Amenities: Icing on the real estate cake

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | September 12, 2012 - 4:04PM

We have to admit that we're suckers for some good amenities. I mean a FreshDirect room to hold our groceries until we get home? Yes please. An in-building Wi-Fi connected place to do some work without the sounds of a screaming toddler or the noisiness of Starbucks? Where do we sign up?

For this week's SurvivalList, we've turned our attention to amenities -- those little in-building perks that can feel like icing on the real estate cake.

These include a Virtual Doorman (which can mean security without the exorbitant common charges--or Christmas tips) and FreshDirect vending machines.

We've also daydreamed about amenties we wish we had (like a stroller service station and technology concierge) and ones we'll probably never have (like one free Saturday babysitting included every month) and can only dream of.

But not all amenities are as good as they sound, so we've got posts on how to handle amenities gone awry-- like who's responsible for a storage locker burglary that was the super's fault or what happens when a flood or rats ruin your stuff stored down in the basement. We even have a solution for bike-room overcrowding.

We also delve into the importance of amenities, like the never-ending debate of location vs. amenities (can great amenities make up for a less-than-great location?) and cover which amenities are, indeed, most important (answer: the one's you'll actually use.. and gyms).

For these, and more posts on amenities, click on the links below:

Cool amenities

Amenity daydreaming:

Amenities gone wrong

Storage locker burglary was the super's fault. Who pays?

But how important are they anyway?

Amenity guidelines:

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