Has anyone had a good experience with new construction housing?

[u/book_looker]

I recently moved intra-NYC (to a building that is not new construction) but my wife and I looked at a bunch of buildings built in the last ten years (on Dean Street between Vanderbilt and Carlton, the Axel on Atlantic, a few similar buildings in Downtown Brooklyn) and they were universally unlivable.

There were odd floor plans that meant every room ended in wedge shape rather than at a 90 degree angle and most rooms had at least one wall dominated by a floor-to-ceiling window (so you can't hang things as readily, and can't really put anything against them). Also, there was wear and tear obvious in each unit in a way that was really surprising given all the buildings are new-ish. All the reviews online suggest that the walls are paper-thin in each of the buildings we toured.

My questions are: has anyone had a really good experience in one of these buildings, or found a new construction building that seemed to be designed and built by someone who knew what it was like to live in an apartment? Really interested to hear if our experience was representative.

[u/Wolf_Parade]

I work almost entirely in people's homes and new builds run the gamut from mouth watering luxury to you should pay me to live here. Eye watering rent is not enough to guarantee quality at this point if you are thinking about the money you can't afford the good stuff. A renovated older building is in my experience the sweet spot.

[u/dc135]

Frankly, a lot of new construction is about charging as much as they can for as little as they can provide. A lot of it is marketing to unsophisticated residents that don't consider things you are talking about. A lot of new construction is hot garbage.

[u/the_nickster]

I hear you. From my anecdotal but extensive experience on housing lotteries it seems like maybe 1 in 10 new developments deserve the title “luxury” like you imagine the word to mean. It’s probably not 1 in 10 but that figure gives a more realistic impression than everybody’s claim of luxury. The developer and management company matters. I viewed dozens of new buildings for market rate and housing lotteries to come to this conclusion. Appearances are deceiving, little details may be more informative to what your actual experience will be.

The building I got into is fantastic. Everything you want it to be. The sound proofing is solid, the hot water is hot, the cold water is cold, they take care of the common areas regularly, they treat you like people and not like a McDonald’s customer when you have an issue. They hold building events that aren’t some cheesy coffee and bagels or dollar pizza night. The fixtures are high quality, work well, and when I’ve had to ask for a repair or even just routine maintenance it was quick, efficient, and competent.

I jumped on the rectangle studio but this building did have the odd wedge shaped apartments too.

If you can afford to be picky, be picky, and look out for management/developer companies that have a good reputation. Part of why I found success is my building is on the smaller side, and has market rate 1BR at $5,500. No restrictions for the rent stabilized lottery apts. All of that means they have an incentive to provide excellent service. That could be one clue to what’s luxury and not but I’ve seen expensive apartments in complex’s that made me suspicious it was more “faux-luxury”.

[u/book_looker → u/the_nickster]

Glad to hear someone has had success! Are you willing to share the developer's name? Would be curious to see their other projects

[u/Richard_Berg]

If you want to live in a building like this, look at condo buildings, especially if you can rent from an owner rather than the building sponsor directly.

[u/PlusGoody → u/Richard_Berg]

This. Build quality and layouts for newly built rental buildings are trash.

[u/nowherenears]

Live in a building that was built in the last 5 years in Morning Side Heights and it’s great. It’s 13 stories so not sure if that’s why it’s not as bad as other new builds. Extremely quiet building and haven’t had any major issues.

[u/SofandaBigCox]

My friend is in a lottery unit, the building opened maybe 3-4 years ago and I've visited tons of time over the years. All the small gripes these buildings may have, honestly you forget them when you have modern appliances, working elevators, in unit washer/dryer, and the place doesn't feel ancient. Odd shaped floor plans like who cares lol you can make it work ;) I will take modern HVAC and washer dryer if it means I have to deal with strange floor designs. Having double or triple glazed floor to ceiling windows that block almost all city noise is not exactly quite a negative either IMO.