Wasn't New York City More Grimey In The 80s & 90s In Constrast To Now

[ninjahood]

JPEG,

Link me to where you applied so I can see for myself. I just find it a bit degrading because you aren't seen as good enough or equals.

http://ny.curbed.com/places/500-west-30th-street

This needs its own thread...despicable..

 

[al audi]

Ninja, you know those groups of young professionals flocking to the large metropolis where driving wouldn't be very convenient is still a MINORITY bro, do you have ANY idea how many young and old professionals/families are still very much chasing the American dream of a house with a white picket fence?..live outside of the major city and move around in the comfort of their car and traffic free highways to their upscale malls with indoor parking?...NOT everyone is trying to chase this new dream you are supposedly living....not everyone wants to live in the middle of the action...I for one love to have the option of going into the action and at the end recruit back to my calm suburbs with assigned parking space....

agree 100%

i love NYC but i dont WANT to live there at all

i would much rather have a car an access to other things

 

[DrizzyNYC]

are you not reading da articles? da overwhelming trend with da demographic of 18-35 year olds (millennials) is ditching car ownership overall and riding mass transit in cities they are

flocking to...go look it up yourself...people who are my age into cars arent what they were..and even admittedly i dont even need a car when i plan to buy one.

Say what u want about him not owning a car but he is sort of right. Being 21 in NYC and owning a car and paying NYC insurance all on my own feels like a scam. Not to mention I'm constantly getting crap parking tickets....
I would save so much money and headache not owning a car but I have become addicted to the luxury of getting up and going as I please. I live in far rockaway so I'm pretty far from everything so it's nice not having to add a 1-2 hour train ride in my commute.

 

[frostythepoptart]

all the article is saying is everyone is handling their business later in life because of economy.

people are also leaving their parents house later, (or never) *cough* securing a job later, getting married, later, etc.

deciding between a car and the internet might be the dumbest comparison I've read. the internet is a vital component to life in this era. for entertainment and business.

 

[3am scholar]

JPEG,

Link me to where you applied so I can see for myself. I just find it a bit degrading because you aren't seen as good enough or equals.

http://ny.curbed.com/places/500-west-30th-street

This needs its own thread...despicable..

Why despicable? Perfect opportunity for students who are looking for affordable apartments.

 

[al audi]

ill go on record an say if i lived in NYC

i would prolly not own a car......its more of a hassle. has nothing to do with paper either.

i rather live outside NYC in an urban area thats closer where i would still need a car.

spot im looking at in stamford got full amenties an ish, nice city an i can shoot to NYC no prob.

i know a couple young professionals out there already an a chick who just moved out there. rent isnt cheap but still you get more than bein in NYC in a luxury spot

 

[younghollywood]

I would never wanna live in nyc and drive my cars in those ****** up roads.  I wouldn't live in the northeast period just off the weather alone but if I did it'd prolly def have to be Bergen County in Jersey or somewhere in Long Island

 

[al audi]

I've argued this before, but I'm generally speaking for myself, a married man ready to start a family, I find absolutely nothing cool about raising kids in the city...yeah it's fun as a single individual living life or even as a couple just enjoying each other, but as married couple ready to settle into their 30's I just can't picture wanting to still be dealing with the hustle of such a big city and everything that comes with it.

again

i agree with this also

 

[al audi]

I would never wanna live in nyc and drive my cars in those ****** up roads.  I wouldn't live in the northeast period just off the weather alone but if I did it'd prolly def have to be Bergen County in Jersey or somewhere in Long Island

you dont like havin 4 seasons?

 

[halftime]

I always told myself that when I got older I want my kids to live in the city and go to public schools.

I feel like now in NYC, the next generation that'll have kids would be a bit more educated on how things are in the school system and in the city as well, as opposed to people like me who have immigrant parents.

I always felt like there were some things you learn for life in a big city that you cant learn in the suburbs.

 

[younghollywood]

you dont like havin 4 seasons?

hell no, I don't know why anyone does.  Why u think I live in LA and Vegas besides business.  And looking at miami for my 3rd residence.  I like year round warm weather.  No snow means my whips can be out all year too

I like to ski, but I just make a 3 hr drive from LA to big bear for that.  Or fly to Vail, Park city etc. during season

 

[rell826]

To each his own and don't want to derail the thread, but there are things I learned growing up in the city that I would never learn in suburbia. That's an experience alone that I value. Putting way too much stock into the suburbs.

