Apartments for rent in Queens have their obvious appeal: as we've already pointed out, the prices tend to be much (much!) lower than anywhere in Manhattan, as well as most anything you'll find in Brooklyn's trendiest neighborhoods which, these days, seem to be almost all of Brooklyn.

But although Queens's reputation remains decidedly un-glamorous, there's a whole lot more than just low prices to attract all sorts of NYC rental apartment seekers--whether families, young professionals, or even, in recent years, artists and creative types--to the many vibrant communities of Queens.

But because of the lack of overall hype, many of us still feel like Queens, New York City's second largest and, trailing Brooklyn by only a hair, second most populous borough, remains a bit of a mystery. Which is why I personally found two pieces last month on the best Queens neighborhoods very helpful as I begin to ponder my next move.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about rental apartments in Ridgewood, Queens, a community that has seen an influx of late from two seemingly disparate groups from nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods. As Greenpoint rental apartments becomes increasingly sought-after (and, so, increasingly expensive), a contingent from the Polish community is setting up shop in nearby Ridgewood, complete with several first-rate Polish delis, butchers, bakeries and restaurants that specialize in such old-world classics as pierogies and kielbasa.

More surprising--and potentially neighborhood-changing--is the burgeoning creative scene in Ridgewood, with artists of all kinds relocating from next-door Bushwick into comparably cheap Ridgewood rental apartments. As sculpture and sound installation artist Michelle Jaffé told the Journal, "I'd been searching for five years and I found a great affordable space with good transportation—the L and M subway."

All in all, it seems like now is the the time to check out Ridgewood for cheap apartments in Queens.

In Astoria, for example, where the News says you can get a spacious two-bedroom rental apartment for only $1,800, there are beer gardens galore and some of the best Greek food in America. Long Island City is smartly dissected into its increasingly distinct sub-neighborhoods, including Vernon Boulevard, Court Square, and Dutch Kills, all of which have plenty of nightlife and cultural options. And while the high-rises

And in bustling Jackson Heights you can get mint-condition one-bedrooms for under $1400, says the News, and in Sunnyside Gardens, one of the prettiest neighborhoods in all of New York City, studios with Manhattan skyline views still can be had for about the same price. Worth a look.

Now, if you find the cheap apartments in Queens still too expensive for your tastes, we suggest looking in most parts of The Bronx instead.

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The transformation of certain stretches of the Manhattan East River Waterfront from forbidding industrial dumping ground into easily accessible, pretty, and fun spaces got a step closer to reality last week, with a pair of announcements that will directly affect--and, one hopes, improve--the quality of life in certain Manhattan rental apartment neighborhoods.

Now, both of these mega-projects are years away and tens of millions of dollars from completion, but if you had asked me in the early 1990s if certain parts of the Hudson River Waterfront would ever be anything but a decrepit mess I would have said "no way". And look at it over there today: all up and down the west side there are piers and promenades that offer a wealth of leisure and recreation activities. 

Anyway, back to the East River Waterfront. Probably the biggest project affecting east side Manhattan apartment residents has to be the "Close the Gap" initiative that will link the upper and lower sections of the East River Greenway and so provide continuous waterfront access from Gracie Point all the way down to Battery Park.

The "gap" that needs closure, as residents of east side Manhattan well know, runs from 38th Street to 60th Street, and though actual construction on the project is still years away--the City is just now finalizing the financing--that hasn't stopped two groups, Transportation Alternatives and d3, from holding an international competition in which architects, planners and designers imagined what the 22-block stretch could become.

Out of 58 entries, two winners were chosen (splitting the $5000 prize), and though there's no guarantee the City will even consider the thinking put down here--bridges, skyways, ferry stops, hydropower, and neighborhood-specific esplanades are among the ideas--it always make these mega-projects feel more real once things start being put down on paper. 

But the big (and happy!) surprise recently was a revealed rendering of the much-anticipated Pier 35 on the Lower East Side which, as everyone has been pointing out, looks positively beachy!

Located between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges just to the north of the South Street Seaport (more good news for residents of lower Manhattan rental apartments in that area), Pier 42 will be more park than fishing pier, with plenty of greenspace (and sand-space?) for lounging and sunning, and even areas that get you right up to the water so you can "dip your feet in" if for some reason that sounds appealing. Pier 35 will cost some $40 million, but the financing's secure, and construction will begin as early as late this spring.  

All-in-all, things are looking up for the Manhattan East River Waterfront, and residents of nearby apartments!    

