Below are some of the beautiful buildings of Riverdale with outstanding no fee apartments for rent available right now.

Luxury in Riverdale, Bronx apartments. Swimming pool too.

We have no fee apartments for rent in this lovely building in Riverdale. Call us.

Beautiful apartments in the Bronx.

More of the apartments in Bronx carried by RDNY.com

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog No Fee – 3 Br Gem in Riverdale. Lots of Riverdale, Bronx Apartments This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

If you’re still with me, and thinking that the Upper East Side is worth a look-see, then do yourself a favor and read this article by Kim Velsey in The New York Observer. We, at RDNY.com, have been telling our customers that the Upper East Side is the best place to find value apartments in NYC for the past few years.

One of our charming no fee apartments in New York, on East 92nd Street.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Upper East Side – The Best No Fee Apartments in Manhattan. It’s Hip This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

Here is the list Mr. Wood put together, along with Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats:

Harlem
“The neighborhood, especially along the ‘Gold Coast’ of Frederick Douglas Boulevard, is booming with new restaurants and condos,” Malin said. He pointed out that East River Plaza on Pleasant Avenue – with a Target, Costco and other big-box stores – offers plenty of shopping options in an area that remains relatively affordable. The wealth of close-proximity venues makes the nabe worth it, he said.

RDNY.com comment: We agree that Harlem offers some of the best values on rental apartments in Manhattan these days. We have no quibble with the comments above.

Alphabet City/Lower East Side
“The reason these areas are relatively inexpensive are due to housing stock and transportation issues,” Malin said. The buildings in the area “have a charm all their own,” he added, but “sometimes apartments can be up multiple flights of stairs or have cramped, narrow rooms.” Plus, getting to the subway can be a hike. But a reminder: It’s the best value for people who love nightlife and the “downtown” lifestyle, Malin said.

RDNY.com comment: We agree that the Lower East Side apartments for rent are relatively expensive and come with easy to access nightlife. But they are often tiny and cramped. In our opinion, if you are not into the nightlife of the Lower East Side, or heavily into Katz’s Delicatessen, then your better off in another neighborhood.

When it comes to rental apartments in Manhattan, the Lower East Side can't be beat for nightlife.

Upper East Side
“The Upper East Side is primarily a residential area, so there is generally a lot of available inventory on the market,” Malin said. “For the best values, look east of Second Avenue and at walk-up buildings. There also may be great deals along Second Avenue if you can handle the …  subway construction.”

RDNY.com comment: Once again, we agree. In fact, we would have placed the Upper East Side at the very top of  this list. We think it has, dollar for dollar, the best values in town.

Astoria
“Apartments in Astoria tend to trade at a 35% discount to equivalent properties in Manhattan,” Malin said. Also, midtown is only a 10-to-15-minute subway ride away from the Queens nabe. But Astoria is its own mecca of international cuisine and nightlife, Malin added, making it an attractive place for bargain renters.

RDNY.com comment: Astoria has been “discovered” for a few years and the bargains are getting harder and harder to find, but they are still there. The ease of getting into Manhattan from Astoria makes it a top destination for people looking for an alternative to Manhattan.

Greenpoint
Brooklyn’s northernmost neighborhood is the cheaper option to nearby Williamsburg and Long Island City, Malin said. It’s bustling with bars and restaurants along its main drags, Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street. And it has a thriving artistic vibe with warehouse and industrial properties. But “the downside to Greenpoint is access to transit,” Malin said. “The neighborhood’s only subway line, the G, is consistently rated the city’s least reliable. “

RDNY.com comment: The comments for Greenpoint above are accurate. We would also add that Greenpoint, at least close to the central part of the nabe, has a nice vibe to it, but the transportation issue could definitely be a deal breaker.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Five Nabes With Great Deals on New York City Apartments for Rent This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

This has to be one of the coolest New York City apartments around. I want it.

May this be your next NYC apartment. Amen.

I seen many an apartment in NYC that are much smaller than this den.

Don't all New York City apartments come with a solarium? What do you think? Like it?

