It is a well known fact that doorman buildings in NYC are the most sought after apartment buildings period mainly because there are countless benefits to living in one.
Who and what are doorman buildings in NYC? Doorman buildings are exactly what it states. There is a person behind the doorway entrance of a residential building. There are a couple of flavors of doormen depending on the type and age of the building. In some cases when the building is quite old, there is a person literally sitting on a stool behind the door. In larger buildings, there might not be a person directly behind a door but instead they are behind a concierge desk (similar to a hotel front desk). The important common factor being there is a live person there who provides a general sense of safety for the entire building.
Generally, there are more pros than cons to a doorman building which is why they are so sought after.
Pros
Safety and Security - at the top of the list for most people and for good reason. These people keep the building generally safe and secure by keeping out the strangers. It's like a live wall defense mechanism
Delivered Packages - Doormen are responsible for all of those Amazon packages that get delivered everyday. There are endless stories about packages getting swiped from doorsteps by strangers passing by because the shipping companies drop them off without getting signatures
Friendliness - Practically a second extension of family. You see them every single day! It's nice to be able to chit chat a little bit as you go about your day.
Moving Lots of Things - For those times when you have just a ton of crap to bring up to your apartment. This usually happens after arriving home from a long trip. Bags of suitcases to dirty laundry to gifts to shopping trips at target. They help you get through the door and into your apartment when help is needed.
Cons
Privacy - Because these are people you see every single day, they know all of your habits. What time you leave and arrive to the building. Your general mood. It's impossible to get away from because everyone goes home at some point and they are always there. Similar to how phones are tracking our every whereabouts, this is the human version of it at a smaller scale.
Costs - The biggest bummer of it all is that living in a doormen building will cost more than buildings that don't have them. It's simple math that these people need to be paid and the majority of a doorman buildings' budget goes to the salaries of the doormen. It makes sense why the buildings command higher rent.
Where Are The No Broker Fee Doorman Buildings in NYC Located?
There are 400+ of these no broker fee buildings in Manhattan alone that you can rent directly from property managers without having to pay a broker fee. In the case of doorman buildings, it will save anywhere between $4,000-$8,000 by renting directly from the source.
Of the 400+ buildings, over 60 are what we can classify as the affordable range. These are what can be dubbed as the 'hidden gems' of Manhattan where you can rent in a doorman building at the lowest market rates in the city.
Our price range matrix for transparentcity.co is:
The overall price range percentages where doorman buildings in NYC fall are:
$ - 3%
$$ - 16%
$$$ - 55%
$$$$ - 26%