My top priority is a doorman but I need [all these other things that are inherent to five-story, unattended walk up buildings/I need low carrying costs] – what are my options?
Ah, New York City – where your dollar goes about one tenth as far it goes in almost every other place in the United States. The amount of money it costs to simply call this place home is a sizable part of your rent payment or purchase price alone. But people come to New York from cities and towns where $2,000 is a lot to spend on either rent or mortgage payments. When you tell them that the only product you can get in New York rental wise for $2,000 is a 250 square foot walk up studio on the Upper East Side, 8-10 minutes walking distance from transit, with no laundry, maybe a dishwasher if you’re lucky, and no doorman but *maybe* a superintendent lives in the building…they usually don’t want to believe it.
So whenever I get a new client, one of the conversation topics in our initial phone call is, “What are the things you absolutely need, what are nice to haves, and what things could you do without to get those things you’re prioritizing?”
People who live or have lived here usually have already gone through the initial “your money goes nowhere” house hunt and have been bludgeoned into the reality of housing here. Now, for those new to the city, it can be a bit traumatic. Acclimating to the market isn’t easy for some – one of the top asks I get though, at every price point and neighborhood is “A doorman is heavily preferred/a priority”. Be it due to physical safety concerns, someone to receive your amazon packages, or just the comfort in knowing there is someone acting as a guard dog to your building, doormen in Manhattan are limiting to people’s search, both in budget and location, and we’re going to discuss why you need to carefully think before making it your top, must-have apartment feature.
So first, doorman are inherent to larger buildings mainly because their salaries (assuming there are nighttime and daytime doormen) must be absorbed by and paid for by the tenants. If a small, 10 unit, 5 story building had two doorman…that’s $84,000 a year (assuming each is paid the average doorman salary of $42,000 a year), divided by 10 that’s an additional $8,400 a year per tenant, which turns into an increase of $700 a month in rent per unit. Now this being said, no pre-war walk up building has the space to house or the wherewithal to fund a full time doorman. Doormen are solely found in either luxury condo/coop apartments (which reflect this added amount in the common charges/maintenance fees) or in luxury rentals where there are a large number of apartments to offset these costs.
So where are these doormen buildings located? When searching for a building over 6-stories in Manhattan, you have to be very cognizant of air rights that are inherent to particular neighborhoods. Historical areas, like the villages, parts of Chelsea, much of Soho/Nolita, and areas of Gramercy, have strict rules enforced by Landmark Preservation Commission that make these mammoth buildings illegal to construct. So while you may want a doorman building in the heart of the West Village, and there are a few, they do come with a pretty hefty price tag as they are extremely scarce and cannot be massively tall structures with a large number of units to offset the rent. The neighborhoods where you will more commonly find 15+ story buildings will be: Financial District, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown, Nomad, parts of Chelsea, parts of Murray Hill/Kips Bay. These neighborhoods are very common to find high rises as they don’t face the same height restrictions. Every neighborhood will have some supply of doorman properties, but where they’re less common, they will be that much more expensive.
What is inherent of these doormen buildings typically? So since most doormen building are high rises, developers will have added in additional amenities to make them more attractive/livable. Besides the elevator (which is inherent to 6+ story structures), you’ll usually find laundry room, gym, roof deck, superintendent, porter, and with more upscale buildings, you’ll get things like a children’s playroom, pool, and conference room. The additional cost to run and maintain these other amenities has to be considered in the price tag. Example, taking care of and keeping a gym running is a cost that will factor into your price tag. The electricity and maintenance required to run an elevator (or two) non-stop is a carrying cost to consider as well. In addition to this, in constructing these post-war buildings, most developers found a way to minimize unit square footage and maximize amenities in order to justify a higher price tag. In turn, many of these apartments will have smaller, more compact footprints than found in prewar, walk up buildings. Ceiling height in general will be standard in these buildings, as will the finishes; those soaring ceilings found in older brownstones and prewar charm with exposed brick are inherent to the older 5-story walk up buildings. So if you want charming and original detail, that is mainly going to be walk-up townhouse/pre-war building inventory, so sans doorman.
From a buyer’s perspective, all the above will apply but instead of thinking about it from a monthly cost perspective, it will influence your purchase price in addition to your monthly common charges/maintenance fees.
One other thing to be wary of as a renter, a lot of the very large doormen buildings in FiDI, Midtown, and Uptown, have leasing offices inside of the building where you can actually rent directly from the building and avoid a broker’s fee. Question: who pays the salary of the central leasing office staff….bingo, your rent pays for that. And the doorman. And the amenities. So while you are avoiding broker’s commission with these apartments, the rent is subsequently higher due to the salaries of building staff that must be compensated. Now a lot of these buildings have incentives, like months of rent free, and they amortize that into the advertised rent. Just be wary that your renewal is not based off of the advertised rent, but is calculated from the market rent. And you do not pay the advertised rent on a monthly basis – the months free are redeemed later into the lease term. For example, the rent advertised may be $3,750 with two months free on a twelve month lease, however you’re paying $4,500 a month with maybe the 9th and 10th months free; when you go to renew, your renewal will be based off the $4,500.
Lastly, many parents are wary of New York and want their children to have doormen out of safety measures. Coming from someone who spent 4 years in the South Side of Chicago and almost 2 years in West Baltimore (both in walk up, non-doormen buildings), the level of safety in New York is unparalleled. As a woman who lives alone, I (knock on wood) have never felt unsafe in any part of New York I’ve traveled through…and I’ve been in most parts of the city and her boroughs.
If you are making a doorman a non-negotiable part of your search, you will need to wrap your head around the fact that you will:
1.Pay more
2. Limit your neighborhood range
3. Forfeit size and general level of character