390 Pacific Street #2 in Boerum Hill
Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Compass
Listen, it’s not as though getting an apartment in New York has ever been easy. But one could probably argue it has never been harder than it is right now. The most god-awful studios are regularly renting for thousands and thousands of dollars with lines of interested tenants out the door. Here, we’ll find the actually worth-looking-ats, the actually worth-the-costs, and the surprisingly affordable-for-those-parquet-floors from around the internet.
The good vibes in New York continue as we welcome Claire Valdez and Brad Lander into the fold. Valdez seems to be on a mission to universalize rent control, which I hope she can move quickly on, because this week was a little grim! Prices seem to be creeping up across the board, even in Sunnyside, where I’ve always counted on the rents being sane. I made my way from there to Harlem and Bed-Stuy and Ridgewood, and then found a batch of options in Boerum Hill — it is an admittedly haphazard mixed bag of neighborhoods and apartments this week! Lastly, please enjoy this video from Veronika, which hit me in a specific and personal place.
$3,300, studio: Floor-through in a particularly handsome Renaissance Revival townhouse. The listing says it’s both a studio and a one-bedroom, but from what I can deduce, it is in fact a one-bedroom. They went a little too blond on the floorboards and doors, but better than fake cherry, in my humble opinion!
$3,000, 1-bedroom: A good week for gardens — and for late-19th-century built-in mirrors too. They really knew what they were doing in the mirror department in the 1800s!
134 West 132nd Street No. GA in Harlem.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens
The garden at 134 West 132nd Street No. GA.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens
$4,500, 2-bedroom: Garden-floor brownstone apartment with a nicely sanded living room and all the original finishings. Something about the garden is reading The Magic School Bus to me, which is not a bad thing per se …
$4,625, 2-bedroom: “Beautifully Sanded Floor-Through and Bad Fluorescent Photography” — the title of my next book? Additional highlights include in-unit washer-dryer, funky fireplace with weird brick remnant, and that perfect top-floor light.
372 Bainbridge Street garden apartment in Bed-Stuy.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens
$5,200, 2-bedroom: Welcome to mahogany and built-in central! If you don’t like either of those things, this is not the place for you. Plus another garden, although it’s not as lush as some of the others.
410 Putnam Avenue #1 in Bed-Stuy.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens
$3,950, 2-bedroom: Surprised by this price tag for the area, but I guess this is just life now. Gut-renovated apartment in a prewar building with a lot of natural light.
48-26 42nd Street No. 1 in Sunnyside.
Photo: E Realty International Corp
$2,600, 1-bedroom: Now that’s more like it — a cheap prewar with some great original features. Please don’t fixate on the kitchen, and might I recommend sticker tiles to cover the unsavory linoleum.
$2,700, 2-bedroom: Did you know that Queens was mostly made up of farmland up until the 1920s? Forty years later, this house was built. Now’s your chance to be a part of history.
$4,250, 3-bedroom: A whole house built in the 1920s with the air of a bygone presidency. Another historical opportunity awaits.
$3,100, 3-bedroom: Skewing a little bit toward hallway-apartment, but nice floorboards and windows in the primary bedroom.
$4,300, 3-bedroom: Why is it so hard to find an apartment in Ridgewood that isn’t totally gutted and stripped of all personality? Anyway, this one at least has a bay window. And the price-to-bedroom ratio is one I can get behind.
215 Bergen Street No. 1 in Boerum Hill.
Photo: Corcoran
$3,500, studio: Charming studio apartment, steps away from the Columbia Waterfront (which is like Brooklyn Heights, sort of).
236 Henry Street No. 4 in Brooklyn Heights.
Photo: Geraci Properties
$4,800, 1-bedroom: The most inventive use of a parlor floor I’ve seen yet … puts the West Village landlord-led and possibly illegal lofts to shame. That’s one way to use a 14-foot ceiling to your advantage.
$2,900, studio: A good deal for the neighborhood — especially considering the apartment comes with a wild and sprawling private garden.
$8,500, 3-bedroom: A stunning duplex that has been on the market for a single day — act fast if you’re liquid.
390 Pacific Street #2 in Boerum Hill.
Photo: Compass
$3,000, 1-bedroom: The exterior of this adorable clapboard house drew me in. Don’t be fooled by the bad photography (although I appreciate their sort of no-fucks attitude) — there is potential here! Just requires some elbow grease.
$4,700, 2-bedroom: Clean, bright, and comes with a washer-dryer.
250 19th Street No. 2 in Greenwood.
Photo: Compass
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