New York City hasn’t been rocked by an earthquake since 1884, when a 5.2 tremor rocked Rockaway Beach. In light of recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, many here wonder: How would New York City’s different apartment buildings sustain the damage?

New York Magazine has an article that describes the impact on various types of common residential buildings around New York.

The final conclusion: 1,170 New Yorkers, if a 6.0 quake occurred today at 2 p.m., according to a 2003 study.

“Except that there’s nothing typical about this business,” said his handler, Jeremy Ecker, 35, whose six-month-old company, the Bed Bug Inspectors, has vetted hotels, college dorms and Midtown office buildings, suburban homes, bare-bones Brooklyn rentals and tony Manhattan co-ops. (Mr. Ecker, who charges $350 for a residential inspection, is an independent inspector, meaning he has no affiliation with an exterminator, though many hire him to check a property they have treated.)

Let the NY Times tell you more. They also have an interesting slide show to go with this storty.

So, you may be wondering just how long can you escape from the clutches of such a nasty curse when they seem to be everywhere and closing in?

Well, I have some news that should have you sleeping better at night. If you follow these safety tips you should be able to reduce the odds immensely of your home or apartment ever getting invaded by this sleep destroying army of insects.

Since bedbug extermination is not a do-it yourself job — here are some things you can do to protect yourself and your home:

#1 Never, never and I repeat never, bring home a mattress you found in the street. Or a chair. Or a bookcase. Or a (fill in the blank). You get the idea, no? Now to most people this sounds like common sense and you are saying to yourself that you would never do such a thing…. but there are hundreds, and thousands of people who think they just won the dumpster diving lottery when they see that almost brand new Sealy posture pedic kicked to the curb. It doesn’t occur to them that it was thrown out for a reason. This includes ANY furniture. Bedbugs hide in wood joints too. New York has rich garbage, some of the richest on the planet…. much of it is tempting to drag home…. but please don’t. Those innocent days are over.

#2 Never buy a mattress from someone who collects and recycles old mattresses then flips them, selling them as new. Do I need to explain this one after reading #1? If you see a neighbor bringing in a recycled mattress better educate them quickly or soon his/her bedbug problem will be yours, I can guarantee it. Especially if your live in an apartment building. The more neighbors you educate about where they buy their mattresses, the safer you will be.

#3 – Even when you buy a new mattress from a reputable mattress company or store…. if they pick up your old mattress well, guess what? They are picking up other people’s old mattresses that very well may have been bedbug infested. And those mattresses go on their truck uncovered with bedbugs and bedbug eggs dripping all over the cab of the truck and your new mattress even though plastic covered comes into your home with some of them tiny bastards stuck on the new mattress covering or the delivery men’s shoes or pants cuffs. Remember, all it takes is one determined bug or egg sack and your are infested. Buy only from stores that do NOT take away the old mattress. Gone are the days when removal of the old mattress is considered a buying perk.

#3 – When moving and using a moving truck, ask them how often they spray their trucks. If they look at you like they don’t understand… get a moving quote from someone else. Insist on them doing a bug treatment before they pick up your stuff. Otherwise, seriously consider renting a U-Haul and get the cab sprayed by a professional. The peace of mind is worth it. You wouldn’t sit on a public toilet seat would you? In most cases, ANY moving expenses are a tax write off… check with your accountant. If your employer is relocating you, chances are they won’t mind picking up the tab if you explain why.

#4 – Have your new EMPTY home or apartment sprayed THOROUGHLY by a professional exterminator BEFORE you move in your things. If renting, your landlord should not have a problem providing this service. And unless you are buying a brand new home, never assume a home is clean of pests because it’s been empty for a time. Bed bugs can live up to a year without feasting on flesh. Insist that it is bedbug treated which is different from other pest control measures.

This is a real deal. The New York original. Our gift to the world!

So after a day of aparment hunting for the perfect apartment, do yourself a favor. Make one more stop… at Nathan’s.

That situation quickly became clear when he walked out of his bedroom and saw his roommates shuttling bricks of marijuana out of the attic and through the house. One of them pulled a gun in a bid to intimidate the new renter into silence, but he simply waited for the others to leave and promptly called the police.

The story had a happy ending for the innocent roommate, who escaped the situation without injury, but his four housemates are currently booked into a Phoenix jail on charges of possession with intent to distribute.

