Tony’s place was as described. It was clean, cozy, and noisy at times (didn’t bother us at all). It was also located in a pretty cool neighbourhood (Williamsburg) with lots of good eating and hanging out options. It’s proximity to the transit was great. 2 mins walk and you’re on a train to Manhattan and if you time it well, you could be there in 10 mins!
That being said, there are a few things that (as someone who has AirBNB’d a few times already) I took for granted. One of the reasons I like to AirBNB is because when I stay in a hotel, I often feel obligated to stay out all day and just come back to change and sleep. An AirBNB is (for us at least) a more unique, immersive, authentic, and relaxing way to enjoy a new city. You can go out for a few hours, come back home and relax for a bit, clean up and then go out. With Tony’s apartment, the space is perfect if you just need to sleep, shower, and move on, but it just isn’t conducive to hanging out. There are (effectively) no windows here and relatively no natural light coming it. One window is in the bedroom where the A/C unit is and boxes off the light. The other window in the kitchen doesn’t have an A/C unit, but isn’t that much better for light. The lighting in the apartment is supplied by 3 un-shaded light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There is a table lamp in the bedroom, but the lighting in the main room is pretty stark. From the standpoint of being authentic, this may just be truly authentic for NYC, but it isn't what I would call unique or relaxing - again, this is my opinion only.
As I mentioned previously, the apartment is located in a pretty cool part of town. However, your entrance to the building is literally right beside a fairly major road (10ft from the traffic) - this is the same distance that the “windows” are from the traffic and the primary source of the noise.
Again, if you just need a place to drop your bags off and change and sleep at a pretty good price and close to everything, then Tony’s place and his hospitality, affordability, and his excellent communication is going to work out just fine and I would definitely recommend this place for that. However, if you’re looking for an AirBNB experience like the AirBNB marketing people suggest (at least in my opinion), you should keep looking but, you'll probably be (will be) paying more per night!
Thanks for everything, Tony.