Our first event as signed flatbush residents.

(Part 18) Ok, we don't live there yet (moving July 3rd), but we signed a lease and are now officially and legally obligated to be flatbush residents. We're excited, and had our first "Flatbush" experience already. Walking back to the subway to go home (for another month and a half at least). Halfway down the stairs to the Newkirk subway stop, a guy is peeing in the corner. He didn't even look homeless, just wanted to drain the tank before his subway voyage I guess. Anyway, good times.

Signed a lease.

(Part 17) Third time's the charm. The units they mentioned were available. We went to see them. They looked like crap because they have not been renovated yet, but otherwise very nice. Mine is on the fifth floor, and the roommates is on the second floor of a different building in the same courtyard area. I took a picture of the map with all the unit numbers, see below. Also took pictures of the units. However, I cannot tell which pictures are of her place and which are of mine. Her bedroom is 10.1 feet by 12.25 feet or 124 sqft. My rooms are 9.67 feet by 13.33 feet or 129 sqft and 8.08 feet by 12.3 feet or 100 sqft. I didn't measure the other rooms (read a post after I move in and I'll tell you), and frankly those could be wrong. I was in a hurry.

Third Visit

I have no idea.

(Part 16) I was wrong, they still aren't very organized.
I called 5 times Wed. morning. All answering machine. I didn't leave a message because the last message I left took over 24 hours to get a response.
On the 5th time I tried Nora's extension and Amy picked up.
I think this is pretty standard. The phone number will always go to voicemail and Nora's extension (100) will always go to Amy, the girl who sits at the desk.

Amy gave me the voicemail of the person I was supposed to call early in the morning. I left a message. At 12, Clay called me; he is not the person I was supposed to call. Anyway, he was tasked with calling me, i.e., he was allegedly up to speed, but thought my roommate had already picked a place (she hadn't), and that I was unwilling to live on the first floor (she has a preference for a higher floor, I don't care). Anyway, after I corrected his perception of things, he said he'd call back.

He did actually call back. This will allow them to retain half of a responsiveness point. The rest have been lost forever. Anyway, he said I cannot come today, but I should come at 6pm tomorrow. I asked if I could come any earlier and he said it won't be necessary. If these units are not there tomorrow, I'm done. I will move back to Florida before I live here if they have nothing again.

Extremely disappointed.

(Part 15) We showed up at our appointment time of 6pm. After waiting around for a half hour, we were told at 6:25pm that all of the two bed-rooms were already rented, except for the less desirable one of the two I already saw. I am very annoyed at this. I specifically asked for the earliest appointment possible so that this wouldn't happen. I was told that the June 15th availability would not be ready until after Sunday. This is not true, they can do it anytime. I was told people can't sign leases on Sunday open houses. This is not true, the unit I wanted was leased on Sunday. Though Sunday is far more convenient than Monday, since they allegedly don't lease on Sundays, I asked for the earliest appointment I could get on Monday. I was given 6pm. Though it turns out I could have come much earlier (my favorite of the two I was shown was leased to someone else a couple hours before I got there).

I honestly don't know, maybe it's me. Maybe I've been working for an efficient company for too long, and living in a so-called "luxury" building for too long, but it seems to me they have little to no organization skills. Maybe being grossly understaffed is how they keep the rents lower. But seriously, charge everyone an extra $1! a month and hire someone (at $2,500/month) to answer emails, and write things down.

Ok, so having wasted a Monday evening (that's 3 hours of Mario Kart I'll never get to play), we're told that they're evicting a bunch of people soon, and we should call this specific person (whose name I can't spell) early in the morning. Anyway. We're now looking at July 1st. Keep in mind, I was hoping to living in a unit by this weekend. Oh well, at least they sound like they might make an effort this time to do something for us.

Their message queue is as large as their apartment complex.

(Part 14) Someone from Flatbush Gardens JUST returned my call from 10am yesterday. She said Clay was not in today, so she wanted to see I she could do anything for me. I told her I already spoke to Clay yesterday, so thank you, but no.

They have lost a lot of their "responsiveness" points by now, but whatever, they're doing the best they can.

More waiting...

