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Update: Airbnb Plays Ball with NYC Attorney General

Airbnb NYC

For the last six-months the Attorney General’s Office has been trying to get ahold of Airbnb’s host data, they have finally succeeded. Airbnb the online platform that allows apartment or home owners to rent their properties out to travelers is voluntarily giving up their host data. Although they will be removing some of the identification information such as, social security numbers, names, apartment numbers, and adding numerical identifiers to differentiate between the multitude of users.

Ten23 Gambles By Asking for Expensive Non-Refundable Deposits

Ten23's popularity has allowed it to ask for an unprecedented, expensive depositAs we’ve written about before, West Chelsea is as hot a neighborhood as anyplace in Manhattan, largely because the High Line has exponentially increased its popularity. Ten23 is one of many newly constructed luxury condo buildings in West Chelsea, but unlike most of its competitors, it sits on top of the Highline, literally. Well, maybe not quite literally, but Ten23’s exterior brushes the Highline’s railing; it basically leans over the park, so passersby can look right into the building. Ten23 has actually used this as it’s best marketing tool. Relying solely on word of mouth, Equity Residential has signed 19 leases and has 5 commitments for the luxury building’s 111 units. What makes this especially remarkable is that Equity has asked all these renters for what is likely the most expensive nonrefundable deposit in Manhattan’s history; just to make a commitment, renters must pony up $1,000 that they know they won’t get back. If this doesn’t speak to the unprecedented strength of the Manhattan luxury rental market (especially in West Chelsea), then we don’t know what does.

Movin' On Up: Tips to Master the Tricky Manhattan Move-in

 Manhattan Luxury Apartments - Manhattan Move-inWhen it comes to the ordeal of moving to a new apartment, most if not all of Manhattan’s residents utter a collective, frustrated sigh as they ponder the various inconveniences that go hand-in-hand with this undertaking. This could of course be due to the fact that in New York City a host of extra complications arise, whether one is moving into a new luxury rental or a condominium, including but not limited to: street-cleaning restrictions, regulations concerning the use of the apartment building’s elevator, and of course, the oft encountered, always dreaded narrow doorways, most often associated with pre-war buildings. As Susan Stellin explains in her NY Times article, moving has, if anything, become even more complicated, transforming what had previously been an annoyance into an almost full-fledged problem.

Summer Trends: Closing the Gap Between Doorman and Non-Doorman Buildings

NYC Luxury Rentals - Summer TrendsAs July nears its end, New Yorkers are passing the halfway mark of a sunny, sweltering summer. With dizzying heat waves crossing the country and sending miserable New Yorkers a-scramble for sunblock and the nearest air conditioner, a bit of (semi-)good news would not be amiss. So we at Luxury Rentals Manhattan are happy to report that -- once again -- our past predictions for the summer have come to fruition, despite our recently tempered views. The summer Manhattan rental season has continued to grow in strength according to July’s rental market report, with rents climbing across the board. And while only last month we touted the price benefits of non-doorman buildings, July sings quite a different tune. The prices of doorman and non-doorman buildings are slowly drawing even as the market buffs up and rents rise, closing June’s price gap between the two types of rentals.

Summer In The City: Rents Rise With Temperatures, But Deals Are Still Out There

You’ve got your fired-up barbecues, of course. And the beach trips and baseball games and farmer’s markets and sweltering subway stations and, with ever more frequency, weather nice enough to induce the urge to simply lie down and relax wherever or take long, otherwise unmotivated walks. All of which is to say that it’s officially and incontrovertibly summer in New York City. With all those good things (and the sweltering subways, which one eventually just learns to deal with) comes another NYC summer tradition -- the arrival of the annual warm-weather boom in Manhattan real estate. We noted its first green shoots in the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog last month, and -- same as it does every summer -- the Manhattan luxury rental marketplace is in something very much like full bloom as July arrives.

Of course, as anyone searching for an apartment in NYC already knows, the words “strong Manhattan real estate market” bode better for landlords than those browsing Manhattan rental listings. But there’s good news for both renters and landlords alike in June’s luxury rental statistics. Sustained high demand and lower vacancy rates will (as they usually do) delight landlords. But those browsing Manhattan rental listings can take heart knowing that there are still plenty of deals to be had on luxury rental apartments.

Get Your Own Door: Are Doorman-Free Luxury Rentals The Biggest Value in NYC Real Estate?

There is something to be said for the Manhattan doorman rental apartment, especially for the New Yorker coming home late at night, or returning from a Whole Foods or C-Town expedition loaded down with groceries. But while most Manhattan luxury rental listings are doorman rental listings -- it comes with the "luxury" part -- there's nothing that says that you need someone to open the door for you, even after an evening on the town or an afternoon at the supermarket. Chances are that if you've managed to find your way onto the internet, let alone to Luxury Rentals Manhattan, you're probably pretty accomplished in tasks such as opening and closing doors. Which is to say that, if you're browsing luxury rental listings in Soho or searching for a rental apartment on the Upper East Side, would it really matter to you that much whether the aformentioned luxury rental in Soho or rental apartment on the Upper East Side came with a doorman? Well, apparently a great many people do -- which means that doorman-free rental listings in those most desirable Manhattan neighborhoods are notably cheaper than their be-doorman'ed counterparts. Is this the sort of market efficiency a savvy apartment-hunter could exploit to his/her advantage?

