Location: Amazing! At the intersection of Nolita and LES. Soho and Little Italy as well as subway stations serving to many lines are within 3-5 minutes walking distance. Wholefoods is just a couple of buildings away.

Building: Mid-rise condo building with elevators, hard to come by in Lower Manhattan. 24/7 security and front desk receiving your packages on your behalf. They are very polite and helpful, offering help to carry your luggage or bags if you are coming from grocery for instance. A well equipped gym and laundry facilities are available in the basement floor.

Apartment: Quite spacious and hard to come by in Lower Manhattan. In my opinion it can easily accomodate 4 people as there are two sofas in the living room. The apartment receives ample sunshine. The queen size bed is sturdy yet extremely comfy. TV is small but has lots of channels. Internet is pretty fast. Lots of storage is available. Abundant kitchenware is available. The oven, stovetop, microwave and fridge are all large size. The rear side of the large mirrors in the bathroom has quite a lot of shelves which would easily accomodate your personal grooming supplies like comb, razor, shaver, toothbrush etc. The water pressure of the shower was great and got hot instantly. The toilet flushing power/pressure was amazing. It won't get blocked unlike many old apartments in Lower Manhattan. I did not personally meet any of the neighbors but the people I saw when entering/existing the building or the elevators were quite well-dressed and neat. The radiators generate a great deal of heat so I am sure you won't get cold even in the coldest days of winter. I assume the A/C would work great in the summer because the panels serve as both radiators and A/C with different settings. Last, we received the apartment in a very clean condition. Therefore the additional payment Ted charges guests for "professional cleaning" is well justified as his cleaners are professional indeed.

Host: I did not personally meet Ted as he had left the keys to the front desk and I left the keys to them when I moved out. This allows for very convenient 24/7 check-in and -out. Nonetheless, he was very prompt and helpful when I contacted him via email, SMS or his mobile. Before our check-in when I had asked him about whether towels are available in the apartment, he noticed there were none and arranged that brand new sets for two people to be available in the apartment prior to our check-in.

Negatives: None, if you don't consider the absence of hair dryer as such.

Final words: I cannot recommend this apartment and host highly enough.