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If you're looking for an Upper East Side rental apartment--and not in the "fancier" precincts along Fifth, Madison, or Park Avenues; or in Carnegie Hill, or Gracie Point, but in the more regular-people part of the neighborhood, between, say, Third and First Avenues, and 68th and 96th Streets--it's always a good idea to get a Second Avenue subway construction update.

Yes, the Second Avenue subway, which will make getting from the UES to anywhere else in Manhattan much less frustrating and crowded than it's been in decades (really, that 77th-Street 6-train station can be a nightmare) is still several years from being completed.

In fact, the best-case scenario has the first phase of the Second Avenue subway, which will really just be a continuation of the Q line up from 63rd Street to 96th Street, ready to start zipping riders up and down the east side in December of 2016. So what can UES renters expect between now and, basically, five years from now?

First the good news for Upper East Side rental apartment seekers: since the current stage of the Second Avenue subway began in 2007, residential rents have been falling in the area like nowhere else in Manhattan.

In fact, according to Andre Soto, director of management at the property management company Salon Realty, prices of UES rental apartments along Second Avenue have dropped an amazing 30 percent in the past few years. Thirty percent! And this in a time when, overall, Manhattan rents are hitting record highs, vacancies rates are the lowest they've been in recent memory, and landlord concessions are few and far between.

It's no wonder that, more than ever, young professionals are flocking to the immediate neighborhood, attracted by the low rents as well as the general energy and bustle of Second Avenue itself, even in the face of an increase of store closings near construction. And when you're in your twenties, you're usually either at work or out with friends anyway, right?

Of course, low prices on these UES rental apartments come with a caveat. Though the near-constant blasting around 72nd Street is winding down, the demolition of bedrock is now moving up to 86th Street. These blasts can be actual earth-shaking explosions--you feel them in your home--and the construction sites' low-rumble accompaniment of drilling is no soothing picnic either.

The drilling can go on all night, as contractors work to stay on schedule. And, as you might expect, there's no shortage of dust (or unpleasant, exhaust-y odors) in the area either, and the grit can and will enter your apartment through open windows.

BUT fears of the dust being toxic, and causing either immediate or long-term health problems in area residents appear to be unfounded. An MTA-commissioned study, vetted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, of air quality around the blasting sites showed that "measured pollutants" were well within Federal guidelines. That said, a bill put forth by district Assemblyman Dan Quart would mandate frequent, independent air-quality testing at this and all so-called mega-projects in New York City.

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St. Vincent's redevelopment plans include, you guessed it, luxury condos. Whodathunkit? What were you expecting, a mall?

Which is great if you're interested in buying a West Village apartment in a few years. After all, some of the most lovely blocks in all of New York City can be found tucked away in this historic district, especially once the famed Manhattan grid goes haywire and these tree-lined streets twist and loop around until even veteran New Yorkers can lose their bearings (if you've ever found yourself at the corner of West 4th and West 10th--streets that by all rights should be six blocks apart AND should never intersect!--you know what I mean).

Plus, in addition to the neighborhood's relentless charm, West Village apartments are also never more than a few blocks away from many of New York City's best restaurants (personal favorites, for different moods, include The Spotted Pig, Little Owl, Malatesta, Joseph Leonard, Morandi, Empellon, Red Farm, Fatty Crab, Hakata Tonton... ok that's enough for now).

And it's great place to raise a family, the West Village. And to shop. And the Hudson River Park is right there, and that's really nice, too. The only thing NOT so great about looking for an apartment in the West Village is that everyone else would like to live there too, and the prices (high) and availability (low) are reflected accordingly.

Anyway, if a West Village apartment is in your budget--or, of course, if you can't afford to live there but, like me, spend plenty of time in the neighborhood, which, by the way, is one of the best things about living in almost ANY NYC rental apartment, the easy access that you have to all other parts of town--here's some news from the neighborhood that I found interesting recently, and so maybe will you.

One of the most contentious projects in recent memory for West Village residents has been the shutting down, and subsequent plans to redevelop, the sprawling St. Vincent's Hospital complex. Late last month the City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Rudin Management's proposal to build luxury condos and retail space in the space, as well as a public park--including an AIDS Memorial--on the St. Vincent's triangle, a parcel of land bounded by 12th Street and Seventh and Greenwich Avenues.