We thank Shelterpop.com for these wonderful photos.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog A Swimming Pool in Your NYC Apartment Living Room? This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

According to set designer Claudette Didul, apartment 17-B is an Upper East Side high rise with a white carpeted sunken living room and a fascinating fireplace and a Case Study-style kitchen with two pass-through windows.

There are walnut cabinets, one with a built in TV set and the very latest push button phone.  There are Don’s manly appointments, such as his high-tech gadgets (for that time) a hi-fi, leather lounge chair, and counter-top cocktail bar with a drum-shaped ice bucket. Don likes the clean, uncluttered modern lines that he shares with his new wife, Megan. Megan like the youthful colors.

As a real estate professional, I naturally wonder how much in rent Don pays. The show hasn’t revealed that yet. I also wonder if there is a Manhattan apartment for rent that still looks like that. I doubt it. The next time I look for an apartment rental in Manhattan, my eye will be searching for the kind of place Don would have wanted to live in.

A stylish 60's sofa for your Manhattan apartment rental.

A fine Etsy coffee table. What Don Draper wanna-be would want an apartment rental in Manhattan without such a fine period piece?

A fine period kitchen that was once common in Manhattan apartment for rent.

The opposite view from the kitchen, looking towards the living room. This set is a Manhattan apartment. Ah, if only it were a Manhattan no fee apartment rental available now. Notice the spinning spice rack on the wall, just below the cabinet. An absolutely authentic touch.

Credit must be given to Decorspark.com. Visit the link and discover some other terrific photos of this incredible apartment in Manhattan.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Don Draper’s Manhattan Apartment Rental Examined This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

Tetran CEO and co-founder Ruke Keragala writes that both LEGO and Transformers toys were an inspiration when designing the modular furniture.Tetran consists of a variety of standardized modules, blocks and cushions that can be fitted together to create just about any item of furniture you can imagine. You can see a gallery of 88 configurations here and the Tetran website here.

Let’s get started with a few of the photos that I think are entirely doable when you find your rental apartment in NYC. Keep in mind that you’ll need a little imagination to envision this modular furniture in most NYC rentals, but it won’t be too hard.

Picture this setup in your NY apartment rental. Perfect for entertaining in style.

If your rental apartment in NYC doesn't have enough clothes closet space, imaging this setup. But pick on of their other colors.

NYC rentals would look far better if they came with a walk in closet like this. But they don't. Now you can put up your own.

It's just like being back in college again. Only more efficient. And it's your own NYC rental.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Your Studio is a Great NY Apartment Rental With Lego-Like Furniture This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Marriage for All! Congratulation Pres. Obama for Taking a Stand! This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

How do I tie in a story/video about the New York Times morgue with a blog about New York apartments, particularly a blog about apartments for rent in New York City? I admit it, it’s a bit of a stretch except for this… What would life be like in New York City without the Times chronicling the large and the small, the significant and the mundane about our great city? The Times, for better or for worse, is our institutional memory and the morgue at the Times is the place where our memories about everything grand and once important lives. It’s the memory center of our collective brains. It is one of the signal treasures of this city and this country.

I’ll admit that I never gave much thought to the people who work day and night three levels underground in the NY Times morgue. But having seen the video above, I can no longer forget that hundreds of thousands of man-hours, if not more, were devoted to saving these scraps of our history.

The New York Times, I salute you for this treasure in our midst. Oh, and one last word about New York apartments for rent- the morgue has cataloged the history of residential real estate in its files. What a joy to look back at old apartment for rent ads from 50 years ago and discover that it only too a few hundred dollars per month to live on Park Avenue with the swells. Thanks NY Times.

Is Marilyn Monroe looking at old ads for New York apartments for rent in the Time's morgue? I wonder.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog The Morgue is Alive at the New York Times This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

His main argument boils down to this; rent stabilization, rent laws, and construction costs are the main reasons rents are so high. Particularly rent laws and rent stabilization which protects tenants. Without these laws, developers would assemble blocks with many low rise buildings, knock them down, and build high rises. The result would be many more apartments for rent in Manhattan, which in turn would drive down rents.

