Photos in Rental Listings- a light topic-

Hola Nell,

Any luck finding a place? If I recall you were looking for June so I guess you really have to start in a couple of weeks.

I have a much bigger beef with those who show pictures of a place other than the apartment advertised. As to messes, I think they are limited by circumstance. The landlord wants to list and show the apartment before the prior tenants are out so they photograph it in whatever state it is in. I can understand not wanting to clean up. A tenant who came in and found all their stuff moved about who had not consented to that would feel pretty violated (do you want someone pawing through your things? Even if they put them back in order?).

What I wish they would put up are floorplans.

Building owner who lists his own apts here to chime in:

I usually wait until an apartment is vacated, painted and cleaned before I start showing it. However, sometimes I will use the pictures of an identical apartment right above or below the unit for rent, so I don't have to wait until the 7th. I always clearly indicate it. This way, I can start to line people up 2 weeks earlier and have it rented by the 7th. I would never have pictures of someone's mess though.

btw, i do not have one floor plan for a single apartment anywhere. They rarely exist for walkup buildings, which is all I deal with.

AvUWS-
Hi, How are you? I am doing well, nervous, but well. We just rented our home out for 3 yrs, so in this tough economy I feel very fortunate about that fact. Plus, the family is quite nice, and they are very excited to be relocating to Colorado.

Of course, I found a few places far too early in the game, and they have since rented, but I have enjoyed searching, talking with various owners/brokers/management companies and happy to report that 85% were very honest and candid about their needs/concerns regarding their units. The other 15% blew my mind a bit, but c'est la vie! It has also given me a better lay of the land so to speak and that makes me feel even more comfortable. There was a time I thought living in Manhattan would not be possible due to our dog, but know I know we will find a place, will we have to make some compromises, most definitely, but again I think being fellow homeowners/and having various rental properties, I think that would put some building owners at ease in regards to be a slacker pet-owning tenant.

There is a possibility of the 4 of us taking a military "hop" to West Point on Saturday for a week, and then we'd come in and "househunt." Of course with the AF, everything changes daily, so we really won't know if that is a go until late Thursday evening/Fri morning.

I would never expect a landlord to move anyone's personal belongings, as that would be a bit creepy, but for me, if my landlord told me he'd like to come in on this date and time and I would most definitely have it in tip-top order, then again I am a bit type-A, thus I find it a bit baffling. I wish all listings had the "approximate square footage." Just to give non-native future tenants and idea of a native NYer's interpretation of "huge" 2BD ;)!

MAV- I love walk-up buildings, while I know older means more "honey do-list jobs" it also means a ton more character, and a good work-out for those of us who are not willing to give up chocolate! :)

Nell - Don't ask for Sq. Ft. #'s as they will invariably deceive or disappoint. That is why I like floorplans. you will find that many (and probably most) landlords/brokers will be off by as much as 25% on the apartment size. Sometimes it is intentional but I will allow that there could probably be a lot of laziness there instead, like copying the inflated size from another unit and advertising it for theirs. Or perhaps the industry might have just created their own measure, sort of like a NYC sq ft = .75 real sq ft.

Size is also a bad way to compare the apartments layout. I have seen decent sized apartments but because the shape/layiout was so odd you could have a 200+ sq. ft. bedroom and no place against which to put a queen/king sized bed.

And don't compare sizes to the non-NYC world (but you probably know this by now). A 1500 sq. ft 3 BR in NY is a decent size, not huge, but can be decent (depending on layout).

As to neatness, remember that some tenants might not have had the landlords interest in their heart. The apartment might be being vacated because they didn't want to pay the landlords rent increase request and so also don't feel predisposed to help them rent it.

Have you decided between Manhattan and Riverdale?

any saavy broker knows to NEVER include photos of a listing. far better to have the masses call (they will) and ask for photos.

makes them think that perhaps you've got something they've never seen ;)

AvUWS-

Thanks for all the tips/advise. I especially like NYC sq ft. = .75 real sq.ft. I had a good laugh at that one!

I think we both would prefer to find someplace in Manhattan, simply because we're only there for 2 yrs, and if Tim does have awful long hours, as he does here at USAFA, then it would be great for the boys and I to be able to simply walk to the grocery store, school, various parks, and have access to the subway and go wherever within a moment's notice. Okay, this may sound dorky, but I really wanted to live in Manhattan and have the opportunity to live the "city life" and all that it has to offer, both good and bad. I'm not ruling out Riverdale, but if we have to do so, honestly I will be disappointed.

jim, your inflamatory postings rival only julia and columbiacounty.

Jim-
Your comment is both hilarious and pathetic.

