DO NOT STAY HERE
I stayed here for one month, from October 1st, 2022 through November 1st.
The stay was EXTREMELY unpleasant, for reasons that I will outline below.
The problems:
— Strong mold smell.
This is self-explanatory. You walk into the space and you are punched in the face by an extremely strong mildew smell. I was never able to actually spot the mold, but the smell is extremely strong, particularly in the common areas and bathroom.
— Almost no furnishings.
Your room will be furnished with a desk, one chair, and a bed, but there will be zero (and I mean *zero*) furnishings in the common areas aside from one table, which is shoved into a corner and does not have any chairs (!) Thus, I was forced to either eat in my room at my desk, or to carry my chair out into the common area and eat in a windowless room with a gag-inducing mold stench.
This also extends somewhat to kitchen equipment. While there are basic pots and pans plus a cutting board and knife, there are, for example, only two forks. I found myself literally knocking on the other guests' doors at one point to ask if they had one of the forks, because I needed one to eat my meal and they were nowhere to be found.
— Host doesn't keep things stocked
I was forced to purchase, for example, toilet paper and hand soap when they ran out, because they were not replaced by the host.
— Bad commute into the city
If you're trying to get into Manhattan (or, for that matter, Brooklyn), be ready for a long commute. To get into the East Village, for instance, I had a one hour commute taking the 7 to Grand Central then transferring to the 4/5/6.
To get into Brooklyn, be ready for an hour-long bus ride or equivalent train ride.
— Very little to do in the area
If you're looking for any kind of night life, cafes to hang out at, interesting attractions, etc., this is not the area for you. The area is essentially where a lot of workers live who commute into the city early in the morning to work, then come home at night to sleep. Also, it is extremely Spanish-speaking, so if you don't speak Spanish, you will likely feel out of place.
— You're living in an impound lot
There is a police precinct less than a block away as well as a number of auto shops next door, and the street out front is constantly packed to the gills with busted and impounded cars.
— Street noise
If your room is at the front of the building, you will get substantial street noise (this was a constant complaint of one of the other guests while I was staying there). If your room is at the back of the building (like mine was), you have a subway track running directly behind the building. This wasn't too problematic when I could keep the windows shut (it didn't wake me up), but if it's nice out and you want the window open, it will be quite loud.
... And for all that, you're paying quite a lot of money. I was paying almost $1500 for the month.
Here are the few good things I can say about the property:
— The host, Shogo, was very responsive to messages sent through AirBnB
— The bed was comfortable
— The amenities all worked well (stove, fridge, shower, etc.)
- There is a convenience store directly downstairs with basic supplies and a very friendly owner
Oh, and there's also cockroaches, albeit small ones and not too many of them.