Name, Age, Occupation: Gabe Nies, 32, Life Strategist

Neighborhood: Harlem, New York

Abode: Huge two-bedroom brownstone apartment

How long have you lived in Harlem? Less than a year

What do you love most about your neighborhood? I love the vibe in this area!

Best kept secret in Harlem?
There’s this really cool restaurant called Raw Soul. Normally, when you think of Harlem you think of Sylvia’s for Soul Food. This place is so cool because it’s a raw restaurant and it’s in Harlem and it has so many cool foods. The paradox is interesting and its an awesome restaurant.

Favorite way to spend a Saturday night in your neighborhood?
Since I’m still new to New York I go everywhere so I either hang out in my huge apartment here or I go to other parts of the city. I love to walk around this area and look at all the old buildings and churches. I mean the Apollo is right around the corner! I haven’t been there yet, but I can’t wait to go.

Do you talk to your neighborhoods?
Yes, all the time. In my building everyone is under 34 and they are all cool, hip people. We have parties in the building, sometimes we go to brunch together, we hang out at each others apartments. There are only three of us in the building and we each have our own floor. You just go downstairs and knock on the door and say hey what are you doing and we all just hang. They are really great.

Why Harlem?
If feels like you are kind of in another time. It’s a mixture of people and music in the streets… there’s so much gentrification in Harlem, and there’s such a great diversity of people. So many people are moving up here because you can get so much more for your money, too.

When you moved to Harlem you were moving from L.A., how has it been for you?
I feel really good about what I did and in my opinion New York City is the best place to live because everything is here. You can walk outside and feel the energy — literally.

The move changed my life and it did so because I took a risk. I always believed that I would be here no matter what. If you believe something and are passionate about it, you will always get it. Moving to a big city or far away from family and friends puts the accelerator on your life, your progression and your evolution. That’s exciting!

More freaky people on Craigslist with rooms for rent looking for you to move into their freaky habitats. Yes, spin the wheel and see who could be your new roommate. Will it be the nudist with the 28-inch waist who doesn’t believe in having doors on the rooms of his apartment? How about the 59-year-old guy who is done with dating and wants you to move into his mobile home? Or the man who requires sex on demand?

Find all this and more in this edition of Craigslist Roommate Nightmares.
Washington, D.C.: $1 Seeking a live in Houseboi/Houseman (Fairfax Area)

Seeking a live in houseboi/houseman room with private bath/den share/kitchen/laundry close to Metro, bus, stores restaurants. Must be HWP no drugs no excessive drinking. Domestic chores/personal assistant /errands/sex on demand. in exchange for room and board

Our Take: Hmm, I’ve always wanted to be a live in houseboy. Sure, I have to give sex on demand and run errands, but, hey, this place is located near stores and restaurants. I guess I’ll have to give up my drug use and excessive drinking first in order to be considered.
Chicago: $275 LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MAN TO SHARE (Michigan City, in NW Indiana)

I am a 59 year old single male. Am looking for another man to share my completely furnished 3 bedroom mobile home set up in a mobile home park in Michigan City, in NW Indiana. I am about 20 minutes from town. $275.00 a month. Includes own room with cable TV and phone, all the utilities, and the full use of the mobile home. No security deposit needed. Available immediately. No drugs please. Moderate drinking and cigarette smoking is fine. Sexual preference is no problem. Due to 3 extremely bad and hurtful marriages, I do not date or have anything to do with women.

All I ask is help with keeping the mobile home clean and help with the yard up keep. Thanks Ted

Our Take: This sounds like the American Dream. Available immediately I can move into a mobile home in Indiana with a 59 year old men who has had 3 failed marriages. No security deposit required so I can do it today. The two of us can sit around his mobile home all day long moderately drinking and smoking cigarettes, as we talk about how both of us are bitterly through with woman.
Chicago: Free Rent and job assistance to Single Female!! (Libertyville il.)

Offering free rent and great paying job with earnings potentials of up to $6000/month or more, to open minded attractive female

Located in the Libertyville area, please reply with recent photo of yourself, and contact number. Move in immediately!

Our Take: Once again, welcome to the world of prostitution or Scientology.
Los Angeles: $600 Need male roommate (nudist) (Van Nuys) (map)

i have a one bed/bathroom apt and willing to give up my bedroom for a true nudist guy who is drug free sane and has a job. I have a dog and 2 cats so must be pet friendly and clean as home dont smell like a zoo, i host nude events and clienst so home must be clean and smelling great.