 

[thorrocksjs]

New York changed when it found it easier to remove the poor people and the blacks instead of fixing the problems plaguing them such as lack of jobs terrible housing etc. It became disney land because white yuppies from all over america and the world realised they too can be new yorkers because cops are gonna protect them and the city will do whatever it can to accommodate them. It became a twisted version of manifest destiny these so called hip white people converge on an area because the poor people and minorities in the community have little to know say so on what gets passed on the block and arent politically literate enough to combat these urban carpet baggers so they get pushed out. SO you have white people with generations of wealth and parents who are baby boomers cushioning the rent for them allowing them to create niche businesses for extremely low rates that eventually cut the pre existing community out .

Its like having a village with a river that is just has plain water in it and you get a rich saw mill opening next to it. Rich Sawmill says hey let me borrow the water a bit to run this Mill villagers say its cool we werent really using the water to drink it anyway .So Sawmill says alright fine and starts using the water and starts bringing in workers and employees so they create housing and buy up villagers homes slowly the price on things go up as the Mill workers need speciality food and items thats not unique to the town . Rent goes up too because the Sawmill offers premium prices for basic housing .Now the mill starts bringing in its affliated business slowly choking off the locals eventually the small town doesnt look the same anymore they have new restaurants new grocery stores new neighbors and they dont have a forth of the resources which dictate who controls the town . Now the Sawmill controls the local government who benefitted off of winning elections with these new richer voters so they have no political power. Government and sawmill say well the city is safer and makes more money we really dont need the old citizens anymore lets just make it so uncomfortable for them to live here so they are forced to leave and leave for cheap. Next thing you know the old citizens leave sell their property for whatever they get and now they are out of luck out of an identity and worst of all without a home. That my friend is story of New York the exact same thing happened in San Francisco to the black population and this happens in every major city in america

 

[sreggie101]

nyc rent u say?

 

[nazdrowie]

both areas have their advantages and disadvantages and not all suburbs are created equal...ive lived in the suburbs and the city and while i can def say i like the city, many suburbs immediately surrounding cities are not bad at all.

i grew up in a middle of no where suburb (Columbia), moved to the the city for college and now work in the suburbs (Bethesda). Montgomery County (the areas ive gotten to see Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Wheaton, Silver Spring, and Takoma Park) are close enough or immediately adjacent to the city so its really easy to get around with the Rideon and Metro buses, and Metrorail. you get the piece of mind that lots of people are looking for along with the urban aspects because Bethesda and Silver Spring have urban centers. granted Bethesda and Chevy Chase are arguably the wealthiest places in MD but you get decent diversity with Wheaton, Silver Spring, and Takoma Park. also spent lots time in CP and Hyattsville and think both are nice and really good location close to the city, from what ive seen.

if i had children and could afford it id still pick the city but at least with suburbs go Montgomery County, followed by northern/Western PG County (CP, Hyattsville, Mt. Rainier, adelphi, Greenbelt, dont know much about the rest of the county).

i wouldnt/couldnt raise any children in a place like Columbia though. dat middle of no where life would probably get to them like it did to me at some point

 

[sniper]

Millennials dont own cars, flock

To cities em mass, abandoning

suburbs fueling gentrification.

This isnt sone "niche" its da

prevailing seismic shift.

& for da record, you gotta be 21+

Years old to qualify for hazmat CDL

Sniper. You sure love being wrong

da millennial

Generation is 18-35 years old.

Da data supporting my claims is so

Insurmountable haters got nothing

Else to do but do blame source..

So da NY times, CNN, and Huffington

Post wrong eh? Even fox news confirm

This trend, so its not some kind of

Partyline talking point by liberals

Or conservatives.

Knowledge is power #factsonly

It's just looks like you type keywords then paste whatever it states in the bolded headline then go on a "proof is in the pudding" soliloquy...

Your 'data' actually just questioned a make-up artist, an 'actor'/'artist' that most likely busses tables & an event coordinator. I'd have an excuse like their's if I couldn't afford a car either. Again, like I said, you tend to generalize a lot...

The trend is an economy in a paralleled shift despite our education/debt dilemma. As I said, you're at the end of the spectrum if you truly want to deem yourself as a "millennial". (i.e. You should, more or less, already be accomplished by now & not starting from square one at age 30+.) I apologize for the HazMat credentials so I'll ask the question again correctly. What exactly were you doing from 21 to 30? Is that better? Like I said, late to the party...

