The flex bedroom concept has been around forever: converting an extra alcove or living room into an extra bedroom using temporary walls or dividers. Maybe thousands of years ago, cavemen would roll large home large boulders, turning the studio cavern into a junior one. In New York City, flex bedrooms are incredibly popular. Especially in converted office buildings with bizarre layouts.
Unfortunately, the Manhattan real estate jargon makes life more complicated for the typical renter only moving once every 2-4 years. The NY Times wrote a 1999 piece breaking down the Junior One vs Junior Four (hint, the Junior Four does not house 4 times as many people as a Junior One). In the very first season of Sex and the City, Charlotte infamously exclaims: “No guy buys a classic-six on the Upper West Side unless they’re seriously thinking about marriage!”
As it turns out, a classic six does NOT include any conversions or walls, but the few that aren’t part of fancy co-ops may have long been advertised as Flex 4 Bedrooms (no need for a maid’s room or dining room when you can have more roommates!)
List Everything
At RentHop, we encourage landlords and agents to post their open and exclusive listings, while listing all desirable amenities. If an alcove or living room lends itself to conversion, by all means denote it. We even recently changed our search and filtering algorithms to better accommodate flex listings. However, we are committed to transparency and listing accuracy.
We require managers input the ORIGINAL, true bedroom count when entering listings. Whether or not the wall already exists, renters should know what they agreeing to see, and the most reasonable way to compare apartments is using the pre-conversion sizes.
Violating the Flex Bedroom Policy
Accounts in violation of our policy receive strict penalties, per our terms of service, and may include a permanent ban from our platform with no refund. RentHop works because the majority of agents and landlords believe in honest and truthful advertising.
Agents can read more about our Compliance Terms here.
Editor’s Note: We updated this article to enhance readability. Agents can also read our 2024 update to the home office policy.
