Lease Renewed

After much consideration, I renewed my lease today for another year on my apartment in Inwood. If a few of the key Pro items were Cons, I’d have put much more weight into moving; that’s the stuff I really care about.

Pros:

• The building and neighborhood are very quiet. Neighbors in adjacent buildings do play loud music sometimes in the early evening, but on worknights, it’s shut off by an hour appropriate for early-morning rising.
• Rent for a spacious one-bedroom in Manhattan couldn’t be much cheaper.
• Groceries in the neighborhood are cheap.
• I’ve yet to spot mice, rats or cockroaches in the building.
• My street and the neighborhood in general seem friendly and family oriented.
• My apartment is convenient to the A and 1 subway trains, and by car, directly off the Henry Hudson and the Harlem River Drive.
• The super recently planted shrubs and flowers flanking the entrance to the building, which is a nice homey touch.

Cons:

• My rent rose slightly. But rents rose for all rent-stabilized apartments in the city.
• My bedroom doesn’t have a door. Is this really a problem?
• My bathroom door is busted. I’ve got to get the super to fix this. It doesn’t close all the way, which is only an embarrassment when I have company.
• I’m way uptown. But the A and 1 trains are reliable and the commute affords me valuable time to read or listen to music.
• My apartment’s up five flights of stairs. Justification: exercise.
• My building’s in a grubby neighborhood. But that’s New York; I can live with it.
• Water pressure (mostly the toilet and not the shower) is flaky at times. I think I can live with that.