Renting in Bed-Stuy

What it's like

Bedford-Stuyvesant has more intact nineteenth-century housing than any neighborhood in New York, and on the good blocks it is genuinely extraordinary: unbroken rows of brownstone with original detail, deep back gardens, streets under full tree cover. Floor-through apartments in these houses are the reason people move here.

It is large, and the experience varies a lot block to block. The stretch near Nostrand and the A and C is busy and well served; the middle of the neighborhood is quiet and further from everything. Both are called Bed-Stuy on a listing.

Who it suits

Anyone who wants a real apartment with light on two sides, and anyone willing to trade ten minutes of commute for fifty percent more space.

The catch

Many of these are owner-occupied houses with two or three units, which is usually good for maintenance and bad for flexibility. Expect stricter screening, and expect the owner to care about noise in a way a management company does not.

Getting around

The A and C along Fulton, the G on Bedford-Nostrand, and the J and M along Broadway at the northern edge. The C is a local and it is slow; the A skips it. Check which one your station gets.

What to check at the viewing

• Ask whether the owner lives in the building, and treat the answer as information rather than a problem.
• In a garden unit, ask about drainage and look at the base of the back wall for damp.
• Confirm which floor the apartment is on. Parlor floors have the ceilings and the light; the top floor has the heat.