1903 E 123rd St

Landlord is terrible. Very unresponsive, left the apartment in terrible condition when I moved in (mildew all over the bathroom, oven was completely filthy - I couldn't even clean it, dust everywhere that it triggered my allergies for a week), illegally withheld deposit from me (did not even give notice of why he was withholding the deposit within a month of moving out which is INCREDIBLY ILLEGAL). He couldn't even be bothered to replace the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector even when I kept asking him about it.

Old building, partially renovated. Lots of sunlight on the third floor. Kitchen is pretty small.

Landlord is a nice guy, but very slow to get things fixed.

On-street parking is only $10/year (this is true for anywhere in Little Italy FYI).

Place seemed like a good deal when I moved in: nice location, refinished bathroom/kitchen, new laminate floors. Landlord said there was free internet, and he planned to install a washer/dryer downstairs.

Turns out the internet was DSL, shared with two other apartments, so I had to pay for my own broadband access to make it usable. I've been here eight months now-- still no progress on the washer/dryer, so I have to drive to the laundromat every couple of weeks. The floors were refinished, but the bedroom door doesn't close, the door to the bathroom doesn't latch properly, and all the windows stick. Electrical outlets are few and far between-- I have extension cords running throughout the kitchen, and can't use a lot of floor lamps because I'd have to stretch the cords in front of doorways. I can't run the coffee maker and the toaster at the same time, or else it trips a circuit breaker, and I have to wander down to the basement to re-set it. There's also no cold water in the kitchen sink (though the landlord took $20 off the rent to compensate for this).

Layout is poor: I should have noticed when I toured the place, but I think I underestimated it. Counter space is minimal, and I have to stumble around the kitchen table to get from one side of the kitchen to the other. My bedroom is a bizarre trapezoid shape, making it hard to fit furniture despite its large size. There's no closet in the bedroom-- have to hang clothes in the bathroom. Plus I'm on the third floor-- it's a pain to carry laundry/groceries/trash up & down the narrow stairwell.

Insulation is minimal: it's scorching hot in the summer, and frigid in the winter. There is a theromstat for the heat (no central A/C), which is nice, but it's forced air (loud!), and the bills in the winter are not great-- I paid $70 in gas for January, which eats up a lot of the savings from moving from a pricier apartment where heat was included.

On the plus side, the neighborhood really is nice: you can get a great breakfast at Presti's, and it's nice to walk through during the summer when there's live music and people are eating outside. Parking is also great: you have to submit a bunch of paperwork to City Hall (downtown) to get a pass, but it's only $10 a year, and you can park anywhere in Little Italy. I can always find a spot right nearby (except during the Feast of the Assumption, which is a parking nightmare, but only lasts a few days). It's close walking distance to Case, and you can also hop on the Red Line to get right downtown.