(Part 13) I called the number at 10am. No one answered and so I left a message for Clay. By 3pm he had not called back so I called again. This time someone answered, "Flatbush Gardens, this is Clayton, how may I help you?" Well, that was convenient. I asked Clay if he got my message, and he said he had not and they were super busy (they're losing more responsiveness stars). I asked him about the deposit transferring and he said they'd very much rather not, since the deposit means the refurb people start attacking that apartment to get it ready for you, and if you're like "um, just kidding" they get annoyed. So I told him we wanted to go out again and look at June 15th apartments. He said they don't compile the list until Sunday, so we set up another 6pm appointment for Monday. I hope they have a couple of good ones.

Apartment hunting, it's a thinking man's game.

(Part 12) So we took the night to think about it. Playing Mario Kart Wii helps me think. I had been pretending all along that I'm just looking, that it's just a possibility. However, in reality, I think this move was fairly inevitable even before the first Thursday night walk around the neighborhood, and certainly was fairly inevitable after that. The only question left is, do we move June 1st, or wait to see what opens up for June 15th?

I've decided to wait for the 15th. Clay seems to think there is a two bedroom that's pretty nice fairly close to the subway stop opening up. I'd hate to live in an apartment for several years that could have been better if I had just waited a couple more weeks. I'll call Clay tomorrow at 10am to ask if we can put a $500 deposit on our favorite units, and transfer that deposit should we find a nicer place in the complex available June 15th.

Apartment picking day.

(Part 11) We both arrive around 6 and wait for our leasing agent, Clay. It took a while before we went out to look at places. They found 5 units to look at though. 3 one bedrooms and 2 two bedrooms. The first one bedroom was very nice, and spacious with an entrance right on the street (most units only have entrances facing the courtyard (i.e. the center of the block)). However, those units (1425 Brooklyn Ave) are 3 blocks from the subway and both my roommate and myself are pretty pretty lazy. The next one bedroom is a little closer, 2/2.5 blocks from the subway. It's a little smaller, but nice. There's a two bedroom in the next building that is also nice. We see one last one bedroom and one last two bedroom. These are near the management office (which is near the one mail room and one laundry facility), at the corner of Foster Ave and New York Ave. They too are nice. We've now come to the realization that the only thing that matters is size and layout, because they all look the same before being renovated, and they are all of similar quality after being renovated. Though some have tile-floor kitchens and some have tacky laminate floor kitchens (the first being far superior, see pictures). Also, the color of tile may vary after renovation. They seems to buy mixed lots of tile to save money. However, I (and probably most people) prefer that little bit of a hodge podge color look in tiles, as compared to a uniform color look. They look nice. So yeah, if you don't care about tile v. laminate, or slight color differences, then the post-renovated units are all going to look the same (basically).


So, we like them all. Probably want to think about it. Clay seems anxious to leave because his friend (who is apparently picking him up) is waiting. He tells us of a two bedroom near the subway that over looks the basketball courts opening up for June 15th if we want to come back. He also recommends that we could pick now, or call him early tomorrow morning and he'll hold the units for a little bit while we arrange a money order for the deposit. So, we part ways to think it over. Seems likely we'll ask if we can hold our favorites until we can come back to see June 15th apartments, and do that asap.


BTW, Clay doesn't live in Flatbush either. Though I asked him about that, and he said he applied and was approved, but is nervous about living there since they might call him to fill in all the time. A fair concern. He says the guy in the video (see www.flatbushgardens.net) still lives there.

Click for better quality pictures:

Movers generally like to know where and when you're moving.

(Part 10) The move estimate lady came this morning. We have a doorman to stop all visitors and a phone in each apartment. The doorman said "Someone from flat rate movers is here to see you". I think it's safe to say the apartment building is wise to the fact I plan on breaking my lease. Oh well. It's a nice lady who came to do the estimate. She had spiky heels that poked holes in the un-assembled boxes I had on the ground. She was cute. I was like, "maybe you just give me an estimate on moving my roommate out and you and I can be roommates ;)". Just kidding, that's gross. Um, so she poked around. Asked some questions. Most I didn't know. When are you moving? Where are you moving to? Then she gave me her card and said she'd email tomorrow. I said, "maybe we could discuss it over dinner", and she said, well nothing because I didn't really say that. Off to work!

Maybe I was rejected!

(Part 9) We think that they said the application takes 24 hours, but I cannot find that on the website any longer. Anyway. Three days later I email Nora saying we applied and asking how long it usually takes. I forgot to say my name so she replies asking. I reply and she replies saying we were both approved. So that's good. Though she's starting to lose responsiveness points. There seems to be a good number of people working there, so maybe she should delegate more. Oh wait she did. A few hours later one of the other people calls to set up an appointment. I can basically leave work whenever I want, but find it difficult to resume work after I've left for a little while, so the later the better. Also, the roommate can't leave work before 5. I ask for 6:30, and they recommend 6 so there is time to see several units (they close at 7). So, six it is. With no available appointments Thursday evening and no appointments at all Friday evenings, we go with Monday evening at 6. I have a move estimate person coming from FlatRate Movers Monday morning.

