This sweet trick might land you an even sweeter Village apartment.
The broker behind a viral $2,300 East Village apartment listing that drew a line around the block last month told The Post the market is being flooded with rude Gen Zer’s looking to rent with their rich parent’s money — making the key to standing out on a tenant application surprisingly simple.
Just be nice.
“There’s a lot of rude people out there … and the pleasant person stands out,” said Tim Brassil, co-founder and president of Village Living Realty, which manages about 100 buildings in coveted Manhattan nabes like Greenwich Village, the East Village and the Lower East Side.
“Very often you’re talking about Type A personalities – these young folks who are highly educated, very driven, and that’s a beautiful thing,” Brassil told The Post. “But they’ve been raised by their parents in a certain way – ‘you’ve got to be tough for New York City’ – but it’s not necessarily the best advice.”
Under the new Good Cause Eviction law, landlords want to be even more certain that a longtime tenant won’t turn into a longtime headache, he said — and a pleasant attitude during a showing is a green flag.
“You want to be somewhat memorable, because it’s my job also to make sure I put the right people in these apartments,” Brassil said. “For the sake of the money, the difference of $100 here and there, it’s not worth the aggravation of a bad tenant.”
Simply making enough money to qualify for the unit doesn’t cut it anymore, either, Brassil noted, with about 9 in 10 applicants getting their parents’ help to meet the financial requirements for an apartment in Gotham.
In turn, introducing oneself to an agent and making a polite first impression “really goes a long way,” Brassil said.
“All these kids are all qualified, all their parents are rich: That [approved] person didn’t just stand there and say, ‘I want it. What do I do? Here’s my deposit.’”
Sure enough, the young woman who scored the standout stabilized studio unit on 13th Street listed at $2,300 not only made a good in-person impression, but also followed up with an email asking to be kept in mind for future rent stabilized listings.
“Sending that email with a very nice note, [she] is certainly somebody we are happy to keep in communication with and to keep in mind when rent stabilized listings come across our desk,” Brassil said.
Young college students and grads represent a majority of prospective tenants Brassil has worked with – and who have scored units for less than $2,500 in neighborhoods like the Upper West Side and the East Village, where the median asking rent for one-bedrooms are well above $4,000.
While many of the mom-and-pop landlords may not have flashy amenities like gyms or in-unit washers, their apartments have exploded in popularity for one reason: location.
Brassil pointed out that, since the COVID pandemic, young renters’ interests have increasingly focused on the sole goal of moving to a hip and happing downtown spot.
“The majority of the folks I rent to, they want the experience of downtown,” he said. “It’s not really about the washer/dryer, it’s not really about the walk-up height, the amount of floors: people want something clean and location.”
And in order to afford downtown living, the person who is shelling out the expensive rental payments has also “changed dramatically,” he said.
“Right after COVID, I saw a tremendous dependency on parents, because … [renters] aren’t willing to do anything else except live downtown,” Brassil said.
“A lot of folks used to qualify on their own … but now I’m starting to see there are folks that all have guarantors,” he said. “They really need to have the help of a guarantor to be able to afford our rents and the quality of life that they anticipate having, because there’s no fun eating ramen in your apartment.”
Brassil adds that he expects this upcoming summer moving season to be busier than usual due to more universities changing housing policies for upperclassmen and a trend in young Gen Zers wanting to live by themselves – but all hope isn’t lost for New Yorkers seeking to find a deal downtown.
Rent stabilized units in downtown Manhattan aren’t particularly rare as they are typically smaller units — around 250 square feet for studio apartments — with a fair amount of turnover, he said. As of 2023, there are roughly one million stabilized units in the five boroughs.
The best deals are quickly taken by pros equipped with StreetEasy alerts, and the best-of-the-best know to set an alert for a particular neighborhood or property they’re vying for as well as a keyword alert for “stabilized.”
“This month or so is pretty hectic, with a lot of folks scrambling around, not really familiar with the rental market,” Brassil said, adding that the chaos typically subsides by mid-June.
“There is a tremendous demand that kind of just happens at this time of year with folks graduating,” Brassil added.
“And if you’re a New Yorker, you’ll know these young folks love a good line.”
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