Pretty good place in a pretty good location, unwelcoming host.
There were many things since the very beginning that made our stay at Elisabeth's uncomfortable. I've read most of the 425 reviews and there's definitely two type of guests: some that are super happy with Elisabeth as a host and some others that had the exact same problems that we had with her. We were unlucky to be in the second group.
1. I wrote Elisabeth many days before the trip to ask if we could check-in earlier than 7pm. She said that this depends on her work so we should talk when the date is closer. Fair enough.
I wrote Elisabeth again two days before my arrival, asking her if the early check-in was possible. She said she would probably be at home so it basically depended on the previous guest. She asked me to write her the day of my arrival.
The day I arrived to the airport I wrote Elisabeth asking for the check-in time and she said that she was at work but she will "take off unpaid" to open the door. I wonder what she wanted with that message, making me feel bad? I wrote again saying that wasn't necessary as I could do other stuff while waiting, but I got a message "4 pm is ok". So I went there at 4pm.
2. I followed the rule to wait downstairs until she picked me up. I got a "hey, follow me" and no more words until we got to her flat. In my previous airBnB experiences hosts were nice and welcoming, so I was a bit surprised. When we got to the flat, she didn't even asked how I was, but started giving me the "house rules". Right after that she gave me the keys and I said "ok, I guess it's enough with these keys" (because we were two people and my friend was arriving later). Her reply was: "Why would I give you something that was not enough?". Everything was just very uncomfortable.
3. My friend arrived. She quickly came to the room, said hi and told us the ultimate house rule: "We should be very careful with the way we close our bedroom door, because when she hears the noise in the morning she gets very angry". Yes, that was it. Welcome to my flat.
4. We tried to be friendly and make some conversation during the stay but it was imposible. To the breaking-the-ice sentence: "We went to greenpoint for dinner yesterday and it was very nice" the answer would be "I don't like greenpoint" and silence.
5. One morning she was definitely angry, maybe we closed the door too strongly, and she closed her bedroom door that strongly that two frames fell off the wall. One in the corridor and one in our bedroom.
6. The day after the checkout she wrote me to tell me that the bedroom window was broken. I honestly don't know if we broke it up or not, we definitely didn't force it, but she sent me messages telling me that she never had that issue with any guest before and that she had to carry with the costs and the costs were 180$, then a smily face. Confusing.
In general the apartment and the location are fine, but if you want to have the full "airbnb experience" and interact with local people, you should definitely find a different place.