I fear rejection.

(Part 8) What's next? Oh yes, the obligatory credit/criminal check. Nothing like paying $35 to see if you're worthy to pay someone 1000s of dollars. I went to work after the Sunday viewing. It was a really productive day at work, which is unusual for a Sunday. I also applied online. You can pay the $35 online as part of the application. Also, which is hilarious: for a 3.5% fee you can pay your rent via paypal/credit card. You know you've arrived at a classy place when you can pay your rent via paypal. Despite my healthy fear of rejection, I have no doubt both of us will be approved.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! The inside edition.

(Part 7) You'd understand the title if you were from the south. Whenever something exciting is happening on a Sunday, I always think of the commercials advertising car shows and gun shows. They'd always have huge graphic letters in neon colors saying "Gun Show!" and the announcer would semi-yell "Gun Show! This Sunday! At So-and-so place! Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Be There!". With the "be there" in the same aggressive tone, but quieter and trailing off... I'm still not 100% sure why they advertised gun shows during Saturday morning cartoons, but whatever.

Anyway. Sunday! We're off to church. We're late due to track maintenance, or general MTA stupidity. It's hard to tell because either way they call it track maintenance. I don't fault them too much though, I mean it's one of the only 24/7/365 mass transit systems in the world... Well, at least they try to run all the time. We start at church. I love the outside of this church. It looks like a castle. If a legion of archers and swordsmen were to attack Flatbush, I would take refuge in this church. Everyone at mass seemed nice and friendly. Lots of families. One white dude other than me. The three of us kind of stick out, but my view is that minorities in this country feel like minorities all the time, it would do white folks some good to experience life as a minority for a while (i.e. being the only person of your general racial background in a large group). I know what you're thinking, I'm a master of race relations. Like Jerry Seinfeld and his black and white cookie. That's sarcasm, I'm sure you think I'm a racist jerk. Well, that's what the comments are for.

Off to the apartments! We sign in. Tell them we want to see a studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom. Then we do just that. The Studio is small. It may be larger than the quoted 400 sqft, but not by much. It also has a less than full sized fridge (but so did my studio in DC and it was fine for one person). I mean it's not a dorm fridge, it's like 10/11 cubic feet. The problem is, I can't imagine who would want a studio. I mean the marginal monthly difference in cost at this complex is not much. $150-$175/month for the next size up is not that much. Don't get me wrong, it's a good amount of money, but when you're paying $875 for the first 400 sqft (i.e. a studio) why not pay an extra $150/month for an extra 150/175 sqft (i.e. the one-bedroom)? Square foot per dollar, that's a good deal! So we check out the one bedroom. You can see from the floor plan that the bedroom doesn't have a closet, and just relies on the closets near the bathroom. It's pretty nice though. Bedroom might be 11' by 11', which is the current size of my roommate's bedroom. Living room isn't huge, but it's not tiny either. Like I said earlier, government projects, built as small (i.e. cheaply) as possible; so everything is just a bit smaller than your average. It's not bad. Kitchen has really nice tile on the floor and walls. Bathroom is very well renovated. The wood flooring isn't anything special, but nice and new/newish. My DC apartment had parquet wood flooring. The little 6 inch square kind, and there was this yellowish coating that was more than slowly chipping up. Flakes of this crap were on the carpet and stuck to my feet. It was odd. Anyway, this flooring seemed much nicer, and not having that issue. Two-bedroom! Same size kitchen and living room. One room a little larger than the one bedroom's bedroom; the second room is a little smaller than the one bedroom's bedroom. To be honest, you'd have to be pretty hardcore to put an adult in the smaller bedroom of a two-bedroom place. It's a great office, nursery, guestroom, chinchilla farm, maybe child's room with twin bed, but I think an adult might go crazy living in it. It does have one or two windows, which I have found in NYC is the definition of a bedroom vs. office, and both rooms have a closet. I'd say the smaller room is 8' by 10.5' and I'm pretty good at guessing distances.

We were shown around by a guy named Zach. He doesn't live in Flatbush.

Flatbush NYC