To All Brownstone Owners & Brokers:
As a current tenant experiencing considerable difficulty with the owner of the family-owned brownstone I live in Park Slope, PLEASE be upfront and honest (or have your broker be) with your prospective tenants about “quirks” of family-owned brownstone living. Including, but not limited to: Mail going to the owner’s apartment only, who must then distribute…
As a current tenant experiencing considerable difficulty with the owner of the family-owned brownstone I live in Park Slope, PLEASE be upfront and honest (or have your broker be) with your prospective tenants about “quirks” of family-owned brownstone living. Including, but not limited to:
Mail going to the owner’s apartment only, who must then distribute the mail, at their own leisure. (And please make plans to have someone pick up the mail when the owner goes on vacation.)
Installation of cable that has to be done at the convenience of the owner (because the connection comes through his backyard) or in our case, the backyard of the building next door, so not only do you have to work around the owner’s schedule, but that of the people next door.
If you are not going to employ a super, or barely employ one, please be upfront with the tenants that they will be responsible for all upkeep, including common areas. (In fairness, all expenses are always deductible from rent, but it’s the time factor of finding repairman, etc.)
Please do NOT assume that everyone understands these things about family-owned brownstone living. If someone had explained this to my partner and I what we would have to deal with, we could have at least rented our place with our eyes wide open, instead of having to deal with this retroactively, and being told “well, that’s just the way it is in these brownstones.”
And renters, ask questions! Be persistent. Do just not be bowled over by the beauty of the brownstone, and your luck in finding one…
Thanks.
It’s the *tone* of the OP that is whinelicious.
For all you whiners:
Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot. Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!
Hey, go get your mail. Have a drink (of wine). It’s the weekend.
Forget the winery: I think we could open up a lemonade stand with all the sourpusses on here.
Is the OP’s “demands” really that extraordinary? Just to be notified, before he signs the lease, of any “quirks” that he wouldn’t know about not having lived in a Brooklyn brownstone? All he wants to do is what every consumer wants: to make an informed decision. There’s no need to jump over him and get into this pettiness of, “Well, if you don’t like it, buy your own building.” Meh. If you don’t like the inconveience of tenants, then don’t have any. Or do they make your mortgage payment possible?
I would be similarly ticked off if I got my mail at my landlord’s convenience. That is simply ridiculous. You have a business relationship where you rent space. That’s it. Again, if the situation was reversed, where the tenant recieved all the mail and would, when they felt like it, distributed it to you folks, would you feel the same way?
You people are pieces of work, you really are. Have a sense of decency for chrissakes. Landlord/tenant, like all interpersonal relationships, work when both sides are upfront and willing to see the other side’s perspective. Mutual respect and consideration goes a long way. It’s only too bad that there seems to be more than a few people who fall painfully short.
We have a key keeper, so that the mail carrier can access the vestibule, and put the mail into the 3 locked mailboxes installed/recessed into the wall.
But the mail carrier is very sloppy about sorting the mail and often there is mail for the other apartments in your box.
with all this whining, I think Brownstoner can open a winery..lets call it ‘Brownstoner Merlot’
the original poster’s requests are not unreasonable..but some of your responses sure are…
i can’t imsgine having to wait for a 3rd party to give me my mail
hope they’re not expected to shovel snow as well!
well stated 10:32
the original poster’s request are not unreasonable..but some of your responses sure are…
i can’t imsgine having to wait for a 3rd party to give me my mail
hope they’re not expected to shovel snow as well!
well stated 10:32
Me either.
just a moment ago I haad to leave my 3yo alone again for some period of time to get a UPS package for our tenants. They receive UPS very often. So, I am acting as their consierge and leaving my toddler alone at the apartment. How about that? Remember that that people are not very accomodating and like to complain. And rent is way below market for a first rate apartment in first rate nabe.
Also, nobody will keep your mail in apartment building long after you move. We keep all of the mail that looks important for our former tenants (minus junk mail). This is actually the case when we just happy to do this. It is not difficult for us and we know how important it could be for our former tenants.
I can sign under every word of 10:13 poster. When we were renting I never occure to us to complain on some silly issues. Owners renovated apartment downstairs and it was never crossed our minds to complain: they had to do it at some point anyhow, how we could complain?
Windows were really bad and really drufty (when my tenants complain about our windows I am just … astonished by their… well… demands, it is not brand new Marvin, but they should see those windows that we had years ago when we rented. now our windows are not brand new but fully operational, a bit drafty but not that terrible. When we rented we just put some transparent table on perimeter to keep us warm. And as I said there is no comparison to our windows now. I like it even more when they compalain about room temperature and keep windows open.
We cleaned our hallway when we were renters because it was our home. Our tenants have a dog and I have to deal with mointains of dog hair and I never saw them cleaning their stairs that lead to their apartment on a top floor.
It is really a two ways street but I have to tell you that I would not let an original poster anywhere near my house based on what he wrote.