[{"content":"","date":"14 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts","type":"posts"},{"content":" Most folks think of brokers as simply folks who open the door for you when touring apartments and ask for exorbitant fees right after. But, they do know things that can make life significantly easier when you\u0026rsquo;re apartment hunting. You should make use of their brains!\nSummary # This summary contains strictly everything you need to know. But alas, the article needs to be longer to show up on search engines! Read past this to get more details on these tools. Ask what other vacant places they have that are vacant. They do not list all their vacancies! Ask how loud the area is. They will often let you know if a place is too loud for your preferences if you ask them. Have questions you\u0026rsquo;ve asked? Let me know and I\u0026rsquo;ll write about them.\nMain Content # Ask About Other Available Units They Haven\u0026rsquo;t Listed # Your broker isn\u0026rsquo;t showing you everything they have available. Most brokers maintain a private inventory of unlisted apartments, either because they\u0026rsquo;re still preparing them for market or they\u0026rsquo;re saving them for specific clients. Frankly, they don\u0026rsquo;t even have to list everything - apartments often fly off the shelves just by telling their private contacts and networks. So, ask what other vacancies they have! This question often reveals apartments that haven\u0026rsquo;t hit the major listing sites yet, giving you access to less competitive options. They sometimes also give you their contact details so you can call them and keep asking.\nAsk Directly About Noise Levels # Don\u0026rsquo;t rely on your own assessment of noise - ask your broker straight up how loud the area gets. Most brokers know the neighborhoods well and will give you honest feedback if you ask directly. Many brokers would rather be upfront about potential noise issues, and if you ask (politely!) they\u0026rsquo;ll also tell you what other places in the city to avoid. A good broker will steer you away from places that don\u0026rsquo;t match your lifestyle.\nQuestions aren\u0026rsquo;t enough, though! # That\u0026rsquo;s it - a short one today! Most people focus on asking about rent and move-in costs, but these questions help you access hidden inventory and avoid common mistakes. Your broker has information that can save you time and frustration - you just need to ask for it. However, there\u0026rsquo;s some research you should also do some research yourself. We\u0026rsquo;ve written about that before - please read on this post!\n","date":"14 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/posts/questions_to_ask_brokers_when_touring/","section":"Posts","summary":"Brokers are experienced! Asking them questions is a great way to gain insights when touring apartments.","title":"Questions to ask your broker when touring an apartment","type":"posts"},{"content":"Theretowhere.com is a powerful free tool that makes it easier to find apartments that better find your location preferences and lifestyle. As part of that mission, we also have this blog full of articles!\nWelcome, and dive in!\nHave an article idea? Let us know! Guest writers are welcome - you\u0026rsquo;ll receive full credit (and you can add your socials)!\n","date":"14 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/","section":"Theretowhere has a blog! 🙀","summary":"Theretowhere.com is a powerful free tool that makes it easier to find apartments that better find your location preferences and lifestyle. As part of that mission, we also have this blog full of articles!\nWelcome, and dive in!\nHave an article idea? Let us know! Guest writers are welcome - you’ll receive full credit (and you can add your socials)!\n","title":"Theretowhere has a blog! 🙀","type":"page"},{"content":" Congrats! You found an apartment that you like, and now it\u0026rsquo;s time to start touring. Hopefully, Apart from just vibe checking the place, there are some legitimate things you should really check to make sure you don\u0026rsquo;t get surprised (unhappily!) if you decide to apply and ultimately sign the lease.