Despite months of criticism for the Rudin Management redevelopment plan by West Village residents, and the opposition of Community Board 2, who feel that luxury housing--450 units!--is the last thing the neighborhood needs, and despite the fact that there is still the city Council vote to come, it seems that St. Vincents Hospital, which closed in 2010, will, in fact, never be used for community healthcare again.

As if the dispute over the St Vincent's redevelopment plan haven't been enough, the fight over the design of the AIDS Memorial in Triangle Park is sure to be equally emotionally charged. So far Rudin has refused to consider the winner of the grassroots AIDS Memorial Park coalition design contest, a unique, powerful piece called Infinite Forest by Brooklyn studio a+i, chosen by a star-studded panel of architects, activists, and planners from among 475 entries.

Infinite Forest is elegant in its simplicity: basically, it's a walled-off triangle filled with trees, the interior of which is lined with mirrors (hence the Infinite effect), the exterior of which is covered in slate, so rather than etching into the memorial the names of the some 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of AIDS, visitors will be able to write the names, in chalk, of loved ones lost, all of which will be washed away naturally with each rainfall. We'll see what Rudin counters with, but since Infinite Forest has already garnered a lot of support, I can't imagine it won't be met with controversy.

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Not only does the great County of Kings have some of the prettiest, most conveniently-located, most sought-after neighborhoods in all of New York City--Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg, Park Slope, and the winner of the 2011 Curbed "Neighborhood of the Year" Cup, DoBro (aka Downtown Brooklyn), to name just a few--but there are also plenty of terrific communities where you can find Brooklyn rental apartments for a relative bargain, such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Bay Ridge, and Prospect Heights.

And as if there haven't been enough new developements built in the past few years (certain parts of DoBro are barely recognizable from a decade ago), recently the Wall Street Journal reported that, as of right now, there are some 14,000 new residential units in the early planning stages in the borough, as compared to only 5,000 in all in of Manhattan. Nearly three times as many!

The question is, how will this seemingly never-ending building boom effect the Brooklyn rental apartment market in the coming years... or, for that matter, the Manhattan rental apartment market? The answer seems to be: no one's totally sure.

On the one hand, Brooklyn rental apartments have already been rising at near record rates; in 2011, in fact, the average rent of all size apartments rose more than 6.5%, and one-bedroom Brooklyn rental apartments going up a discomfiting 9.59% over the 2010 average rates. In comparison, rents in 2010 only went up less than .5%.

So all of the new inventory on the market last year seems to have driven rents higher, both in the areas in which they opened--notably Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn--as well in spillover neighborhoods Crown Heights and Clinton Hill. But what about when the boom REALLY hits?

A couple of things that real estate pros will tell about people who want to live in Brooklyn rental apartments: 1. they tend to be creative types and tech workers, much more so than your average apartment-seeker in Manhattan; 2. they've got an image in their head of an idealized Brooklyn, and it's all about brownstones, not glassy towers.

It's been noticed over the years that creative types spend a lot less of a percentage of their salary on rent than, say, finance workers. So: small is ok, as long as it's well-designed, and they're not necessarily wowed by the sorts of luxury amenities that have become such a part of contemporary buildings, such as pet spas, shiny gyms, and communal fire-pits.

Which is why, perhaps, even as Brooklyn rental apartments have gone up, they still average $700 - $1,000 less per month than their Manhattan counterparts. And only time will tell if developers treat Brooklyn renters as a different sort of New Yorker.  This much is certain: new development in Brooklyn will continue for the next several years.

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What is one of the things that people love about trendy neighborhoods like the East Village, Lower East Side, Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen / Clinton? Unlike some slightly more, shall we say, barren (boring?) neighborhoods in Manhattan, there are always plenty of solid options for food and fun right near your home.

On the other hand, everyone else in the Tri-State area knows about said food and fun options, too, and so comes over to YOUR neighborhood to play. Often making a lot of noise while they do so. Well into the night. On a Tuesday, say, when all you want to do is get some sleep because you have to get up early for work the next morning so for crying out loud PLEASE keep it down out there!!

The problem, say residents of rental apartments in these trendy areas, is not that they're grumpy party poopers, but rather that the State Liquor Authority has been granting way too many liquor licenses in their communities, and that landlords are too quick to sign on bars and nightclubs as opposed to grocery stores and service shops, and so their home has become a drunken-revelry destination for incoming hordes that have no stake in the neighborhood. Now, however, the people are beginning to fight back.

There have been two stories recently about residents trying to achieve a balance and have a say in the type of businesses that are being opened in their community. For example, Hell's Kitchen, which has been enjoying a decades-long transformation from being one the toughest neighborhoods in town to the family-friendly community of today.

