It’s not easy. But they are there. Up to 50% or more.
For several years I lived just in Airbnbs. I lived in every neighborhood of NYC. I would live for a few days or a month or a few months.
I owned no furniture. And I was probably depressed.
I didn’t want to settle down in one place. I didn’t want to have anything that was “mine.”
Then I had to get an apartment. There was an area I wanted to live but no Airbnbs were available.
That was then. Things have changed.
When you see a news headline like, “Apartment Vacancies at All-Time High!” it doesn’t mean you’ll automatically find a great deal today.
If you are just looking for yearly rentals on a real estate site, you won’t find discounts.
How come?
Landlords will work out discounts on the side like, “Get three months free but sign the lease for no discount on the rent.” In other words, 25% off.
Why would they do this?
They don’t want to be stuck with a discount to rent if there’s an eviction moratorium. They don’t want to show the data of a discount the next time they put it up for rent. Or for sale. Who knows?
Also, not every vacancy is for rent. If a building has five vacancies maybe they’ll only put up one of those vacancies. They don’t want renters to realize how many people have left the building.
Solution:
Airbnb. There’s no BS. The 400,000 people who have left NYC since March NEED to rent their places out.
They will slash and cut and kill until they rent out. And nobody will ever know.
I did a random search on just any place in NYC. This was on the first or second page of results. I’ve never seen anything like it.
What does this mean for the future? I don’t know. I don’t want Jerry Seinfeld to yell at me again.