\nSummary # This summary contains strictly everything you need to know. But alas, the article needs to be longer to show up on search engines! Read past this to get more details on these tools. Try and visit on a weekend, and preferably at night. It will give you a better idea of how loud your neighbors will be, since they won\u0026rsquo;t be at work. Do research on the building location, history and landlord. See this post for tools on how to do that! Theretowhere.com is also great for this, give it a try. Be very attentive to how thin the walls are Be very attentive to how well the windows insulate sound. If needed, tell the broker to stop talking - they do this intentionally! Test water pressure and temperature controls Test out all electrical outlets Ask how close the super is to the apartment Bring a tape measure measure things to get measurements - floorplans often don\u0026rsquo;t have actual measurements Take notice of the grocery stores - you don\u0026rsquo;t want to live in a food desert! Ask about pest control explicitly Main Content # Visit During Peak Noise Hours: Weekends and Evenings # Most apartment tours happen during weekday business hours when buildings are naturally quieter. Your neighbors are at work, and you won\u0026rsquo;t get an accurate sense of the actual noise levels you\u0026rsquo;ll experience. Schedule your visit for weekends or evenings instead. This is when you\u0026rsquo;ll hear normal residential activity: footsteps from upstairs, conversations through walls, street noise, and general building sounds. The difference between a Tuesday afternoon tour and a Saturday night visit can be significant. If the broker pushes back on weekend scheduling, that might tell you something about what they\u0026rsquo;re trying to hide.\nResearch the Building, Location, and Landlord # Don\u0026rsquo;t walk into an apartment tour blind. Before you visit, research the building\u0026rsquo;s history, landlord reputation, and neighborhood specifics. This includes checking for building violations and any complaints against the property management company. The difference between a good and bad landlord can make or break your rental experience, regardless of how nice the apartment looks. We\u0026rsquo;ve covered the specific tools and steps for this research in detail here, so check that out before your next tour. Theretowhere.com is also great for this, give it a try.\nPay Attention to Wall Thickness # Thin walls will affect your quality of life more than almost any other apartment feature. During your tour, knock on the walls between rooms and listen for hollow sounds. If you can clearly hear normal conversation from the hallway or adjacent apartments, expect to hear everything your neighbors do. Test this by having someone walk around outside the apartment while you\u0026rsquo;re inside, or by listening near shared walls during the tour. Older buildings often have better sound insulation, but don\u0026rsquo;t assume this. Even new construction can have surprisingly thin walls if developers cut corners. If you\u0026rsquo;re sensitive to noise, thin walls can make an otherwise perfect apartment completely unlivable.\nTest Window Sound Insulation # Windows are often the weakest point for sound insulation. During your tour, stand near each window and listen to outside noise levels - if the broker keeps talking, ask them to pause so you can assess the ambient sound. Good windows significantly reduce traffic, sirens, and street noise; single-pane windows or poor seals let everything through. Pay extra attention if the apartment faces busy streets or late-night establishments. Do not underestimate how much this can affect quality of life. Its a common mistake!\nTest Water Pressure and Temperature Controls # Turn on every faucet and shower during your tour. Check both hot and cold water pressure and see how quickly hot water arrives. Nuff said here.\nTest All Electrical Outlets # Bring a phone charger and test every outlet in the apartment. Check that outlets actually work and hold plugs securely - loose outlets are both annoying and potentially dangerous (they can cause fires1). Look for outlets in practical locations, especially near where you\u0026rsquo;ll place your bed, desk, and kitchen appliances.\nAsk How Close the Super Lives to the Building # Find out where the superintendent lives and how available they are for issues. A super who lives on-site can fix problems within hours, while one who commutes from another borough might take days to respond to urgent repairs. Ask about typical response times for maintenance requests and whether emergency contact exists for things like heat or plumbing failures. Note that some buildings use part-time supers who only visit twice a week. Sometimes, you even get to meet the super2.\nBring a Tape Measure for Accurate Measurements # Floor plans are hard to trust sometimes, and often don\u0026rsquo;t have actual measurements. Bring a tape measure and check the dimensions of rooms, especially if you have specific furniture that needs to fit. Measure doorways, hallway widths, and room dimensions. Pay attention to awkward corners, slanted walls, or protruding fixtures that might limit furniture placement - many NYC apartments have unusual layouts that look spacious on paper but feel cramped in reality.