Residents of Hell's Kitchen (or, Clinton) apartments like the convenience of living so close to Midtown, they like the lower prices and more spacious homes they can find there, and they like all of the great restaurants that have been opening in the area over the last ten years or so, especially along Ninth Avenue. To a point... a point which, some Hell's Kitchen residents claim, was passed a while ago, and now the immediate vicinity feels all of the effects of loud, late bar-hopping that stretch of nightlife provokes.

There was hearing recently during which Hell's Kitchen residents (and, on the other side, nightlife enthusiasts) were given the opportunity to express their concern. With several mega-clubs currently in the planning stages for their neighborhood, it won't be long before we'll see whether their frustrations are being heard.

Nightlife noise and other associated unpleasantness is no stranger to residents of East Village and Lower East Side apartments, two areas which have since at least the mid-1990s been "party central" for out-of-towners looking for a good time in the big city.

Of course, one of the reasons why these neighborhoods are attractive to young professionals in the first place is that they're fun... but residents are beginning to feel like the combination of bar after bar after bar on some blocks, and expensive boutiques on others, makes it feel like businesses aren't interested in servicing the community in which they're located, catering solely to the drinking- and wealthy-tourist-trade.

As Community Board 3's district manager Susan Stetzer puts it: "We used to have very diverse local retail, but we've lost it. What can you buy, other than a $300 handbag? There's nothing local for an ordinary person who is not rich."

This seems to me to be one of the primary challenges of many trendy neighborhoods in Manhattan and, increasingly, in Brooklyn, in the coming years. If landlords can get chain stores and nightclubs and pricey boutiques to pay ever-higher rents, where's the incentive to lease their space to butchers, grocers, book stores, and other small businesses that make a neighborhood a home? Stay tuned.

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Anyone who has lived in New York City for an extended period of time--years, decades--knows it's true: one of the most dominant characteristics of our home is constant, relentless, merciless change. And changing NYC zoning laws try to keep pace with balancing the developer's desire to maximize the profits of their investments, and the local residents desire to define the character of their neighborhoods.

It was true in the 1600s, when Dutch colonists complained that their New Amsterdam was being ruined by new construction; it's true today when just about everyone has a favorite store / bar / building / park / street / restaurant that's gone, or is now so different that they "hardly even recognize it anymore."

Of course, we all have plenty of just-opened stores / bars / buildings / parks / streets / restaurants that are our NEW favorites, but the point is, you can never completely stop the forces of change in this town; the key is to pick your battles.

Which is exactly what some Upper West Side residents are doing right now, hoping to stop the transformation of their once community-focused neighborhood into a giant mall.

The problem, say UWS apartment residents, is that the shuttering of small, independently-owned businesses in their neighborhood--and the subsequent opening of chain stores and, especially, banks, in their place--has hit a tipping point, and threatens to the destroy the core character of this family-centric community forever.

Now, I appreciate the convenience (and prices) of having certain chain stores nearby as much as the next guy, but as a one-time, two-decade resident of Upper West Side rental apartments, I have to say that the pace of change up there has grown a little alarming. And, apparently, the Department of City Planning agrees.

According to the Wall Street Journal, recently it was announced that City Planning will propose an "unusually agressive" NYC zoning amendment that would severely restrict the size of all future storefronts in the neighborhood, from 72nd Street all the way up to 110th Street (basically, most of the area north of the Lincoln Square area, up through Manhattan Valley to Morningside Heights).

Banks would be the biggest target. If the new proposal is passed, UWS renters can look forward to a future in which all banks opening on Broadway, Amsterdam, and Columbus Avenues would be limited to 25 feet of sidewalk-facing frontage, or about one-eighth of a block. Other sorts of retail establishments would also be affected, but to a lesser degree: any new store opening on Amsterdam and Columbus would not be able exceed 40 feet of frontage.

Unsurprisingly, the Real Estate Board of New York and the New York Bankers Association oppose any sort of NYC zoning changes like this, and will likely use their considerable political influence and spending-power to stop the new zoning rules from getting past the community-board stage. But still, it's a sign that UWS residents, like more and more New Yorkers all over town, are standing up for their neighborhood, and trying to have a say in the look and feel of their home.

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For decades Manhattan turned its back on the Hudson River: access was limited and, frankly, mostly decrepit; development was minimal (with a few notable exceptions, especially downtown, and especially Battery Park City) with real estate barons preferring to grow their goods towards the center of our island.

