Lower floor apartments

I don't think that's considered all that low. I'd say 1 or 2 is inadvisable/undesirable, 3rd is questionable, and 4 and above fine.

realestated...thanks so much for your help. Actually, I stupidly mistyped and it is the THIRD floor so do you think this is questionable? The view is nice, very quiet, pretty street, but I know sometimes low floors are not in demand.
Thanks

you can use cityproof to soundproof

Luckily those are installed already and youre right...i think it makes a big difference...

thermopane windows (most new devs have this).. i wouldn't say low floor are much of deterrents..

location still trumps all..

personally, lowish floors prime walkable to trans/restaurants/park/pubs/etc > high floor on 11th ave with 15 minute walk to a train/grocer/etc ala all the new high rises on 11th ave...

then again if ur balling enough to cab it to the grocer every time, its non-issue

8th St. is unbearably noisy and unpleasant in every way. Don't you think you'd ever want to open the windows while you're home?

8th and 5th is noisy? I thought it was pretty quiet right there.....thanks for all the input everyone

Alan is absolutely correct--8th street is horribly noisy and frankly pretty gross. I would absolutely not want to live an any apartment facing 8th st, especially not in a low floor unit.

8th Street at 5th Ave really isn't that bad...there's a florist on the corner, some empty retail on the north side of 8th, the rest is pretty residential. Doesn't sound that bad to me.

If you have light and don't have noise, then just sit back and enjoy the lower maintenance that tends to come with lower floors.

Isn't that area all NYU? There's a lot of building, construction, deconstruction, going to be in that area, right?

Better find out the plans for the surrounding buildings before you decide anything, if you're buying. Your window might face a wall soon.

Thanks everyone...The street seemed pretty quiet during the day...there is otto there and not much else. Needsadvice, that is very true...Luckily the apartment looks out over all landmarked buildings so it cant be touched...I was nervous of that myself....

On a lower floor, it's easier to get upstairs when the elevator is out.

And it will be out, sooner or later . . .

jas--have you lived there? I have (on 9th st and 5th ave) and 8th street really IS 'that bad'. At least it was for the 15 or so years I lived there (moved uptown about 5 years ago). The worst of it is between 5th and 6th--a bit farther east and at least you're not right on top of all the tacky shoe stores and body jewelry places.

You're going to get a lot of 'party' noise from the street at night, plus a cacophony of motorcycles (there's a biker bar--at least there used to be when I was living there--in the east village and they love to zoom along 8th) and a goodly amount of through-traffic noise from guys cruising around 'da Village' with car radios blaring. You'll also have commercial truck noise during business hours.

If it's the one for sale at 11 Fifth, I'd be more concerned with removing what appears to be carpet in the bathroom!

http://marilynweigner.com/listing1047/images/bathroom.jpg

I would recommend visiting the apartment at various times of the day/week to see what it's like before pulling any triggers.

It's the freeway to St. Marks Place.

buster--I wouldn't be worried about that bathroom carpet. It looks like a simple cut-to-fit rubber-bottomed bathroom 'wall-to-wall'. They were popular in the early 90's--you'd lay the thing down and cut around your toidy and sink to make a custom rug. I admit I even tried one once... until it just got too grody to deal with and had to be tossed. Chalk that up to youthful foolishness.

No ripping up necessary with these, though I'd definitely don a hazmat mask before wrestling with the thing--especially if it's been there since the early 90s, which is likely from the looks of it... yech.

I live on a 2nd floor apartment facing park avenue and its quiet at night after rush hour and gets tons of sunlight....actually sound doesnt even bother me during the day....nice views of trees on park avenue, etc....so i think location is key.....i wouldnt take a 2nd fl apt on 42nd street, etc.

8th street has changed a bit over the years but as some have pointed out, its really the through traffic that kills you noisewise. I've had the experience of being on a seemingly quiet residential street that was a conduit to somewhere else and it sucks on weekend nights. However, I have also had apartments on busy streets that were no problem because the bedrooms were in the back, so if that's the case you may be ok.