\nCheck Out Nearby Grocery Options # Walk around the immediate area and note what grocery stores are within a few blocks. Living in a food desert means expensive delivery fees or long trips for basic groceries. Look for a proper supermarket for weekly shopping and fresh produce - bodegas are convenient for snacks and basics but won\u0026rsquo;t cover your healthy grocery needs. Check store hours too; some smaller markets close early or have limited Sunday hours. If you don\u0026rsquo;t see obvious full-service grocery options during your tour, ask the broker directly. Having to travel more than 10 blocks for real groceries gets old fast in NYC.\nAsk About Pest Control Explicitly # Don\u0026rsquo;t dance around this topic - directly ask about the building\u0026rsquo;s pest control measures and any recent issues with roaches, mice, or other pests. Ask when the last treatment was done and how often they spray. Look for signs during your tour: small droppings, unusual smells, or gaps around pipes and baseboards where pests enter - in NYC, pest issues are common but manageable with proper building maintenance. A landlord who\u0026rsquo;s evasive about pest control or claims they\u0026rsquo;ve never had issues might not be telling the truth. Buildings with proactive pest management will have regular treatment schedules and be upfront about their approach. Sometimes, you actually see evidence of these schedules on their announcement boards.\nThe physics behind this is actually interesting. Loose connections have higher electrical resistance, which generates more heat and hence can cause fires.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nSometimes they\u0026rsquo;re also the one giving the tour!\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n","date":"14 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/posts/things_to_check_when_touring_nyc_apartment/","section":"Posts","summary":"You’ve found a good apartment, and you’re touring. Read on how to look for red flags once you walk through the door.","title":"Tips \u0026 Things to look out for when during a NYC apartment tour","type":"posts"},{"content":" Moving to the big city and looking for some tools to avoid bad landlords, bad deals, and headaches? Keep reading.\nSummary # This summary contains strictly everything you need to know. But alas, the article needs to be longer to show up on search engines! Read past this to get more details on these tools. Here are the tools:\nWho Owns What - great way to see who is the owner of a property and what complaints have been filed against it. Theretowhere - good way to find apartments based on closeness to work, friends, and other things. Worst Landlord Watchlist - useful resource to avoid running into scumbag landlords! DOB Building Information Search and HPD Online for finding complaints filed on an apartment Am I rent Stabilized for finding rent stabilized apartments! More on that here NYC Open Data for bedbug reports. NYCCELP - for finding lead piping violations. Lead is super dangerous! Main Content # Moving to New York City feels like stepping into a movie. You\u0026rsquo;ve probably spent hours scrolling through apartment listings, imagining yourself walking through those trendy neighborhoods you\u0026rsquo;ve seen on Instagram. But here\u0026rsquo;s what those glossy photos won\u0026rsquo;t show you: the landlord who ignores repair requests, the apartment with a hidden bedbug problem, or the \u0026ldquo;great deal\u0026rdquo; that\u0026rsquo;s actually illegal.\nYour first NYC apartment hunt doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to become a horror story. With the right research tools and a healthy dose of skepticism, you can spot the red flags before you hand over that security deposit. Let\u0026rsquo;s walk through how to protect yourself in one of the country\u0026rsquo;s most competitive rental markets.\nWho Owns What - Seeing the whole picture # Who Owns What shows you the real story behind your potential new address. Type in any NYC address and you\u0026rsquo;ll see the property owner\u0026rsquo;s name, their other buildings, and most importantly, any complaints filed against them. If your prospective landlord owns dozens of properties with consistent heating violations or harassment complaints, that\u0026rsquo;s your cue to keep looking.\nThe tool also reveals ownership patterns that can save you from future headaches. Some landlords hide behind multiple LLCs to avoid accountability, but Who Owns What connects the dots. When you see the same management company linked to buildings with similar problems across different neighborhoods, you\u0026rsquo;re looking at a pattern, not isolated incidents.