Which is why the recent rush to fill up the riverfront all up and down the Hudson River with rental apartments, recreational esplanades, cultural centers, as well as mixed-used office and condo complexes is as astonishing as it is welcome, at least for this long-time New Yorker.

There were three bits of Hudson River real estate news that caught my eyes recently, all of which, if perhaps not immediately relevant to seekers of Manhattan rental apartments, are definitely changing the character of many West Side neighborhoods.

Take the biggest development to hit the river in forever, the massive, suddenly scorching-hot Hudson Yards project, Related's 26-acre Hudson River-front complex between Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea.

Over the past few months there's been a ton of projections, speculations, and dreams about what Hudson Yards might entail, including an arts complex, with both studios and performance spaces large and intimate, for now called the Culture Shed; the extension of both the High Line park and the 7 train into the heart of Hudson Yards community; over 1,200 new Manhattan apartments (at last count) as well as, possibly, in 20 years, more total office space than the entire city of Boston.

Hard to say how it will pan out, but one thing that does seem like a sure bet: restauranteur extraordinaire Danny Meyer will be bring his deft touch and impeccable taste to the proceedings. Recently Related announced a partnership with Meyer, the owner of such New York City (and, now, beyond) icons as Eleven Madison Park, Union Square Cafe, and, of course, the cultishly adored Shake Shack. Danny Meyer and Related's first project together will be a Hudson Yards something, which, if nothing else, lends the neighborhood instant foodie cachet. Stay tuned.

Also on the West Side, hard by the river... Hudson Square, that once somewhat desolate and definitely industrial-feeling area between Canal and Houston Streets, is these days one of the hottest office- and residential-rental markets in all of Manhattan. Vacancies are low, rents are climbing higher, and services are moving into the neighborhood at an increasingly rapid pace. If you've been thinking of this part of town as "too isolated" for your Manhattan rental apartment, you might want to take another look.

Finally, the first steps are being taken to develop the last open lot of Riverside South, that long stretch of far-west real estate in the 60s that has seen nine huge residential towers go up in the past couple of decades. Bids are due next month for the so-called "Riverside Center", two-block plot of land, on which two 40+-story residences are slated to be built, and which must feature (because of tax incentives) "a public school and day care for 45 children, garages with bike racks and car-charging stations and a retail space that includes an auto sales shop."

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Today, however, I want to focus on a subset of downtown. It comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the Manhattan rental apartment market that the most sought-after neighborhoods these days for luxury living are below Canal Street, a long-term trend that's been developing ever since Tribeca unseated the Upper East Side as NYC's wealthiest zip code, and continuing apace with the development of the Financial District as the most rapidly growing residential neighborhood in all of New York City, more than doubling its population since 2001.

Because although some reports point to the continuing appeal of such classic high-end Manhattan communities like Yorkville and Carnegie Hill--both on the Upper East Side, and both with stellar "absorption rates", or the speed with which homes on the market get sold (the faster the better, obviously)--the hottest Manhattan RENTAL apartments by far are all downtown.

The lures of living in a downtown rental apartment are many, of course. For one thing, the loft-style apartment, with its high ceilings, open layout, and exposed industrial-ish details like ductwork and columns, simply feels more contemporary, and the open space is attractive both to New Yorkers who do a lot of entertaining as well as couples raising a family who don't want everyone hiding away behind closed doors.

In fact, according to some Manhattan real estate watchers, the luxury loft--which, by and large, is the sort of rental apartment that can only be found downtown--has supplanted the Classic 6 as the prototypical NYC dream home.

High-rise rental apartments, too, have become extremely desireable of late, especially of the penthouse variety, and although there have been several luxury towers of note in Midtown and over in Hell's Kitchen, nothing can top the flurry of new construction and commercial-to-residential conversions that hit downtown in the past decade.

All of the above also means that downtown rental apartments are more expensive than ever... though in one case--specifically, a 3,000-square-foot, three bedroom apartment at 165 William Street--anyone willing to shell out $11,750 a month gets to actually name the building!

But even if you don't care to get creative, the FiDi neighborhood itself has become one of the great perks of living downtown, with such everyday attractions as an assortment of greenmarkets, including the great New Amsterdam Market in the old Fulton Fish Market space; three new Danny Meyer restaurants (branches of Shake Shack, Blue Smoke and a brand-new concept, North End Grill) as well as a half-dozen other noteworthy recent openings; and new parks--the East River Esplanade! Imagination Playground!--and service-oriented stores opening up seemingly around every corner.