I believe in no doors inside the home as we are all men and have and share the same body actions and functions why hide and be ashamed,, If you want the bedroom its $600 month to month no deposite you get a parking and the apt has swimming pool (clothed) and laundry area. If you are trying to save money like me and willing to share a room thats kelw too then the price changes to $400 month to month and either price we share all utulities. I have and live in a frunished apt so if you have alot of stuff may not work out please be serious and reply asap age/job/pic (face) and lets go from there peace and have a great day

Our Take: So what was the waist size of my new nudist roommate again? Oh yeah, it’s a 28 waist. Why would I want to move into an apartment that has doors on the rooms? There’s nothing to be ashamed about. I can’t wait to meet his nudist buddies as well.

Want more? Read about other Craigslist Nightmares.

Most New Yorkers toil as renters for way longer than they ever imagined.

Today’s Home & Garden gives us a peak at the fashionably-styled financial district apartment of Paul Weiss junior associate Colin Kelly. Kelly got a little help form decorators, who made it work on his $8,000 budget, which, the NYT helpfully points out, is “the exact amount of the 2009 first-time homebuyer’s tax credit.”

Click here to see how it was done for $8,000.

In 1955, “On the Waterfront,” which ushered in a new era of film-making in the New York area, won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In the decades that followed, many of the hundreds of films shot on location in the city have been recognized by the Academy, including “West Side Story,” “The Godfather,” “Annie Hall” and “Raging Bull.”

This year two movies filmed in the city have been nominated for Oscars, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” with six nominations, including Best Picture, and “Julie & Julia,” with one nomination. In 2009, two New York City films, “Doubt” and “The Visitor,” were nominated for Oscars.

Read the full story, plus view the interactive map here.

This year, real-estate investment trusts, or REITs, are expected to start close to $1 billion in new multifamily projects, according to real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors. While that still is less than average, it is a significant increase over the $100 million of development starts in 2009.

They’re betting that limited new supply, combined with an improving economy, will lead to ideal market conditions nationwide starting in 2011 or 2012, writes Dawn Wotapka in Wednesday’s WSJ. From then until 2015 apartment investment trusts may start raking in cash, says one analyst who looks at apartment REITS.

In January, apartment vacancies hit a 30-year high and landlords scrambled to entice renters, even in New York City, traditionally a tough town on renters.

But already in Manhattan the days of mega-concessions seem to be seem to wrapping up, at least in the most desirable neighborhoods. In New York, Equity Residential, which has buildings on the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Murray Hill , the Financial District and elsewhere, said it has stopped paying broker fees for certain unit types. In better times tenants pay that fee, typically one month’s rent.

Landlords also are excited about demand. The 20-to-34 age group, prime renting age, is expected to increase by five million in the next decade, according to Hessam Nadji, managing director of Marcus & Millichap, a real-state-investment brokerage firm. People who moved home or who bunked with roommates during the downturn also might ink leases as the economy improves.

Of course, headwinds remain: A further drop in unemployment could push vacancy rates even lower. Still, we wonder if perhaps locking in a two-year lease is a good idea.

Given the exponential increase in bed bug infestations nationwide, landlords are leery of the possible financial repercussions. In New York City, bed bug complaints jumped from 1,839 in 2005 to 8,830 in 2008. Violations issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development rose from 366 to 2,757 over the same period. New York and New Jersey apartment owners are legally tasked with providing pest control for tenants. It’s the apartment owner’s responsibility to provide tenants with a pest-free living environment.  With Ludlow Properties, LLC v. Young, Judge Cyril Bedford ruled in favor of a frustrated tenant who had refused to pay rent for six months because of a persistent bed bug problem, writing:

“Although bed bugs are classified as vermin, they are unlike … mice and roaches, which, although offensive, do not have the effect on one’s life as bed bugs do, feeding upon one’s blood in hoards nightly turning what is supposed to be bed rest or sleep into a hellish experience.”

Today, tenants seem to be winning the litigation war against landlords, but it’s a tough fight. When bed bug infestations are discovered, tenants and landlords point the finger of blame at each other.

Under current New York and New Jersey law, apartment owners bear the responsibility and financial expense of providing housing that is rat-free, roach-free and now bed bug-free. For cash-strapped apartment owners, there’s the rub. Rats, roaches and other vermin are attracted by garbage and unclean conditions. The connection to proper maintenance, efficient trash collection and regular pest control is obvious. The cost of such regular maintenance is an expected part of managing an apartment building. Just like electric, water and other utility costs, these expenses are figured into monthly rent payments and recouped.