The Hold Steady: Manhattan Rents Way Up Over Last Year, Barely Up Over Last Month

That the Manhattan real estate market is in a better place now than it was 12 months ago is looking more and more like an objective fact. But while each month seems to bring more news that the marketplace for Manhattan rental apartments is back on its feet, there's an odd, uneasy addendum to what looks like good news. Well, two -- one is that what's good for the Manhattan rental marketplace is usually good for landlords, not those searching rental listings. But the more novel issue this time around is that, while the Manhattan rental market seems to be tilting in landlords' directions and the old renter's market appears to be on its way out, numbers suggest that things should really be a lot worse for Manhattan renters. While the number of no-fee rental listings in Manhattan has shrunk, there are still plenty out there. While landlord concessions have diminished, they're still out there to find. And while increased demand should have led to a serious spike in Manhattan rents, it hasn't... yet. A pair of recent studies show that rents are up a robust 8 percent over 2010 figures, but rents are still essentially flat month-to-month, just as they were last month. For now, at least. So you see the "uneasy" part, presumably.

Condo-Quality Redefined, or What's The Deal With Rental Listings In Luxury Condos?

When is a luxury rental apartment listing not a luxury rental apartment listing? Well, if you insist on getting technical about a rhetorical question, the answer is "never." But, for a new crop of Manhattan luxury rental listings, the answer is somewhat more complicated. Some of Manhattan's most impressive new luxury rental listings are either partnered with new construction luxury condos -- blockbuster midtown luxury rental The Ashley, for example, shares an amenity space, a developer, and a number of other commonalities with The Aldyn, a carbon-copy condo with which it was co-developed -- or, in such posh instances as Chelsea's promising Eventi rentals located on the upper floors of luxury hotels. For William Beaver House, a new luxury rental listing in the Financial District, the story is even more convoluted -- developed as a condominium, William Beaver House is still selling luxury condominiums. It just happens to offer some of the most luxurious rental listings in the Financial District, as well. And there is, of course, Frank Gehry's luxury rental at 8 Spruce Street in the Financial District, which ranks among the most luxurious luxury rentals in Manhattan real estate history. The phrase "condo-quality finishes" has never seemed more literally apt, and less like a real estate buzzword. While this new proliferation of condo-rental combos can make for some confusion when browsing Manhattan rental listings, one effect is clear -- it certainly has deepened Manhattan's already deep pool of high-end rental listings.

Chelsea Lately: Does The Imminent High Line Extension Raise Fortunes For Chelsea Rentals?

We've written before about both our crush on Chelsea's High Line and the hugely salutary effect the beloved, beautiful Chelsea park has had on the apartments for rent near The High Line. For condominiums for sale near the High Line, that proximity has led to a spike in both value and demand. For the select few Chelsea rental listings lucky enough to be High Line adjacent, the effect has been the same. The good news, though, both for those looking for rental apartments in Chelsea and those of us who simply enjoy walking on Manhattan's loveliest new park, is that The High Line keeps growing. Which means that the number of apartment listings near The High Line keeps growing as well. The sound you are hearing is landlords, developers and Chelsea renters high-fiving one another. With news -- and pictures -- of the ongoing High Line expansion reaching the New York Times yesterday, you may have to fight the urge to high-five yourself. It's not easy for us, either.

Hudson Square, Ready For Its Close-Up: Call It West SoHo Or South Greenwich Village If You Wish, But Re-Zoned Manhattan 'Hood Is On The Rise

Hudson Square Manhattan Rental Apartments

The first rule of Manhattan real estate -- of real estate in general -- is said to be "location, location, location." Which, as conventional wisdom goes, isn't the silliest thing in the world. But Manhattan real estate observers could be forgiven, in recent years, for believing that at least one of those "location"'s could be swapped out for "branding." New Manhattan neighborhoods are nothing new -- New York City is a study in flux, and all it takes is one zoning decision and a few bold luxury rental developers to turn a neighborhood like the nowheresville around the Lincoln Tunnel entrance into "The Linc," a newly branded neighborhood complete with its own green luxury rental listings and superstar new rental developments such as Emerald Green. What sets Hudson Square apart from The Linc, besides a much cooler name -- The Linc? You're sure about that? -- is that this new neighborhood is actually one of Manhattan's oldest neighborhood. Hudson Square is, for all intents and purposes, West Soho. And it's not exactly "new," either, given that it has been around for centuries -- the Ear Inn, one of Manhattan's oldest nightspots, is a Hudson Square landmark -- and was Manhattan's printing district back when Manhattan had things like printing districts. But a recent re-branding campaign has helped Hudson Square re-make itself as one of the hotter residential neighborhoods in lower Manhattan, and a new campaign to remake the city's streets into leafier, more pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares suggests that it's time for all of us -- those looking for apartment rentals in SoHo and those of us who just dig NYC real estate -- to give this old-new neighborhood a new look. So, yeah: let's look at Hudson Square.