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If you want to avoid a series of (escalating) problems, it's important that you pay your rent on time.  Every month.  First and foremost, the lease you signed is a legally binding contract.  That, in and of itself, should be reason enough. However, if for some reason you feel like you need an additional incentive...

There are other obvious reasons you should pay your rent on time: your landlord will like you more than if you don't pay your rent on time, putting yourself in a relatively better position to negotiate come lease renewal time; you won't be charged late fees (remember though: late fees are only allowed IF it's stipulated in your lease) or face eviction; and you'll feel like a good citizen and responsible adult. All indisputably true.

It's also not fair to the landlord if you don't pay on time. He/she needs your rent check to run their business... you are their income.  Would you appreciate it if your employer withheld your income a few days, or a week, beyond when you were supposed to be paid?  I thought not. Remember, not every landlord is rich, or has lots of extra cash they can depend on if you don't pay your rent on time.

But now add another reason residents of NYC rental apartments should make every effort to pay their rent on time: it now goes on your credit rating.

Yes, according to a recent report in the New York Times, Experian, one of the three biggest credit-reporting companies in the country, last year quietly added on-time rent payments to their profiles, which boosted the credit scores of a surprising number of people, especially those who don't have a lot of other data in their file to begin with, such as student loans, car payments, mortgage payments, etc.

And chronic late-payers be warned: THIS year Experian will start including negative rental apartment behavior--like bounced rent checks and even unauthorized lease-breaking--into their scoring. And two other credit-report companies, CoreLogic and FICO, are following suit.

But what if you think you're rent is too high? As in, illegally high?

Here's the thing: if your NYC rental apartment building has more than six units and was built before 1973, chances are good that it is now, or once was, a rent-stabilized building. Now, there are plenty of ways landlords can legally "destabilize" their buildings (or specific units)--by performing significant improvements, for example--and charge whatever they want, but you should know that just because your landlord says your rent is such-and-such, that doesn't necessarily mean that such-and-such is legal.

It's easy to find out your specific situation: all you need is your NYC rental apartment's "rent history", which, as EV Grieve reveals, you can get by calling 718-739-6400, speaking to an operator, and ask for it, back to 1984.

You'll receive a record in the mail in a few days. In rent stabilized buildings (or units), landlords are only allowed to raise your rent according to the increases determined every year by the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, or by no more than 20% in the event of tenant vacancy.

Remember, not all buildings (or all units in a building) are rent-stabilized.  If the building or the specific unit you live in is not rent-stabilized, the landlord is free to charge whatever they feel the market will bear. But if you don't ask, you don't know.

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The Upper East Side, or UES, is actually composed of several sub-neighborhoods, including Yorkville, Carnegie Hill, Gracie Point, Lenox Hill and, believe it or not, Roosevelt Island. Many Yorkville apartments are definitely a bit out of the way--it's a looooong walk from the eastern side of the nabe, to Lexington Ave and the subway--but then, that's kind of the point.

Tucked away on the quiet, leafy streets of the east 80s and 90s,  and extending to York Avenue, Yorkville is a unique Manhattan community that attracts both families who appreciate the relatively uncrowded Carl Schurz Park as well as young professionals attracted by the lower rents that always accompany any sort of distance from the subway. Some might call it the Upper FAR East Side, and that's just fine with the residents of Yorkville.

Anyway, none of the above is news for New Yorkers--Yorkville has been a firmly established neighborhood for decades--but there was a nice profile of the community in the Daily News, and it reminded me that NYC newcomers and out-of-towners looking for Manhattan rental apartments might not know about the (relatively) low rents and (unquestionably) pretty blocks up (and over) there.

The News piece spends a lot of time on Carl Schurtz Park, and with good reason: the winding, recently refurbished and well-maintained stretch of green space packs a lot of interest and variety into a few blocks worth of park. There are playgrounds and ball courts, grassy lawns for sunning and relaxing, lots of community events (the dog Halloween costume contest; movie nights in the summer) and a wide promenade overlooking the East River.

But there are plenty of other reasons Yorkville apartment have an appeal as well. The historic buildings, especially the townhouses near Gracie Mansion and the Gingerbread homes on Henderson Place, make many of these blocks about as pretty as any in all of New York City.

