Is this studio the East Village at its best?

Just a quick look at a new listing for a studio on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

It's a short, simple description:

East Village At Its Best* This Apartment is located between Ave A & B. Its a perfect size to divide into a separate bedroom and living room. It also features exposed brick, hardwood floors, high ceilings and other cute detail.

And here we are...



Not sure how this qualifies the neighborhood at its best ... You can find more photos at the listing. And the best has an asking rent of $2,000 monthly. The unit is available starting May 1.

Problems finding an apartment?

From the Post:

Almost 99 percent of Manhattan rentals are currently occupied, according to a new market report.

The vacancy rate is now 1.07 percent, the lowest it has been in three years, Citi Habitats reports.

Last year at this time, Manhattan vacancies were at 1.17 percent.

Read the whole article here.

Citi Bike docking station 'just around the corner' is now apparently an amenity in the East Village

There's a new listing for an apartment over on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... Here's the copy:

Wing Two Bedroom apartment located at 543 East 5th Street in the haert [sic] of the East Village.

Apartment features two bedrooms, separate kitchen and tile bath. Locatde [sic] steps to all the great bars, restaurants and shopping of this great neighborhood. Citi Bike station just around the corner.

True, the docking station is around the corner on East Sixth Street and Avenue B — on the other side of the street from Sunny & Annie's. However, given that the East Village has 23 docking stations, it seems as if many apartments have one right around the corner. Is this a feature worth mentioning?

Rent this East 11th Street apartment; enjoy the artificial turf out back

Here's an apartment that just hit on the market on East 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... Per Streeteasy:

Spacious studio / Junior 1 bdrm with private backyard access! A rare find in NYC!
Separate kitchen that will be totally renovated (will feature new cabinets and appliances)
Brand new bathroom
2 large closets
A/C unit in wall
Entire apartment will be cleaned and painted

The rent is $2,600. (Maybe you could get it for less if they didn't clean or paint it? Ha.) Anyway, perhaps you can offset that cost by opening up a miniature golf course in that private backyard... here's the lone photo that accompanied the listing...

You may want to run it by the World Minigolf Sport Federation first.

Approaching record highs today, and it's not the weather

According to a report at The Real Deal today... "Manhattan rents continue to approach record highs."

From information via Citi Habitats, vacancy rates sat at just 0.42 percent for Soho/Tribeca, 0.84 percent for the West Village and 1.15 percent for the East Village and Lower East Side.

An apartment for power-tool lovers

Here's a newly refurbished apartment at 91 E. Third St. ... kind of difficult to get a feel for the place now. Several of the photos the real-estate folks posted on Streeteasy look like this...

Decorating ideas or proof that the place really is renovated? Anyway, two bedrooms for $1,990 per the Streeteasy listing. Which seems a little too good to be true (I know!) given that the median price for two bedroom apartments is $3,600. The median price for a studio, per Streeteasy, is $2,000.

Strange how one day $1,990 seems like a deal.

Oh really?: Rent is getting more expensive

Today, the Post takes a look at the latest real-estate industry reports ... and finds that rentals are getting — no shit! — more expensive. Manhattan rentals increased 8.6 percent last year. The average Manhattan apartment rent is now $3,309 a month.

The East Village is below that rate, with a downright cheap average of $3,027 a month. The above chart breaks it down by apartment size... Meanwhile, according to the report, the average vacancy rate in Manhattan was just 0.96 percent.

really

So, what's it like to rent an apartment around here these days?

Yesterday, a reader told us about moving out of the newly purchased 86 E. Fourth St. The resident also noted the challenges of apartment hunting these days...

"Unfortunately, there is NOTHING out there right now. Most 2 bedrooms we saw are well over $3000/month ... A couple of the people that showed us places were commenting on how scarce apartments are, and how its the worst they've seen it in sometime. $3500 for a tiny place, with bedrooms that could barely fit a single bed? No thanks, you can take your 'high-end finishes' and shove them up your... well, you know.

I'll be looking for a new apartment soon enough one of these days... It has been more than 10 years since I've had to look...

The least-expensive apartment listed at Streeteasy now is $1,495 for a studio on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... In total, Streeteasy has 238 active listings — the median price is $2,900.

Here's a breakdown...

So, like the headline says... what's it like to rent an apartment around here these days? Anyone care to share his or her recent experiences of finding an apartment?

UPDATED: Curbed test drives six apartment rental websites here.

Joe Strummer mural on Seventh Street helping sell an apartment — on 11th Street

In an otherwise innocuous ad for an expensive apartment, one thing stands out...

The three-bedroom unit in question is on East 11th Street. Not exactly close to Seventh Street and Avenue A, where the Joe Strummer mural resides. Perhaps the realtor should have "The Magnificent Seven" playing on the site too.