Just because a large amount of African-Americans are moving away from NY, it doesn't negate that a lot of Hispanics are as well despite a recent surge of migrators to NY. (This is a mix of the poor actually leaving because of said gentrification.) Take a look at those facts before segregating one demographic. You have a habit of straw-grabbing. Regardless, it's been the first time in 60+ years (Yes. SIXTY years.) that more people actually moved TO New York versus actually leaving it. I find it hilarious that you're trying to insinuate that you're a part of that group. Honestly, it just looks like you & your mother just stayed there while being stagnant remnants of people moving in that are much more wealthier than you. For what? To see people (on the daily) that are younger AND more well-off than you taking property & jobs from your friends & family? Good plan, my dude. Good plan... (Probably should have cut your losses awhile ago & flocked with the herd in a Flying "V" formation.)

To put this in perspective:
- You rent an old/small apartment with your mother through stabilized rent.
- 21% of those in rent stabilized facilities are under the federal poverty line while another 22% receive some form of public/government assistance.
- Let's be real here. Your YouTube videos don't glorify a luxurious or even clean lifestyle by any means. On my end, it looks like someone should have been saving instead of stocking-up on shoes and Mitchell & Ness jerseys. (Clear example of why the rich get richer & the poor get poorer.)

#factsonly

 

[the nomad]

New York changed when it found it easier to remove the poor people and the blacks instead of fixing the problems plaguing them such as lack of jobs terrible housing etc. It became disney land because white yuppies from all over america and the world realised they too can be new yorkers because cops are gonna protect them and the city will do whatever it can to accommodate them. It became a twisted version of manifest destiny these so called hip white people converge on an area because the poor people and minorities in the community have little to know say so on what gets passed on the block and arent politically literate enough to combat these urban carpet baggers so they get pushed out. SO you have white people with generations of wealth and parents who are baby boomers cushioning the rent for them allowing them to create niche businesses for extremely low rates that eventually cut the pre existing community out .

Its like having a village with a river that is just has plain water in it and you get a rich saw mill opening next to it. Rich Sawmill says hey let me borrow the water a bit to run this Mill villagers say its cool we werent really using the water to drink it anyway .So Sawmill says alright fine and starts using the water and starts bringing in workers and employees so they create housing and buy up villagers homes slowly the price on things go up as the Mill workers need speciality food and items thats not unique to the town . Rent goes up too because the Sawmill offers premium prices for basic housing .Now the mill starts bringing in its affliated business slowly choking off the locals eventually the small town doesnt look the same anymore they have new restaurants new grocery stores new neighbors and they dont have a forth of the resources which dictate who controls the town . Now the Sawmill controls the local government who benefitted off of winning elections with these new richer voters so they have no political power. Government and sawmill say well the city is safer and makes more money we really dont need the old citizens anymore lets just make it so uncomfortable for them to live here so they are forced to leave and leave for cheap. Next thing you know the old citizens leave sell their property for whatever they get and now they are out of luck out of an identity and worst of all without a home. That my friend is story of New York the exact same thing happened in San Francisco to the black population and this happens in every major city in america

No, black people have had at least 30+ years to get it together, if white guilt was sneakers the tread been worn down to the inner soles, LEANING. 
White folks tired of playing, that's all, they can afford it, that's THEIR WORLD, THEIR WEALTH, THEIR SYSTEM. Sure, you can be part of their system, but can you succeed? It's rigged for YOU to fuel it, for you to lose. But most define success by what white America has.

Paid In Full: "....white n_ ain't even got this" - Mitch

Blacks aren't the only ethnicity to face persecution, enslavement, exploitation, discrimination or flat out racism. Let them white folks cook ...we're not slaves, we don't have to cook for them anymore. Nor beg for scraps, but you're trained to do so. You're trained to believe you're gonna somehow "succeed" in his world.


Asians have figured it out, Jewish people have figured it out, even our distance cousins the Nigerians have figured it out with IQ test scores off the charts. 


Why does this era still have a majority in the dark, trained to have their hand out for welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, STRUGGLING to compete in HIS system and he's been DEAD for almost a century or possibly even more?


We're FREE, which means not only physical chains, but mental ones as well. There's PLENTY of self made black millionaires, apply yourself and you wealth cannot be ignored.
 

Get out his face...

 

[senditup]

No, black people have had at least 30+ years to get it together, if white guilt was sneakers the tread been worn down to the inner soles, LEANING. 

