We had an excellent week in Ilya and Keiko's apartment and I would be happy to stay here again.

POSITIVES
The home looked exactly as it did in the pictures - in fact it was more spacious than the pictures suggested. The home was clean and inviting.
All appliances were in good working order.
Ilya and Keiko are excellent hosts. We never met in person but they kept in regular contact remotely. They gave us an extra key when we needed it, they were able to do a late check-in without any problems, they allowed us to bring an additional guest at no cost after we had made the booking, getting access to the property was very easy, and they made sure we had gotten in ok on the night we arrived. These were really important things and our hosts were 100% perfect in handling them.
Instructions for our stay were clear and easy to follow.
Bed-Stuy is a distinctive neighbourhood with plenty of coffee shops, restaurants and bars a stones throw away. The donuts at Dough and the brisket at Beast of Bourbon changed my life.
It's not the closest place to Manhattan but the centre of town is still accessible and the price I paid reflected the distance so I felt it was an excellent deal. For anyone wanting a trip that focusses on Brooklyn and a more vibrant part of town, as I did, this is the perfect place to be based.

THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND
We went to New York in the hottest week of the year. Unfortunately the air conditioning wasn't quite up to the challenge, as it would cool the living room but the bedrooms could be quite hot. This would probably not be an issue in other weeks.
The master bedroom is great but the second bedroom is a child's room. It has a raised bed with two mattresses on top of each other. I placed the two mattresses on the ground and covered them with a supplied double sheet. I was perfectly happy with this option (and I actually thought their son's toys were quite cool...!) but other travellers may want a proper sprung bed in a more grown up guest bedroom.
This is a shoes-off household, something we were very happy to comply with. Other travelers may want to look elsewhere if they are very attached to wearing shoes indoors.