Wow. We always knew that the New York real estate scene had some fairly shady characters. Forget about the dozens of landing page sites that come and go each year. They are the small fish that clutter our search results. We click on them occasionally, but the friendly back-button saves us from any damage beyond a quick ten-second glimpse of the content lacking, ad-filled pages. The market uncovered a more dubious scenario in recent weeks. As it turns out, Russian spy Anna Chapman was the mastermind behind NYC Rentals dot com.
Anyone who spends serious time in the Manhattan real estate sector knows that things are just VERY different here than anywhere else in the country and world. There is no real MLS / IDX, or anything close to a centralized repository of all listings. Open listings are the norm as opposed to exclusives, and brokers eagerly play along. Best of all, anyone who digs deep into the various real estate dynasties will discover a complex web of relationships, partnerships, and in some cases feuds between blood relatives.
A few brave souls have attempted to untangle and make sense of the mess, but for every upstanding startup in this space, there are a seemingly equal number of con-artists out to make a quick buck. Last month, Anna Chapman and NYC Rentals dot com came crashing down. I never quite understood her true motives, even after watching her pitch interview. Needless to say, it’s rather disturbing that the NYC rental space has now become the cover occupation for international espionage!
In light of such discoveries, it may be time to introduce ourselves a bit more comprehensively. Specifically, there are a few holes in Mike Grynbaum’s NY Times RentHop article. For the first time ever revealed on our site, we unveil three great mysteries. Yes, we originally discussed our ideas over sushi, and while I’d love to think I’m an up-and-coming cook, we were dining at the Murray Hill Today at 32nd St. and 5th Ave (now called Ichiumi, and from what I hear has seriously declined in quality). We were working at hedge funds at the time, D. E. Shaw & Co. and Traxis Partners. As for my abilities as a salesperson… the jury is out, but I’ve done enough transactions to learn that logic and emotion are both irrelevant compared to fostering trust! We hope this clears up some RentHop mysteries and provides more confidence with your apartment search!
Editor’s Note: We updated this article to enhance readability.