White folks tired of playing, that's all, they can afford it, that's THEIR WORLD, THEIR WEALTH, THEIR SYSTEM. Sure, you can be part of their system, but can you succeed? It's rigged for YOU to fuel it, for you to lose. But most define success by what white America has.


Paid In Full: "....white n_ ain't even got this" - Mitch


Blacks aren't the only ethnicity to face persecution, enslavement, exploitation, discrimination or flat out racism. Let them white folks cook ...we're not slaves, we don't have to cook for them anymore. Nor beg for scraps, but you're trained to do so. You're trained to believe you're gonna somehow "succeed" in his world.



Asians have figured it out, Jewish people have figured it out, even our distance cousins the Nigerians have figured it out with IQ test scores off the charts. 



Why does this era still have a majority in the dark, trained to have their hand out for welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, STRUGGLING to compete in HIS system and he's been DEAD for almost a century or possibly even more?



We're FREE, which means not only physical chains, but mental ones as well. There's PLENTY of self made black millionaires, apply yourself and you wealth cannot be ignored.

 
Get out his face...

Sit down bruh. You literally have NO clue what you're talking about seriously.

 

[thorrocksjs]

Sit down bruh. You literally have NO clue what you're talking about seriously.

I dont pay him no attention i wish he would make like Dr.Manhattan and dip off to mars

 

[ksteezy]

hell no, I don't know why anyone does.  Why u think I live in LA and Vegas besides business.  And looking at miami for my 3rd residence.  I like year round warm weather.  No snow means my whips can be out all year too

I like to ski, but I just make a 3 hr drive from LA to big bear for that.  Or fly to Vail, Park city etc. during season

My dude doesn't waste an opportunity to drop that hunblebrag....lmao

 

[ninjahood]

so all this hot air you yapping JUST to tell me:

-i am actually going to BENEFIT from gentrification when and IF it happens to washington heights. (rent control laws is bulletproof and have NOTHING to do with income)

can't push me out, can't take away my lease, so if da hood gets super bougie i'm already in from da ground floor, da blood sucking vulture hipsters gotta pay market rate 

-i dont recieve a DIME in federal assistance, you trying to count my pockets cuz?

i could make as high as 175k a YEAR and still hold down this apt at rock bottom

prices because rent stablization has to do with how LONG you been at da APT, NOT how much have you been making.

-NEWSFLASH bucko, those yuppies wanna live next to me with similar "small/old apts" they gotta pay 4x-5x times da amount..i dont give a DAMN what da next man

has, unlike you that basically admitted he would tuck his **** between his legs da first sign he saw trouble and retreat 

-seems you're a fan of my youtube videos, watching me like you watch TV, meanwhile you just a nameless heckler on NT who ain't putting money in account

to tell me how i need to live my life...im straight b, getting my paper, feet up knowing my apt is mine and all da gentrfiers ain't going to da burbs no more, they wanna

come to da city and live JUST LIKE ME.....let that sink in REAL GOOD.

-still can't disprove da facts i laid down in this thread

#factonly

 

[younghollywood]

My dude doesn't waste an opportunity to drop that hunblebrag....lmao

lol nah, apparently I didn't even make it on the list of rich nters today.  But anyways was just saying to me even if I could afford a penthouse in columbus circle or Central park west I'd still have to go thru the same cold weather, same ****** roads to drive on etc. that I'd rather live somewhere warm and where I can have a mansion or at least big house at.  Nice weather and space are things I really value

 

[senditup]

Lives in rent control apartment proudly, turns around and brags about not receiving federal assistance. You a walking contradiction bruh, and the funniest thing is you act like ueono

 

[ninjahood]

Lives in rent control apartment proudly, turns around and brags about not receiving federal assistance. You a walking contradiction bruh, and the funniest thing is you act like ueono

rent control ISN'T federal assistance, my **** ain't subsidized, this ain't housing b..learn da X's & Os before you open your mouth.

you got folks in da upper east side with rent controlled APTS who got mansion in long island because its all about how long you been in

your apt, not your income.

i ain't even surprised at da salt...
[h1]Rent-Stabilized Apartments, Ever More Elusive[/h1]

Michael Nagle for The New York Times

STEP 1 Matt Fox, left, and Matt Held went apartment-hunting together.
[h6]By MARC SANTORA[/h6][h6]Published: July 5, 2012[/h6]

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IN the often desperate hunt for an affordable place to live in Manhattan, the rent-stabilized apartment retains a strong hold on the imagination. It is so hard to find one that newcomers may think they have gone the way of subway tokens and Automats.


