Happy New Years! We’ve recently implemented a few new features for the site – along with a small makeover of certain pages. First, we’ve included WalkScore for each listing. WalkScore (provided by www.walkscore.com) is a nifty little widget that shows what’s in your area (from shops, groceries, to movie theaters and gyms). Now, you can figure out how “walkable” your neighborhood is. We’re also intrigued by the future of rents and how they impact New York City.
We’ve also enhanced the accuracy of our neighborhood mappings (in fact, one of the founders spent quite a bit of time learning about Elderts Lane perfectly). Hopefully, improperly assigned addresses will be a thing of the past.
In terms of the NYC rental market, will rents be going up in the future? While the 2008 recession hit sales (and rents) hard, 2009 might have signaled the beginning of the recovery. If anything, S&P has risen over 26% this year. While vacancies are still higher than normal, we’re finally seeing some owners cutting back on incentives. In the past, many owners offered BOTH paying a broker’s fee or one month free (in which case, you might be indifferent or better off if you showed up with a broker). However, now-a-days, there seems to be a trend towards one month free OR owner pays the broker’s fee. We’ll write a more robust post later, but there definitely seems to be the beginnings of some upwards pressure. If you’re just starting your search though, you shouldn’t worry too much. We’re still in a renter’s market.
Editor’s Note: We updated this article to enhance readability.
