“What Renters Want” With Jessica Fiur

All apartment buildings offer some amenities. If not, apartment living would be like a prison sentence (although prisoners have a yard to workout, plus a cafeteria, so I guess prisons have amenities too). And because more and more people are living in apartments nowadays, developers have started adding all sorts of cool amenities to their buildings. Then other buildings add these same amenities to compete with them, and soon these features become pretty standard. But, as our moms always asked us, if everyone was jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump as well? Just because something is “cool” doesn’t…

Apartments usually come with some amenities included. Like a stove. Or a microwave. Maybe a closet. But when you move in, you usually bring with you other items that take up valuable space, like a couch, night stands, or your collection of the entire series, to date, of The Simpsons dvds. And, unless you’re buying an $88 million apartment, space is usually at a premium. Of course, there are always ways to make everything fit. If years of playing Tetris on our graphing calculators during AP Calculus or playing Dr. Mario for hours without dinner or bathroom breaks have taught…

No one goes in to apartment living expecting to be a bad neighbor—it just sort of happens. Seriously, it’s not like people, when they’re taken around by their brokers, say, “Nice size, great amenities, convenient location. It’s a perfect spot for me to act like a crazy person and annoy everyone around me.” (Unless they have some sort of scam going where they’re trying to scare away other renters so they can get the gold buried in their neighbors’ walls or something. But then I’d suggest cutting holes in a sheet, putting it on and pretending the building is haunted.)…

A man’s home is his castle, so they say. So a person’s apartment should be his…chateau? fortress? hollowed-out volcano lair? Whatever it is, people should feel comfortable in their apartments. After all, everyone has different wants and needs. So, maybe developers shouldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. I recently came across an article in The New York Times called “A Building as Catalyst for Jewish Culture.” The article describes a new Manhattan condo development that caters to the Orthodox Jewish community that historically lived in the area. It caters to this community, quite literally, by offering a 24-hour kosher food service, as…

New York is currently under the grips of a fever, the likes of which no amount of cowbell can cure: lotto fever. The jackpot this week is $540 million. American dollars. For those of you counting, that’s more than half a billion. (Although, don’t even bother buying a ticket for tonight’s drawing, because I already have the winning one.) What would you do if you had that amount of money? I know, for starters, I’d make like Kermit and take Manhattan—buy a penthouse suite somewhere. Hell, I might even buy a whole building. Why not, right? Anyway, if money was…

Sometimes trends take hold of an industry, and it seems like everyone gets on the bandwagon. (Except for “fetch.” Stop trying to make “fetch” happen. It’s not going to happen!) Same goes, of course, for apartments. I recently read an interesting blog on RentCafe called “Changing Trends in Apartment Living.” The blog listed some projected trends in the apartment industry, such as apartments going green and being near transportation, units getting smaller and communities offering free wireless. That’s all well and good, and those changes are sure to benefit both developers and renters. But it certainly doesn’t include everything on…

I recently came across a press release where Prudential Preferred Realty introduced a new feature on their website that helps match prospective buyers with compatible Prudential agents, similar to how a dating service works (check it out here). Interesting concept. And why not? After all, finding a house or even an apartment to rent is very similar to dating in that both experiences can be very rewarding. Or terrible. 5 Ways Finding a New Apartment is Like Dating  You only get one first impression. Which is why on first dates people get all gussied up, and apartments are cleaned up and…

Though you might love your renters—they do pay their rents on time, after all—at some point, they’re likely to leave you. It’s the nature of the beast, and to every season, turn, turn, turn. All that. And sometimes, whether intentionally or not, your former residents leave items behind. When I moved out of my last apartment, I think I accidently left my pile of take-out menus that I meant to throw out and a never-opened bottle of mudslide mix. If you found it, sláinte, former landlord! Of course, what residents leave behind is often not as glamorous. It’s never a…