\nTheretowhere - Find Your Perfect NYC Neighborhood # While you\u0026rsquo;re vetting potential apartments for safety issues and problem landlords, you also need to figure out which neighborhoods actually make sense for your lifestyle. ThereToWhere helps you find apartments and listings that are close to people and things you care about by creating personalized travel time maps of NYC based on your specific priorities – whether that\u0026rsquo;s your office, your gym, your favorite coffee shop, or where your friends live. Instead of guessing which neighborhood might work, you can see exactly how long it takes to get from different parts of the city to all the places that matter to you, helping you focus your NYC apartment search on areas that actually fit your daily routine.\nWorst Landlords Watchlist - Bad Landlords to Avoid # Every year, thousands of people moving to NYC apartment hunting get burned by landlords who see tenants as dollar signs rather than people. The Worst Landlord Watchlist exists for exactly this reason – it\u0026rsquo;s a database of property owners with track records of harassment, illegal rent increases, and neglecting basic repairs.\nThis resource becomes your shield against NYC rental scams that target first-time renters. Search by landlord name or building address to see if other tenants have flagged serious issues. The watchlist includes detailed accounts of problems like refusing to provide heat in winter, attempting illegal evictions, or demanding cash payments without receipts.\nDOB \u0026amp; HPD - Check Building Violations Before You Sign # The apartment looks great during your walkthrough, but what happened before you got there? NYC requires landlords to disclose certain building violations, but they won\u0026rsquo;t volunteer information about ongoing problems. Two city databases give you the full picture: DOB Building Information Search and HPD Online.\nSearch your potential address in both systems to find NYC apartment red flags that could affect your daily life. Look for recent violations involving heating systems, water damage, or structural issues. Multiple open violations suggest a landlord who ignores problems rather than fixing them. If you see repeated violations for the same issue over several months, you should probably keep looking.\nAm I Rent Stabilized - Find Rent Stabilized Apartments in NYC # Rent stabilization offers real protection for NYC tenants by limiting annual rent increases to a percentage set by the city\u0026rsquo;s Rent Guidelines Board – typically just a few percent each year instead of market-driven spikes. This system keeps longtime residents from getting priced out when neighborhoods gentrify, but many landlords won\u0026rsquo;t advertise these apartments as rent stabilized because they\u0026rsquo;d prefer to charge whatever the market will bear.\nAm I Rent Stabilized helps you identify these hidden gems during your first apartment search in NYC. Enter any address to see if the building contains rent stabilized units. If you\u0026rsquo;re looking at an apartment in a rent stabilized building and the landlord claims it\u0026rsquo;s market rate, dig deeper. They might be illegally charging above the legal rent, which could save you hundreds of dollars monthly once you know your rights.\nNYC Open Data - Check for Bedbug Reports Before You Move In # Nobody wants to discover their new apartment comes with tiny, blood-sucking roommates. NYC Open Data maintains a database of bedbug reports filed by tenants across the city, giving you insight into infestations that landlords might conveniently forget to mention. Search by address to see if your potential building has a history of bedbug problems – these pests spread between units, so even if your specific apartment seems clean, neighboring infestations often become your problem too.\nNYCCELP - Protect Yourself from Lead Exposure # Lead exposure poses serious health risks, with children being especially vulnerable to developmental damage from even small amounts. NYCCELP tracks lead piping violations across NYC buildings, helping you avoid apartments where landlords have ignored dangerous lead hazards. Search your potential address to see if the building has outstanding lead violations – these often indicate old plumbing systems or paint that could create health risks, and landlords who ignore lead violations typically neglect other serious safety issues too.\nYour NYC Apartment Hunt Toolkit # Hopefully these tools give you the research power to avoid common NYC rental pitfalls. Spend 15 minutes checking each potential apartment through these databases before you fall in love with a place – it\u0026rsquo;s much easier to find red flags now than deal with problem landlords, bedbugs, or health hazards after you\u0026rsquo;ve signed the lease. All the best!\n","date":"8 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/posts/supercharge_nyc_search/","section":"Posts","summary":"This post provides a number of tools to help you find quality NYC apartments","title":"Free tools to supercharge your NYC apartment search","type":"posts"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"}]