While it sounds convincing, and there is much truth to his argument, I argued that it is not the rent laws nor rent stabilization that is causing our high rents right now. The current shortage of apartments is mainly due do the financial collapse of 2008-2009 which caused new building construction of rental apartment in Manhattan and other parts of the city to collapse. My argument was that, given enough time, more buildings are being planned and are in the pipeline. The lead time to build new buildings is measured in years, not weeks, so it will take a little time until a significant number of new units starts to come on the market. That – and the recovery of the sales market (meaning that mortgages become readily available again) will move many renters out of rental buildings and into homes that they purchase, will greatly increase the supply of available rental apartments, and thus will soon result in lower rents.

Now there is some evidence to support my argument. Today, The Real Deal, an industry publication for the real estate industry, has an article entitled “Manhattan apartment landlords increasingly gut renovate buildings in pursuit of higher rents“, which profiles the gut renovation of a 128 unit rental building at 2nd Avenue and 28th Street. The first paragraph says essentially what my argument is.

The white-hot rental market and the shifting demographic of renters has compelled more New York City landlords to invest in extensive renovations of their rental properties, according to the Wall Street Journal. Landlords of apartment buildings 10 to 30 years old are spending millions to gut renovate well-located buildings and raise rents 10 to 40 percent.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal carried an article by Laura Kusisto entitled, “Permits Climb As Developers Up Their Bets“. Here are the first two paragraphs:

Manhattan is starting to shake off its construction doldrums and could see the first flurry of building activity since the recession, according to the city’s Department of Buildings.

Manhattan experienced a 169% spike in new building permits issued so far this year, according to the buildings department, which issued 35 permits for construction including hotels, apartment buildings, an “affordable housing” development and an art gallery in the first four months of 2012. That is up from 13 in the same period last year.

The image below tells the story and I rest my case. It’s wasn’t the rent laws that caused rent to spike to an all time high. It was the freeze on financing for development projects and the general conditions of the recession/depression that caused building to stop. With the improvement in the economy and the unfreezing of financing for development projects, we’ll soon see lots of new apartment rentals in Manhattan – and the rest of NYC.

Apartment rentals in Manhattan will see prices leveling off or declining once all these new project are built.

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Follow-up to “Why The Rent is Too Damn High – or Not” This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com

Manhattan apartments, of which there are a few pictured in this photo, are setting record high rents these days.

Looking to rent an apartment in NYC? Be prepared to pay! That’s the word our from Citi Habitats latest monthly report. Here are some of the key stats from the report:

• April rents are about 3% higher than were they were in April 2011.
• The average Manhattan rent is now $3,429.
• The average rent in a Manhattan walkup building was $3,199.
• The average rent in a new Manhattan doorman building was $5,300
• The Manhattan apartments vacancy rate is now only 1.16%.
• Landlord concessions are now almost completely absent from the market except at the very high end.

What’s the cause of this surge in rental prices? Lack of new inventory – which means that very few new apartments have come on the market, since housing construction in Manhattan came to a standstill in 2008 and 2009. Building are just gearing up now for a whole new batch of buildings, but they won’t be ready for occupancy anytime soon.

If you are looking to rent apartments in NYC, or more specifically, if your looking at Manhattan apartments, you will definitely want to save as much money as you can.

The broker commission on the average apartment rental in Manhattan is $6,1722 (Average Manhattan rent of $3,429 X 15% of the first year’s rent). Imagine that! To rent the average apartment in Manhattan, you would have to spend over $6,000 for the broker’s fee! Insane!

With RDNY.com, 100% of our New York City apartments are no fee apartments. The commission that you will owe to RDNY.com is $0. Does it make sense to look for an apartment for rent in New York any other way?

This post originated from http://www.Rent-Direct.com/blog Surprise, Surprise…Apartments in NYC Hit Rental High This is the blog for Rent-Direct.com and RDNY.com - New York's largest and most trusted No Fee apartment rental service. RDNY.com