Bed bugs are an entirely different problem. Bed bugs are not attracted by filth. They are insects of convenience like lice and fleas. These tiny insects crawl from one infected individual to another. They set up house near beds and in bedrooms, hiding in cracks and crevices during the day and creeping out at night to feed on the blood of their unsuspecting prey – humans. The size of an apple seed, bed bugs multiply quickly and are adept hitchhikers. You can get them from contact with an infected individual, visiting his home, brushing his clothing, standing next to him or borrowing his belongings. You can get bed bugs by sitting in a seat just vacated by an infected person on a subway, park bench, taxi or airplane. Since not all people react to bed bug bites, people often spread bed bugs without even knowing they have them.

Bed bugs can come into an apartment on someone’s clothing, in suitcases and backpacks, in the creases of storage boxes, in the cracks and crevices of used furniture, in the upholstery of a rental sofa and in refurbished mattresses. Apartment owners have no control over what attracts bed bugs or how the annoying little buggers get into the building. You can understand their reluctance to take responsibility for a problem they didn’t create and have no control over. Yet that is exactly what housing legislation requires them to do. Particularly exasperating are the strictures in New York City and under consideration in Jersey City and the New Jersey state legislature that prevent apartment owners from passing along the often hefty costs of eliminating bed bug infestations to their tenants.

The life cycle and living habits of bed bugs only confound the problem. A single female bed bug can produce up to 500 eggs during her one-year lifespan, laying about five eggs per day. Moving through five nymphal stages, bed bugs reach maturity in just five to eight weeks. They nibble on their human prey at night, feeding for up to 10 minutes every three to five days. The tiny bugs are often mistaken for other pests and their bites for mosquito or spider bites. Not all people react to their bites which look like raised, red welts and many don’t react (itching is typical) for several days after being bitten. Some people are so embarrassed, they fail to report an infestation or uselessly try to treat it with Raid. By the time the problem is noticed or reported, a considerable infestation can have developed.

Often by the time they’re identified, bed bugs have spread to other units in a building and the original culprit can be hard to identify. Because bed bugs spread easily through wall voids, elevator shafts, plumbing and wiring conduits, and heating and cooling ducts, next door units and those on the floors above and below an infested unit are also likely to be infested. Treatment of one unit can simply send bed bugs scurrying to find new living quarters. Even vacant apartments are not safe as bed bugs can live for one to seven months without a blood meal.

Eliminating bed bugs in a multi-unit apartment building can be a nightmare for everyone and an unexpected financial burden for the owner. Because of the many variables involved – the need for tenant cooperation, the bugs’ minute and numerous hiding places and their tendency to spread quickly and easily — multiple pest control treatments over a spaced period of time are necessary to completely eradicate bed bugs from an apartment building. Apartment owners are being asked to shoulder the financial burden without remuneration, sometimes without essential tenant cooperation, and with no guarantee that the whole mess won’t happen again. It’s not hard to understand why apartment owners feel new bed bug laws are unfair.

Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com.

A fellow Canadian was coming to LA for roughly the same period of time, so we jointly bragged that we found a total steal in paying $800 for what looked like a fabulous West Hollywood pad, complete with a pool, a fitness center and the pleasure of a lot of stuff actually being within walking distance.  But shortly after our cab dropped us off in front of our alleged apartment building, this quickly and horribly turned out not to be the case.  That’s right, we had become the victims of a craigslist scam, which turned our LA arrival into a nightmarish mix of lugging our bags back and forth through the city.

To quickly set up how the situation came to be: Two weeks ago, I went ape shit on craigslist ads for short term sublets.  The best response I got was from a woman named “Carla Marie.”  After about 20 e-mails back and forth, me & “Carla” had agreed that I was the perfect tenant because I was in New York and could come and meet her to sign a sublet agreement, go over the details and pay her – in cash.  For those of you thinking I’m a total idiot for not suspecting anything, let me just make note, “Carla” gave me a bunch of references to e-mail (which, yes, she could have and obviously did just make up), even adding in little tidbits about a new TV

Please read the original post to see the level of intricate details that this scammer used.

And this is the perfect time and place for a shameless plug; use RDNY.com to find your apartment! The “Free” sites don’t work for you. They work for the brokers who buy their listing space.