Our stay in Michelle’s place was great. The location is good if you don’t want to pay to be in the city but close enough for a daily commute. Stores, coffee shops and restaurants are all walking distance. You have several subway stations within a 10 minute walk. As in every place don’t walk alone too late in the night. But as a group we felt safe going back late. Our main reason to visit was to check out the Frida exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum which was only about 2 stops away. We actually just walked there. Which took less than 20 minutes. The ride into the city is about 30 minutes.
Now, the brownstone will give you the city experience, we stayed in the Grand Suite. The place is exactly as the pictures show. It’s not glamorous at all and could use a little hand. Expect to see a good amount of holes on the walls, unfinished and broken floors, fireplaces and drawers. Expect the bathroom and shower room to be smaller than you think. My wife and teenager were surprised of this. I lived in Manhattan for a few years so I was not at all. It pretty much seems like a small closet turned into a shower on one end and the the closet in the middle then the bathroom in the opposite end equally small. But they are the only rooms that seem updated and clean. At arrival, the carpets could have been vacuumed but weren’t. After arriving at night daily the place was excessively warm even after closing the vents. But the reason we deducted a star was due to the following. No iron or ironing board. We forgot our bath towels and Michelle provides two. I asked her twice if there was any way she could spare two more and both times I didn’t get a response but I mean, we shouldn’t had forgotten our towels. But a response would had been nice. Extension cords laying clear across the rooms. It became a problem with our toddler wanting to play with them, disconnect and connect things. It was really unsafe for him. Also, there is a door that connects the bedroom and Michelle’s living quarters which was unlocked and toddler kept wanting to open the entire time we were there. I sent Michelle a message about it but got no response again so we had to deal with that the entire time. And the last thing was the entry door to the unit. It was sooo difficult to lock and unlock every single time. Definitely needs to be fixed as it’s clear those doors are broken and has been mentioned in previous reviews. My wife suggested giving 3 stars but I’m giving 4 due to the last morning my son got to play with Michelle’s children and he enjoyed that soo much. They are wonderful, sweet children. Michelle’s husband is very nice as well. He is the only one we met because he’s who brought the children out to play with my son. I absolutely love NYC so to me it was all worth it. I do recommend the place as all the things mentioned aside from the extension cords are manageable and the price is great. Hope this helps anyone make a decision.