has had it's up and downs, but I hate to see the gentifcation leaving behind the people who made it great. I love the fact that the brownstones that were once crumbling are being restored, but soon there will a Starbucks on every corner and a Banana Republic where I used to order that macaroni and cheese as my vegetable of the day.

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Okay kids, game over. I just called the girl who is renting it and told her that I've decided not to take the place. It just didn't feel right. It was soooo close to being what I wanted, but it just wasn't big enough, no matter how much I tried to justify it.

But I still don't know whether I did the right thing. I'd like to pay less rent, but it's not like I'm desperate yet.

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kicky, Things usually turn out for the best; keep on hunting for what you really want.

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Kicky, you incredible wuss, you have failed at the the great game of New YAWk, witchis moving to someplace else in the middle of winter for less rent. Even if there is a crackhouse across the house, LESS RENT is the key to winning the New York Living prize.

I know someone who is living in QUEENS because she can save $650. a month by living in a hellhole pressed up against a warehouse in Long Island City. (The rats are fullsized and intimidate the hell out of the cats) BUT she spends so much time WORKING that she is hardly ever home so all it that works out.

Joe(life in the big city)Nation

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"Full-sized rats"... cough, cough, to save $650/mo.

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Green Witch wrote:

CalamityJane wrote:
When I was in Manhattan last year, I liked seeing all the remodeled
apartment houses and brownstones around MalcomX & 105th. It was
quite safe to walk around there too...

Not to be rude, but it was safe in the 80's too (at least during the day). It was middle and lower class Black, but it was not East New York or Brownsville. As college students we went to the local "soul food" restaurants for good cheap chow. Where else in NY was macaroni and cheese listed under vegetables? Plenty of street music and a funky ethnic flea market on Saturday mornings where you could get beautiful craft imports from So. America and Africa. What disturbs me now is that so many people doing the renovations are white and male. I know Harlem has had it's up and downs, but I hate to see the gentifcation leaving behind the people who made it great. I love the fact that the brownstones that were once crumbling are being restored, but soon there will a Starbucks on every corner and a Banana Republic where I used to order that macaroni and cheese as my vegetable of the day.

Well, I lived in the mid 80's in Manhattan and it wasn't all that safe - at
least not to this German Mr. Green

. But I agree with you, Green Witch:
all the newly renovated apartments and brownstones are out of
reach for a large population who made Harlem what it actually is famous for - the black community. They're pushed up further north if not into
other boroughs.

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kickycan wrote:

Okay kids, game over. I just called the girl who is renting it and told her that I've decided not to take the place. It just didn't feel right. It was soooo close to being what I wanted, but it just wasn't big enough, no matter how much I tried to justify it.

But I still don't know whether I did the right thing. I'd like to pay less rent, but it's not like I'm desperate yet.

You made the right choice, Kicky. It is important to come home to
a nice place.

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kickycan wrote:

McDonald's is right next door.

You had that listed as a "pro"?

Good lord, man.

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There is a McDonalds restaurant thirty miles from here and THAT is too damn close.

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We've tried to get him to try real food, but to no avail.

Everytime we've said "Eat your vegetables"

He says "Yo, lettuce, ONIONS on a sesame seed bun."

Joe(please send help)Nation

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Joe Nation wrote:

Kicky, you incredible wuss, you have failed at the the great game of New YAWk, witchis moving to someplace else in the middle of winter for less rent. Even if there is a crackhouse across the house, LESS RENT is the key to winning the New York Living prize.

I know someone who is living in QUEENS because she can save $650. a month by living in a hellhole pressed up against a warehouse in Long Island City. (The rats are fullsized and intimidate the hell out of the cats) BUT she spends so much time WORKING that she is hardly ever home so all it that works out.

Joe(life in the big city)Nation

Yep, I know all about the dead of winter apartment hunting trick. That's exactly why I've stepped up my search lately. Winter ain't over though, Joe! I still might have a chance to find a smoking deal!

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How out of reach is it to buy something that's a reasonable commute to work?

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kicky has his likes and idslikes like everybody else for criminy!

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Slappy, that is totally, absolutely, indubitably out of reach, given the fact that I am only looking in Manhattan. I might buy something in Queens to rent to some other shlub, and I could probably afford that, but for my home, it's Manhattan or nothing.

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Why doesn't Kicky just buy a nice house in New York City? Surely they can not be that expensive.

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That's a good one, Gus.

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Seriously. What kind of cheap bastard can't afford a million dollar studio in Manhattan?

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Should I take this apartment?

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