The nearby Asphalt Green, a terrific not-for-profit sports and fitness complex, provides citizens of all ages and athletic interests and abilities with a huge roster of choices. And as many residents of the area are quick to point out, that long walk from the Lexington Avenue subway, while perhaps not so lovely when it's freezing, or pouring, is actually a pleasant and affirming way to decompress after a day of the office, providing a nice separation between work and home.

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It's no secret that moving, no matter if it's across the country or just down the block, can be a stressful operation. Also: annoying, exhausting, expensive. Therefore, moving tips are always welcome, even by so-called "veteran" movers. Of course, if you find your dream no fee apartment, the unpleasant moments of the move itself--the packing and organizing, the cleaning and lifting--tend to dim pretty quickly once you've settled in, and started your new life.

Really, no matter the reason behind, or the distance of the move itself, it always amazes me how quickly my new space feels like home, memories of the prior one already fading ("Where did I used to keep these suitcases?" "How did I manage without all of these closets?" "What was the name of that Mexican place around the corner?").

All of this is not to say that there aren't practical steps you can take to make your move go as easily as possible, and to make your new NYC rental apartment as fantastic as it can be. The Urban Edge Renters Guide has tons of solid advice and learned-from-experience moving tips and tricks, but I also recently spotted two articles about services which I know I'll consider the next time I make a move. 

One of the most crucial tasks in the whole moving process is getting the right boxes. The right number of boxes, in the right sizes. How many times have I ran out of boxes at two in the morning while packing up the kitchen... or spent a fortune on boxes that I never even unfolded and used? Plenty of times. Which is why the New York Times story of two new rent-a-box companies, Bin-It and Jugglebox, caught my eye.

The concept here is simple: rather than buying (or scrounging at the supermarket for) boxes you'll only use for a few days at most, Bin-it and Jugglebox provide you with plastic, stackable boxes, which either company delivers to your old home, and picks up at your new when you're done.

The advantages here are obvious: uniform-sized, heavy-duty boxes make both packing and loading up any moving truck a breeze, whether you and some buddies are doing all the work, or whether it's a moving company charging you by the hour. Both businesses are evolving, experimenting with pricing structures and box sizes--"working out some kinks", as the Times puts it--but the rent-a-box concept seems solid, and I hope it'll be around for my next move. 

Another interesting idea for anyone moving into a new NYC rental apartment, especially the "spatially challenged": hiring a interior designer. WAIT! Before you cry "only for the rich!", apparently there are any number of interior designers and "stagers" (making your home look its absolute best for potential buyers) who are willing to work for a "renter's budget".

Take Noa Santos, for example, who was interviewed recently in BrickUnderground, and is the founder of the interior design firm 50 for Fifty. For $50, Santos or one of his team will come to your new apartment and give a 50-minute consultation. As Santos points out, that's a huge break from the standard $200-an-hour-and-up interior designer price, not to mention their usual initial consultation fee (from $500 to $5000).

Clearly 50 minutes isn't going to work if you're starting from scratch on a four-bedroom duplex, but for small apartment renters, Santos's advice on furniture (re)arrangement, as well as what sort of pieces you should buy (and get rid of) can make the difference between awkward and comfortable, "meh..." and "wow!"  

So there are two new moving tips for all you readers out there.

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New Year's is a time when it seems that everyone with access to a keyboard puts in their two cents about the year gone by, and makes predictions about the one ahead. And NYC real estate renters and sellers, thinkers and doers, are NO exception!

And although most of reflector's and prognosticator's thoughts tend to drift toward the sales market--it's where the headline-making money is, after all... witness the $88 million sale of the Central Park West penthouse that was breathlessly discussed everywhere--I found enough nuggets for those of us more inclined toward the NYC rental market to make many of the posts not only interesting in the abstract, but relevant for what I personally may be planning, move-wise, for 2012.

One of my favorite annual real-estate round-ups in the Curbed Cup, in which 16 of the city's most traditionally-popular neighborhoods battle it out to see who will win "the prestigious fake trophy" for being neighborhood of the year. The whole thing's semi-jokey, of course (this IS curbed, after all), but it's also pretty insightful (again: this is Curbed) about how different neighborhoods across the city are trending, in terms of prices, fun and services, parks and greenspaces, and overall livability.

So for every "FiDi vs Rat Island" face-offs (remember that 2.5 acre rock off of City Island that someone bought around $175,000?), there are plenty of other truly interesting discussion-provokers. West Chelsea vs. Upper West Side? Williamsburg vs. ProCro, that sort-of-silly nickname that "combines gentrified Prospect Heights with gentrifying Crown Heights"? And how about that Final, Downtown Brooklyn vs the Financial District? My money was on the FiDi, but it was DoBro that emerged victorious by a narrow margin.

