June 20th 2023
CityRealty
As Covid vaccinations became widely available and New York fully reopened, some of the people who fled the city in favor of a suburban house with a yard experienced buyer’s remorse with their new purchase. These buyers might have been better advised to make the switch to a maisonette apartment in the city. Taken from the French term for “little house,” these homes are found on the lower levels of their buildings and can be accessed directly from the street, allowing owners to avoid the main building entrance in a time of social distancing.
Maisonettes aren’t necessarily for everyone. Even in the most carefully constructed new building, ground-floor units have less light and more traffic noise by default. Some people might resent having everyone else in the building walk by their front door. At a time when the effects of climate change are past ignoring, ground-floor apartments are at greatest risk of flooding and water damage. Finally, if you want to look out the window and see the iconic New York skyline, you’ve picked the wrong home.