One can't help but laugh at people who think they are "this that and then some" as they "boldly" post their negative POV's while hidden behind a computer screen.

LOL

Nell - just want to reiterate that you should not give up hope of finding a NYC apt b/c of your dog. We have a large (quiet, super-friendly) dog that has an amazing life on the UWS btwn her dog friends and people friends. Good luck!

NYC is the dog capital of the world. Do sh!t too....There might be thousands of buildings which do not allow them, but there are thousands who do...

Thanks , MAV for the LL's perspective on floorplans.
I get hung up on SF though floorplans are much more helpful because it really is more to do with layout.
There's good advice on this thread.

Sidebar: I wish I knew where Jim Hones worked. Jim, I wish you were my agent.

What is SUPER funny is the "gut renovation" ads. As in, usually a walk-up or non-doorman listing will say (whether by broker OR owner) "This apartment is all brand-new inside!!!! A GUT RENOVATION!!!!" And yet the pictures clearly depict ancient appliances, fixtures, flooring, etc. If you are not ripping up floors and tearing out walls, its not a "GUT RENOVATION!!!!!!" Its a new paint job and a quick cleaning job by a maid.

Jim - No one with experience hunting for apartments in NY looks at an ad with no photos and thinks the lack of photos means it is some sort of exotic and mysterious find. Their experience leads them more towards trepidation, and that is if they didn't just move past the thing in the first place.

And regarding "homey boring bulls--t" why are you even bothering to read it if you don't like it? If people responded to her posts and asked how she was doing clearly they DID care about it. Your own posts, on the other hand, merely convince people their pre-conceived notions of brokers as s--m are possibly correct.

Nell - I completely understand your point of view about Manhattan. And I can see how if you can find something you can afford or even if it costs a tad more than that the experience will be well worth it. Certainly you won't have to spend the following years wondering "If only...".

It won't be all great experiences. Some of them might probably suck, but they will be experiences nevertheless and from the bad ones you just learn and move on.

hours ago
stop ignoring this person
report abuse Jim - No one with experience hunting for apartments in NY looks at an ad with no photos and thinks the lack of photos means it is some sort of exotic and mysterious find. Their experience leads them more towards trepidation, and that is if they didn't just move past the thing in the first place.

And regarding "homey boring bulls--t" why are you even bothering to read it if you don't like it? If people responded to her posts and asked how she was doing clearly they DID care about it. Your own posts, on the other hand, merely convince people their pre-conceived notions of brokers as s--m are possibly correct.

actually, you're quite wrong. they do it all the time. ALL THE TIME.

@ AvUWS: very well said.
Addressing the making of mean and blanket statements adds nothing. It is mystifying why such a person bothers to respond if subjects cause them such consternation. Or, if they must express those type opinions, at least go with "I" rather than "No one".

ALERT: Jim Hones, to spare yourself any agita, please stop reading this post NOW. I worry about you, Jim. I care. That's why I caution you that the following will be chockablock full of homey boring bulls*t and I don't want you to endanger you.

@ Nellm: I wholeheartedly agree with AvUWS about living in M'hattan. If you have that chance it is so worth it; there's really nothing like it , good, bad,everything. There's a Jimmy Buffet song with the line, "it's hard to descibe a KISS concert if you've never seen it.". That's living in NYC- there's so much going on that create ...I dunno...SOMETHING. Not just the stuff like museums, the architecture, the crowds and fast, but the things like how to walk, what steamtables in Smile's smell like, getting into "fcuk-you" fights with bike messengers, knowing how to jaywalk, knowing the various strategies for getting a cab even when it's raining or shift change...and on and on.
We lived away from NY for a couple of years (which I hated). One night watching Sex & the City, this throwaway little scene made me start boo-hooing : The doorman buzzes her that her car service is there, she intercoms back "I'll be down in a minute".

Sheesh! Whatta buncha homey boring bulls*t !

Good luck, Nellm. Have fun, keep (some of ) us (that are interested enough to read) posted!

Jim Jones is so full of BS. ALL the upscale rental brokerage companies - Halstead, Corcoran, BHS, Core, Pru, etc - put pictures and floorplans in their ads 90% or more of the time. And research has shown that ads with pictures and floor plans get far more hits. So if you want to get LESS business so you have time to bitch on SE, then by all means, leave your ads terse and image free.

However, every other borker on these boards will say 180 degrees different.

If it's priced right, has an address it doesn't matter. I'm not going to give some fucking idiot a reason not to call because he doesn't like the way a shadow falls across the floor.

@ Jim_Hones: Great point!!111!!! : )