[h4]Connect With Us on Twitter[/h4]
For news and features on real estate, follow @nytrealestate.

Enlarge This Image
[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com...e/08COVER3/jp-cover-3-articleInline.jpg[/img]
[h6]Michael Nagle for The New York Times[/h6]
STEP 2 They found a place on Barrow Street with an actual living room.

Enlarge This Image
[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com...e/08COVER2/jp-cover-2-articleInline.jpg[/img]
[h6]Michael Nagle for The New York Times[/h6]
STEP 3 It also has two full bedrooms and a well-equipped kitchen.

Enlarge This Image
[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com...e/08COVER4/COVER-JP-4-articleInline.jpg[/img]
[h6]Michael Nagle for The New York Times[/h6]
FINALLY Lucky them. The place is rent-stabilized: $2,800 a month.

But even in Manhattan, nearly half of all rental apartments are rent-stabilized. And last year, lawmakers in Albany strengthened protections for tenants, raising the rent ceiling to $2,500 a month from $2,000 before an apartment can be deregulated, and the annual income limit to $200,000 from $175,000. In Manhattan, the new rules affect nearly 250,000 apartments.

Those rules mean that rent-stabilized apartments may be even more difficult to come by as people stay in them longer. What with the overall rental vacancy rate of about 1 percent in Manhattan, when one does come up for lease, prospective tenants are likely to discover themselves facing nearly the same level of scrutiny as condo or co-op buyers, agents say.

The appeal of a rent-stabilized unit is obvious. Landlords of stabilized units are allowed to raise the rent by only a few percentage points, as determined by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. Tenants do not have to move out until their income tops the state limit.

And in Manhattan, the price gap between a rent-stabilized and a market-rate unit has never been greater, according to a study released this spring by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University.

Even before the spike in market-rate rents over the past year,  rent-stabilized rates were, on average, $1,245 a month cheaper.

“The competition for a $4,000 one-bedroom is now fierce,” said Yuval Greenblatt, a vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “So you can imagine how strong competition is for something below market value.”

The study also found that, despite the widespread impression that stabilized apartments are meant to provide affordable housing (and they certainly keep housing prices stable for hundreds of thousands of people), many of those fortunate enough to land one in recent years have been relatively well off.

Whereas the median income of all renters of stabilized apartments in the Manhattan core — defined as below 96th Street — is $57,780, the median income of those moving in in recent years is closer to the average Manhattan income of about $100,000, said Vicki L. Been, the director of the Furman Center. 

“Some people who enjoy the benefits of rent stabilization are not low-income households,” the report revealed.

In New York City outside of core Manhattan, the difference is less pronounced, the study found. There, the average stabilized rent is $250 cheaper than the market rate. And the median income of stabilized tenants is $8,000 below that of market-rate ones; south of 96th Street, the income difference is much greater.

Finding a stabilized apartment remains a challenge. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has a list of all the buildings that have at least some stabilized apartments, but it provides no data on how many of the apartments in the building are regulated and how many are market-rate. It is also not a listing service.

And as for the city’s major brokerages, few if any keep track of stabilized units.

“I have people all the time who come to me and ask me to find them a rent-stabilized apartment,” said Alexis Fleming, a broker at Citi Habitats. “I tell them good luck. It is a needle in a haystack.”

In seven years, she said, she has rented just seven stabilized apartments.

For those fortunate enough to come upon one, that may be just the beginning of the struggle. Potential renters are likely to face stiffer competition than ever as landlords sort through well-qualified bidders. 

Jack Freund, the executive vice president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords and property owners, says it is in the interest of landlords to be even more selective than market-rate landlords.

“In the free market, you get a tenant in, and if it turns out bad, you simply do not renew that lease,” he said. “As a rent-regulated landlord, the owner does not have that option.”

Potential renters must be fully prepared. Not only do you need to have a check in hand to cover the application fee and deposit, but as an applicant you will also be expected to have earned an annual income of 45 to 50 times the monthly rent for the past three years. If the apartment, for example, costs $2,000 a month, an applicant, or an applicant and a roommate, need to show a salary exceeding $90,000. Landlords are also closely scrutinizing credit history, looking for  a score over 700.  

For many young people moving to the city, salary and credit history can be a problem, so they must produce a guarantor to pay the rent if the tenant cannot. Some landlords would prefer to deal with a qualified tenant. Others like guarantors, since they add an extra level of protection. Landlords generally like guarantors to show at least 100 times the monthly rent in income.

