My first home purchase and we couldn't have picked a better place to live (((hearts))) 20 years later and it's still an amazing place to live. We purchased for 50k and now it's worth over 250k. Paid it off in 5 years so it's all profit and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have lived in such a great place not only for me but more importantly for my children. We are buying a house and will miss this place dearly. The maintenance men are always on top of everything. The grounds are always well kept, it's very child friendly and family oriented. Queens College is walking distance, PS 219 (preK-8th grade), Townsend Harris HS and the god awful John Bowne are walking distance as well. It's even dog friendly.
Now here are the cons:
NO PARKING WHATSOEVER LIKE EVER!
On my block NO ONE and I mean NO ONE moves their cars even though they have their own parking spots - which is pretty darn selfish, people save two to three parking spaces at a time and that's rude.
THERESA V - office manager is one of the absolute worst people I have ever met in my life. This woman has a chip on her shoulder like you wouldn't believe. She lives to be a C you Next Tuesday and isn't apologetic about it. I'm assuming she has no control over her own personal life therefore tries to take control of the owners / renters at HPG. She thinks she's hot shit bc her husbands a cop. Okay so is mine. Here's your cookie -_- He has the badge not you. If you must then try speaking with Ida Mercado who's her assistant. She's more sensible.
There's a lot of hypocrisy when it comes down to the owners being allowed to do certain things MEANWHILE the SUPERS all get away with the same ish- but I will say this THEY ARE GREAT SUPERS AND GO ABOVE AND BEYOND
ESPECIALLY THOMAS- if you ever need anything done, contact him directly.
The maintenance men are cool, they kinda just hang out from 7am-830am (that's when the office opens) and they are done with their day by 2:30pm. They do a lot of their personal stuff and make money on the side (on the property) during work hours BUT they bust their asses when it snows and shovel asap !
Overall, it's a great place to live, just don't own two cars until you have secured at least ONE parking spot (we've been on the waiting list for four years) I also feel like they don't really go by that list, being that someone just moved here and they were only on the list for a year and yet we're still on.
Would I purchase this apartment now for $250k most likely no. They're very small and old BUT hey for over quadruple the profit it was a great fit for us.
But I would definitely recommend if you want to stay in queens in a great neighborhood at that
It's a Hasidic neighborhood so don't expect anything to be opened from Friday till Sunday morning. In HPG it's very diverse which is amazing the Jewish peeps keep to themselves and are definitely racist but your money is just as green as theirs (the ones who aren't on PA) so it's all good.
Stay away from Seasons supermarket as it is very expensive, the 711 and amazing savings stores are great. And pretty much the food establishments are okay. If you want real good food try Melas dinner, Gino's pizzeria on kissena, king wok, and Valentino's - they all deliver read more