Open-house reports 4/19

Anyone out there today? We took a look at three: 285 Riverside Drive #12B Ask: $2.15 Good-sized prewar classic 6 with west and east exposures. LR and both BRs face river; DR, kitch and maid's face east (with view of back of buildings--some morning sun may poke into the DR, but kitch and maid's are pretty well blocked up). Interestingly, the apartment feels a bit dark, even with its open river... [more]

Anyone out there today? We took a look at three: 285 Riverside Drive #12B Ask: $2.15 Good-sized prewar classic 6 with west and east exposures. LR and both BRs face river; DR, kitch and maid's face east (with view of back of buildings--some morning sun may poke into the DR, but kitch and maid's are pretty well blocked up). Interestingly, the apartment feels a bit dark, even with its open river view. I think this is in part because the exposure tilts slightly northward, so the light lacks warmth. Apartment needs quite a bit of work, though is by no means 'estate' condition. BRs and kitch need gut renos in my opinion (original cracked tubs, grungy tiles, crummy laminate built-ins in kitch). Floors need some work (both BRs have wall-to-wall so hard to tell what's going on under there). Decent amount of closet space. Building itself very nice, with attractive lobby and clean basement. 243 RSD #1202 Ask: $1.25 First impression--super-shabby building. No doorman, even though maintenance is rather high at $1850. Very strange layout, with good-sized updated kitchen and smallish LR sharing the western exposure (with direct river views) and a tiny odd-shaped BR squashed between the kitchen and DR. MBR opens directly into DR with french doors, which only make it seem out of place. Kitchen and master bath appear in decent renovated shape; no tub in main bath. MBR and DR face south, with nice light and open city views through the bay windows, though they overlook the 96th st basketball court, which one imagines could get noisy even from the 12th floor. Also not crazy about the fire escape clinging to the wall outside the smaller BR. One plus of this building is its dual entrances--one on RSD (which has stairs) and one on 96th. The 96th St entrance has no steps, a plus if you're wielding groceries or a stroller. Not a bad buy for a couple (one baby would be easily sustainable here), though price needs to be under $1M at this point. 310 W 99th # 803 Well, what do you expect for $875K? The first thing that struck us was the exceedingly long, winding and narrow entrance hallway. The apartment's sole bathroom is awkwardly situated right off the front door (meaning it's necessary to trek the above-mentioned hallway to get to the loo--not a fun prospect for a middle-of-the night pee run). This apartment is billed as a 2-bd, but it's actually more like a converted 1. Kitchen is not bad, with decent space and relatively nice updates. There's no DR so speak of, but the owners have carved out a serviceable dining alcove in the cone-shaped area leading from the foyer. MBR not a bad size, but certainly not 'spacious'. MBR has internal exposure (so nabe's windows are right outside--shades definitely necessary) and from the upright nails hammered all over the top of the AC and seen spiking up from outer sills of neighboring windows one assumes a bit if a pigeon problem Main exposure is north, and doesn't clear the building across the street, so there's not a ton of light and no view to speak of. All-in-all an ok, not great, starter apartment that needs to come down in price before seeing any significant action. [less]