Brokers say that in small buildings, landlords are often more interested in the type of tenant one might make and therefore more understanding if all the criteria are not met exactly.

A raft of rules and regulations protects stabilized tenants, including the mandatory offer of a lease renewal, but no laws govern the application process. Although some landlords take the first qualified applicant who comes along, others take multiple applications, hoping to find the most qualified tenant. 

Mr. Greenblatt, the Prudential broker, said that when he first moved to the Manhattan in 1993, the landscape was vastly different.

Without much searching, he found a lovely studio apartment with a working fireplace at 53 Irving Place for just over $700 a month.

Now, when people come to him in the hopes of finding a similar deal, he offers a harsh reality check.

“The same opportunities are not available,” he said. “Period.”

The vast majority of regulated apartments are rent-stabilized. It is much harder to find anything rent-controlled — apartments in buildings that went up before 1947 and have been occupied continuously by a tenant (or family member, spouse or lifetime partner) since 1971. There are only about 38,000 of these units left in the city.

Shannon Aalai, a broker at Citi Habitats who specializes in finding apartments for people relocating for work, says the first thing she has to do is educate a client about the realities of the market.

“People have this notion that they are going to find this great, cheap rent-stabilized apartment,” she said.

It is understandable, she said, since many people either know someone or have heard a story about a successful search for a stabilized apartment.

“But the reality is, the really cheap stuff never even hits the market,” she said.

She should know.

Ms. Aalai found her $1,300 rent-stabilized apartment in the Gramercy area because other brokers lived in the building, knew the landlord and gave her a heads-up when an apartment became available.

It is the kind of story that inspires hope, providing proof that deals can be found, and envy, as the reality sinks in that not everyone has an equal opportunity.

Mr. Greenblatt says that those who have only a few weeks to secure an apartment will find it nearly impossible to find a stabilized one.

“If your timing was right and you got here 20 years ago,” he said, “you could be living in a three-bedroom on Park Avenue.” Those larger units, however, rarely turn over. And if a renter does leave, it is often in the landlord’s interest to do extensive renovations — enough to legally move the apartment out of stabilization to market rate.

However, if a person has months to search, he said, the best bet is to focus on studios and small one-bedrooms in older tenements or brownstones.

Often, when those kinds of apartments turn over, the renovation that would be required in order to charge market rate is too costly, given what the unit could command in rent, so it is kept in the stabilization system.

Of course, there is always luck, and a good broker.

Just ask Matt Held, 22, and his college buddy, Matthew Fox, also 22.

They both wanted to live in Manhattan, and Mr. Fox, a student at the New York University School of Law, was hoping to be close to the West Village campus.

For more than a month, they pounded the pavement in frustration.

“It was really difficult to even find a decent convertible one-bedroom apartment for less than $4,000,” Mr. Held said. Some apartments they saw had been advertised as two-bedrooms but had no living room. Others had no real kitchen, or an impossibly cramped bathroom.

They seriously doubted that they would find anything.

Mr. Held was also wary of brokers, wanting to do things on his own. So when Mr. Fox contacted Ms. Fleming of Citi Habitats, he was skeptical. 

When she called him on a recent Saturday morning, telling him he needed to rush down to the West Village immediately, with a check in hand, Mr. Held asked if she was sure the place was decent.

“She told me, ‘I will not waste your time,’ ” he said. She also made it clear that he had better be the first one in the apartment that morning, since it would go fast.

When he arrived at the apartment on Barrow Street, he was stunned.

It not only had two full bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen with decent appliances, but it was also rent-stabilized with a monthly price of $2,800.

Mr. Fox said that when Mr. Held called him about the place, his first reaction was to wonder what was wrong with it.

“You don’t want to find that there is no door,” he said.

But there were no problems, and because Ms. Fleming had a good relationship with the landlord, the application went smoothly. The two men recently moved in, and they know how lucky they are.

“We were sitting around with some friends and we would not shut up about it,” Mr. Held said. “Finally, they were like: ‘Enough already, you got a great deal. We get it.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/r...ts-ever-more-elusive.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

[the nomad]

Aww, Ninja they said you milking the system ...is this true? 

 ...My convo is gonna be limited to you and steezy in this thread, the others can't seem to play nice and engage in meaningful debate. They'd rather throw insults wrapped in worth coy rebuttals.