But the kitchen has a beer bottle opener on the wall, you picky, picky woman! Unless it’s in the contract that it isn’t staying.

lol and the K cabs aren't horrible.

Goodness, that's ... tight? Well, the building facade is lovely.

That’s not a pied à terre, it’s a doigt de pied à terre.

That’s a pretty luxurious kitchen for a Boston studio!

Nice building.

It is rather small, a tiny hotel room with a kitchen attached. Beautiful building and lobby. Must be someone who is rarely home and just wants a spot to sleep.

It's the same size as an assisted living apartment would be. And you'd own it. I'll have to admit....something like that would appeal to me if I only had a week to live. 🤣

Location, location, etc. On Beacon St. right by the Common. I'm surprised it isn't more!

Okay, everything is relative. Both DD’s NYC co-ops are small.

DD just sold hers very quickly for the asking price.

This is certainly not for you Mtn.

To be honest, it certainly isn't the worst that I have seen.

OMG I never said it was for me LOL. Redfin sends me stuff all the time and you can't give them a minium price AFAIK. Heck I even "fine tune" my search criteria when they prompt me and yet I still get homes literally all over the country. I think any time I open a Redfin link (even some from here) they track that and think I am looking in New Orleans or Seattle. It's a pain.

I lived in Manhattan for over a decade, luckily with a generous income, but I certainly understand studio apartments. And my very first apt was a studio in Philly. I still maintain this is a uniquely sad offering. I think there is a floor price for just having an address, and this must be it.

Maybe it's for an office. or a tryst! (I'd break up if my secret lover wanted to meet in such a spot LOL)

The location is stunning...I even remember the building as it's so lovely. OK, the interior, not so much, but I've seen worse studio apartments. The fact that the kitchen isn't completely open to the LR/BR is a real plus.

I wish i could find good pics of my first apt. btw i will delete this soon so as not of offend

For some reason I think the pseudo-fancy kitchen makes the apartment seem more depressing. You could do better in Manhattan. Except for the HOA.

And speaking of Manhattan, this is quite nice, except for the kitchen: https://streeteasy.com/building/11-east-73-street-new_york/1e

There're two kitchens in that UES one. I wouldn't expect much of more of a kitchen in Manhattan. I know a couple people who've had essentially no kitchen at all, including one who uses her oven as a file cabinet (gas is turned off).

The UES place was very likely two units combined to make one. I had friends in the 80’s who did that and kept the extra kitchen in case they ever wanted to separate the residences. One friend joked it was her exit strategy; if she and her husband ever divorced they could separate the units and each live in one thus causing minimal disruption to the kids.

Yup, pretty common in NY. A woman on my team bought the unit below her, and put in a staircase. They left the K in tact, closed it off with doors, and used it as a closet. It made no sense to rip it out and it was just a galley K anyway. In the same building, Sarah Jessica Parker bought a small apartment as a dressing room, as a place to get ready for events and such. She lived in a townhome nearby.

There would be complicated changes to condo or coop documents with the removal of a kitchen since that would change the number of units in the association. Done regularly, but less hassle to leave it as two connected units that can be disconnected.

Aside from being very small, I think it's a nice unit. Great location, beautiful building and it looks clean and well taken care of. A bit small for two people, but it would be a wonderful starter place for a young single.

i just cannot get over the window, oddly placed, and with a bad view.

And look at that room; it would be a small bedroom, let alone your BR.DR.LR rolled into one. When you put in a bed, you will have very little room to walk

I'm assuming they'd use a sleeper couch...that's what my GF did in her boston studio post college.

Yes, a sleeper sofa is a good solution for a studio. They aren't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but when one is young and starting out, it doesn't matter all that much.

The window is not great, but the space has enough other things going for it, that I could get used to it. Some pretty curtains would go a long way toward making it tolerable. In older buildings, sometimes people just have to learn to live with the quirks and embrace the good stuff.

As mentioned, I plan to delete this thread so that no buyer or owner ever comes across my dissing of their humble abode.

Before I do, I get Emails from Redfin all the time. Does anyone know if there is a way to tailor them to our price point? I am really looking at 2br 2ba but they automatically send all kinds of listings including this one which is the smallest thing I have ever seen and so I thought remarkable.

If you ever figure it out I'd love to know. I like Redfin's listings and all the info they provide, but I have to use another browser and sign out to look at listings in other areas...because if I don't, then Redfin starts spambotting me with way too many emails about other listings they think I want to see.

I've not figured out how to customize my settings to avoid that, or to better refine the email garbage they so helpfully send me.

On the other hand, I've got Zillow down to a science.

I think I've shared this before, but one of my friends lives in a small 2 room studio (plus kitchen alcove) in midtown. She's single and her place is just so cozy. If I were single, I think I could be perfectly happy in a small-ish studio.

I also love the back bay area and Beacon Hill - and absolutely love the area of this listing....but agree, that's too small even for cozy old me. I would be find treating it as a pseudo-hotel for the work week but I better have another place to escape to on the weekends.

I like Redfin's listings and all the info they provide, but I have to use another browser and sign out to look at listings in other areas...because if I don't, then Redfin starts spambotting me with way too many emails about other listings they think I want to see.

Exactly, and I have no idea why they show me some properties. Yet I take the bait every time and look at place that I would have zero interest in! This is odd but I don't use Zillow because I find their page layout visually unappealing.

