What Is A Junior One Bedroom Anyway?
topBy Alison Rogers
Resident, August 21, 2006
What’s the difference between a “Junior 1 bedroom” and a “convertible one-bedroom?”
Brokers often use the terms interchangeably in ads – but technically, they’re different. In NYC, a “bedroom” has to have a window in order to get called a “bedroom”. So a “convertible one-bedroom” or a “flex one-bedroom” is a studio with a windowed alcove, so if you did want to put up a wall, you could have a one-bedroom.
A “Junior 1,” on the other hand, is an apartment with a separate place for the bed that's more developed than an alcove — it might be a fancy sleeping loft platform, or an extended walk-in closet, or a separate interior room — but it's windowless, so you could never officially call it a one-bedroom.
In my mind, a “Junior 1” — we see them occasionally in Chelsea — attracts couples, who may need to have two separate rooms with a door to slam in between them more than they need outside light.
I’m buying a $1 million apartment and I’d like to skip the mansion tax. Can I pay $998,000 for the apartment and $2,000 for the stove?
I would never urge you to avoid paying taxes, because then the burden falls on someone else, probably me.
But there have always been stories circulating about two-contract deals put together in the Hamptons, to avoid the Mansion Tax, back in the day.
Now, with a million dollars not what it used to be, this 1% tax on a home’s transaction price — which goes directly to New York State — hits some not-so-rich buyers. Is a 900-square-foot one-bedroom apartment really a “mansion?” just because it costs $1 million?
So I can understand the impulse to try and avoid the bite, but I wouldn’t try to make a side deal on an appliance such as a stove – appliances are generally considered to be part of an apartment.
And before you end up buying a $950,000 apartment and a $50,000 couch, you might want to check with a really good tax lawyer. You need to find out if you’ll get in trouble keeping from the state what is theirs – and if the IRS decides that you’re getting your place a little too cheaply and that’s somehow “imputed income.”
I’m broke. Should I call my landlady and tell her the rent’s going to be a little late?
If you want to stay in the place, I would definitely call and let her know what’s going on rather than make her shake you down for the money.
Sending what you have and sending the balance a few days late is better, too, from her point of view, than sending the entire amount a few days late.
But be sure it’s a one-time-only thing, because most landlords are programmed to anticipate that “late” quickly turns into “never” and will set the eviction wheels in motion faster than you can say “I swear it’s in the mail.”
