Condo of the Day: One Hanson Place, #16BC

Count me tentatively among the “but you could buy a whole house for that” crowd. I had a generic question though, if I’m paying <= $1900/month in rent, am I flushing less money down the toilet than someone who has a mortgage on a place like this? I remember reading that maintenance can be written off as tax-deductible, but how much would that bring it down to per month? Is it federal only?

Yes, a silly combination. Could have been done better. But sometimes people do what they want, without thinking of resale. It was clear from the floorplan that the bedroom adjacent to the master one was intended as a nursery, before even seeing from the pictures how it was used.

Bedrooms could be fixed, with enough expense. Master could use a door (this could be a floorplan error – I notice a lot of those, specifically with doors, in real estate ads – sometimes there are rooms shown with no access to them at all.)

Could make one bedroom part of the living room – I like that idea. And make the other two off a real hall, with doors.

I see the problem with the other rooms as largely one of labelling. Sure, one doesn’t need a large laundry room. But it isn’t really a laundry room – the W/D is in a closet. I’d use this as a dressing room or closet – with cabinets all over. Could store clothes, plus all the linens like blankets and quilts, and other stuff that one never has room for in an apartment. With a W/D right there? Ideal. Internal space is great for this – no sunlight to cause fading if you leave a closet door open. I’d also use the “dressing room” for clothes – it really is just a big walk-in closet, not a dressing room.

Could also use a pantry near the kitchen – again, for storage space. Could also put a mudroom type arangement there. I’d use one side of this room as an entryway, complete with bench, and the other side for additional storage – for kitchen stuff, if needed, or other stuff (all the sports equipment that also is hard to find a place for, or whatever you need to store.) Or you could use one side for bookcases, or one of those kitchen desk areas.

That leaves the “media room” – they like to call dark caves this, as they figure you don’t need light, as you try to watch movies in the dark. But you could also call it anything else you’d want to use a windowless room for – an office, a library, an exercise room, a playroom, (if you liked them windowless, which I don’t.) I personally don’t need a media room.

I’d have not put the dressing room where it is, but further toward the inside wall, leaving the master bedroom much bigger, and thus having a larger bedroom space with light. Although I don’t like using my bedroom for alternate purposes, such as a desk, I’d much rather have a work area as a partially subdivided space in a larger bedroom that has natural light in it, rather than in a windowless room. Or you could make a nice lounging and reading area in a larger bedroom – I’ve never had room for that in a bedroom – or even a media area there if you so chose.

Still, people should think about resale when they do layouts. Besides the fact that bedrooms should be private… Internal space is actually great for providing the storage that you never have enough of when you have a house-sized apartment – but it should be done carefully, maximizing the use of the natural light that does exist in the living spaces.

For some reason my stomach turns when I read something is “currently available for perusal on the Brownstoner Marketplace”, especially if the company is in both the marketplace and the directory. Careful boys and girls; don’t jump the shark.

Its easy enough to put up a wall for that bedroom to give 2 legitimate, windowed bedrooms for the little tykes.

But it does seem to have an awful lot of dark and dreary space on the inside. Who really needs a 250 sq foot laundry room and an 85 sq ft pantry?? Well I suppose if the owner works as a washerwoman and scullerymaid they might, but otherwise its seems like a fair amount of lost space.