Ian is a good host and very responsive when we had requests so I am sad to have to leave a negative review but this apartment is absolutely not suitable for a stay for any longer than a few nights, particularly at that price.
On a positive note, the bed is comfortable and the place is quiet at night. The apartment itself was quite clean and the shower was great.
The neighbourhood is excellent and the apartment is very well located in terms of transport and restaurants etc. but it is on a less desirable block next to a homeless shelter in a very old building that isn't well maintained. I feel like it is genuinely close to being condemned. There was a murder in the homeless shelter during our stay and I would not stay here with children.
Other not so positive points to be aware of:
1. There is a building being erected next door which means construction 5 days a week 7am until 7pm. It is incredibly loud, drilling and banging all day. The new building has now blocked any natural light the apartment used to have.
2. The steam heating system means the apartment is literally roasting hot all the time in Fall and winter and the temperature cannot be controlled.
3. The apartment does not sleep 4 people. It sleeps 3 people at a push. We ended up buying an air bed for when guests stayed over which we left in the property as the "sofa bed" is totally inadequate.
4. A number of items were initially missing such as iron and bed linen for the sofa. To be fair Ian ordered these for us fairly quickly when we asked for them.
5. We had a severe mosquito problem in the apartment from August through to October. There were no attempts to help with this. We could barely sleep at the height of the problem and were killing c.10 each night. There were occasionally other pests too but I do appreciate this is a NYC issue and Ian did offer assistance if the issue got worse which thankfully it didnt.
6. We had to collect the keys from a building in Gramercy which increased our cab fare by around $20 which is unacceptable.
7. The building itself isn't great - it isn't cleaned so feels grubby and smelly.
In summary, we stayed here as we didnt have many other options and were working so didn't have to spend much time here. I wouldn't stay here again or recommend it other than for a few nights and purely because of the location and quiet night sleep. I wouldn't recommend for longer term.