• i just cannot get over the window, oddly placed, and with a bad view.
  And look at that room; it would be a small bedroom, let alone your BR.DR.LR rolled into one. When you put in a bed, you will have very little room to walk

You know, though, that this is what thousands of apartments all over Manhattan look like. Many of them were originally designed to be like hotel rooms--"commuter apartments or "bachelor apartments a number of buildings in the Tudor City complex had no kitchens at all, they had what were called pantries, and some of the buildings actually had dining rooms/attached restaurants.

I think the largish kitchen in this unit is kind of a waste of space, it takes up too much of the square footage, but it's an internal room and really can't be used for anything else.

But now, this is the reality for a lot of people who want to live in places like Boston or NYC.

I agree that if one were starting de novo you'd have a less kitchen.

And yes of course I understand urban living, having lived in Phila a few years and Manhattan for over 10. That said, this is the smallest unit I have seen in the last year or so, and I thought it was notable.

I'm impressed that is even possible.

Since Covid, yes, it's possible. But you won't be impressed by the apartments. :)

Last sold price $216K in 2005. I don't know - it could be a nice little get away in Boston.

It definitely looks like a commuter apartment. Just perfect if you want to stay over because of a late night, or come in for the weekend. And you could do more to make it livable for longer term (though I agree that much space for a kitchen is a bit of a waste). .Also you can have a nice Murphy bed with integral couch and tables that fold down from the wall.

A couple buildings down from our SF pied-a-terre is a build that is full of sub0300 sq ft studios. In my student days I shared a 300 sq ft studio, and overseas I've seen studios of around 190 sq ft. In fact, a quick search gave up this 206 sq ft example: Hayes Valley Rental (total extended stay hotel vibes with this one, except for the murphy bed/sofa unit)

For Redfin... on the web interface go to the saved searches, then click "all filters". There you are able to set your min price, size, etc.

Gooster,

I do know how to edit my searches. I am trying to stop them from sending me emails about properties that are not at all a fit (and certainly do not relate to my search filters). They send me emails that say "Recommended For You" and allow me to "tune" recomendations to "see better matches" but that only allows me to deselect locations and set a max price. I see no way to select a min price and.or size. Not to mention that even when i deselect locations they seem to creep back in! Like I deselect New Orleans and it shows me Baton Rouge?

I am hearing such bad things, both anecdotal and empirical, about the SF commercial real estate and even the residential market. I hope things right themselves for this beloved city.

Just for fun …

Way on the other end of the spectrum, the triplex/penthouse in the new Central Park Tower building that was listed this week —

17,545 sq feet for $250,000,000.

https://www.serhant.com/listings/theoneaboveallelse

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-worlds-tallest-apartment-is-hitting-the-market

Those sliver buildings are a blight on the skyline. Not to mention the issues they're having with leaks, swaying, etc. Feh.

I'm a real estate junkie, and I love looking at listings all over the country. I like Redfin's site the best, except for their annoying "helpful" emails after the fact. If I don't have a search saved, I don't need them tracking what I'm looking at to send me a zillion emails about other houses they think I'd like.

I'd use a junk email for my Redfin account, except I do want to see the stuff I've signed up to see. I just don't need them to send me new listings in Carmel - I blame that one on Jinx. LOL.

Ahhhhh. Carmel. My paradise. 😍😄

I know, right?! I love Carmel! But I'll never live there and JUST STOP REDFIN. 😄

@mtnrdredux_gw I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about refining your existing alerts. If you go into settings you can turn off emails for 'favorites' and 'recommendations' (based on searches and views). Thus the only emails you should get are on the saved searches.

Fun fact, Mtn, after I clicked on a couple of the links you shared from Charleston a while back, Redfin was certain I was dying to see every dang listing from downtown Charleston all the way to Mount Pleasant. Several every day! I never could figure out how to make it stop either, but it finally did. Bracing myself to start getting the Boston ones now, haha!

Yes, gigi, that is why it is showing me stuff from all over the country, too!

I do understand Mtn why you would want the ads sent to you to be more tailored to what you are actually looking for. Although if anyone could turn this small unprepossessing place into a tiny jewel it would be you.

I’m so glad they included a picture of the rooftop trash can. That’s an important detail!

Lucille, you are kind! But never in a million years.

I have been getting email notices from Redfin about houses similar to one specific house in suburban DC for years, after looking at the house because it was posted in a FB group I was following.

I just ran across a Jr. 1Br (a studio with a bed alcove) in Midtown for an astonishing price of $150,000.

The monthly maintenance is $1626, there is a special assessment of about $250 a month that will run out soon.

The small print: (although it is right at the top of the description, so not hidden)

Currently a land-lease building, the building is negotiating to buy the land. The current offer from the land owner if accepted by the coop would require each shareholder to pay a significant assessment – about $650,000 for 19K’s share of the assessment

That's a whacky one, Pal, The owner prob doesn't have the money for the assessment and was happier in a land lease.

I don't know how the coop owning the land would benefit the coop. If the owner sells the land to someone who would want to RE-develop it, I would imagine that the shareholders in the building would have to be bought out ? Why would staying and having to pay an assessment like that make financial sense? I don't think you can mortgage assessments.

I know someone who lived in an old tenement style building with tenants there for decades, including one who had been there so long their toilet was still not attached directly to their apartment. A developer bought most of the block, and the payout to several of the long term renters was over $1M each. (If the landlord was able to buy out remaining tenants at a cost of several million dollars, I can only imagine what he was paid by the developer for the building.

Hey Pal, thought of you. None of these are as bad a the one I posted IMHO>

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/07/realestate/11hunt-gimbel.html