Mostly uneventful; apartment better on paper.
Pros
Quiet area of UWS, nice to hear birdsong instead of auto or pedestrian traffic. Landlord/owner is mostly responsive although my particular unit hasn’t been updated since the 1980s. Periodic repair needed and provided. Heat is sometimes insufficient. Window AC units are permanently installed; some are old and one is very old. Despite installing covers in the winter it gets quite drafty. One AC is at the head of where your bed would go so you have either bury your head under the covers or go old-timey and get some nightcaps.
Cons
Trash is just 3 Rubbermaid bins open to street traffic so everyone walking by puts their trash in. Lids often improperly closed. Building next door is a giant apartment complex; their staff takes the trash out to the street on trash days. Unfortunately all of the trash is staged right by our building. Non-stop rats because of this. Unit 1 and 2 have access to the yard but it’s near unusable due to lack of sunlight, constant trash smells, and rats. Yard is only accessible to unit 2 via a spiral staircase so it’s not great for entertaining, either. Owner also raised rent 20%; after showing comps in the neighborhood and having his personal realtor come and evaluate the unit he agreed come down a little less than half. Wouldn’t budge on anything else. Decided it wasn’t worth the hassle because I didn’t want to go through it all again in 12 months.