You can find all the pairings, plus a look at past winners (Fort Greene! Madison Square Park!), here. If you're looking for a no fee apartment in a new neighborhood in 2012, the Curbed Cup, as mock-heroic as it may be, is not a bad place to start.

More sober but still a good read, The Real Deal did their annual "ask the experts"--developers, realtors, landlords, journalists, analysts--for a look into where the NYC real estate market was headed in 2012. Though many of the respondents' predictions were somewhat, um, predictable ("I expect 2012 to be a repeat of 2011, but perhaps a bit better", says Dottie Herman, president of Prudential Douglas Elliman), there are some actionable insights here as well, most of which seem to indicate that it might be better to find a NYC rental apartment now, rather than waiting for the summer, or next fall.

For example, Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership, points out that a continuing tight mid- and luxury-rental market (high rents, low vacancy rates, which everyone seems to agree will be the case all year), will also cause "a resultant uptick in the smaller apartment marketplace as there will be little inexpensive rental product."

And Andrew Heiberger, founder of Town, chimed in: "If I were renewing a lease right now I would try to extend for two years if given the choice, because once employment numbers pick up, rents will jump even further to record highs." Sounds like some good advice... it seems the NYC rental market is going to continue to be a landlord's market.

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I talk a lot about the huge, neighborhood-changing projects that will make a difference not only for residents of NYC rental apartments in their immediate vicinity, but that will also have a lasting effect upon the city a whole.

And there are so many of these massive, infrastructure-shaking, community-creating developments going on right now--projects that will take years, if not decades to complete, but that will change the landscape of this town for generations--that it's hard to even keep track of them all, much less imagine what the city as a whole will look like for the average resident of, say, a Manhattan rental apartment.

That's why the map run by the New York Post recently, a detail of which I've posted above and below, was so fascinating. Here is an overview of several of New York City's major construction projects, currently in various stages of design and development. These mega projects will change the life for NYC residents in the near, and not-so-near, future.

Click through here for the whole thing, which includes more than a dozen projects that will reshape the city for residents of all NYC rental apartments. I've posted about many of these on Urban Edge before, and will likely do so again, such as the Hudson Yards residential and office complex on the far west side.

Others include the 22-acre Atlantic Yards in Prospect Heights, a mixed-use development that includes the stadium for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, and the East River Greenway between 38th and 60th Streets, which will complete the 32-mile Manhattan Greenway project, providing easy waterfront access around the entire island of Manhattan. Of course, we can't forget everyone's (OK, everyone on the east side of Manhattan) favorite, the long awaited, and much overdue, Second Avenue Subway.

But there are also a few things on the Post's map which may be new to you (they were to me), like the scope of the Fresh Kills Park, a 2,200-acre behemoth (almost three times the size of Central Park!) that, when completed in 2041, will be the largest such green space in all five boroughs and will certainly change the way residents of Staten Island go about their weekends.

Closer to completion, and of more local interest for Tribeca rental apartment dwellers--and, to be even more specific, for Tribeca rental apartment residents' DOGS--there's the groundbreaking, cutting-edge dog park that will be built near the base of Pier 26 on Hubert Street as part of the new, $6.5 million stretch of the Hudson River Park opening in 2013.

Residents of Tribeca and their four-legged best friends can look forward to separate areas for large and small dogs, a dog-sized drinking fountain, and a totally adorable, dog-activated water-spray feature, which dogs turn on by jumping on (or walking into) a short vertical post known as a bollard.

Because the trees will still be too young to provide much shade when the park first opens, residents of Tribeca can seek cover under umbrellas planted throughout the dog park. And the whole thing will be constructed with gray-blue pavement, which will appear bright blue to a dog's color-blind eyes.

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A couple of different posts recently on two of my favorite real estate websites--namely, Curbed and Brick Underground--reminded me how difficult, even discouraging, the process of finding that perfect new home can seem when approached from afar, but also how it all usually works out for the vast majority of NYC rental apartment seekers.

In other words, the THOUGHT of moving, of finding a NYC rental apartment that you can afford, and will feel like home, is often much more daunting and scary than the actual process, and, most important, the end result.

But for some reason, the thought of moving to a new neighborhood can strike fear into the heart of even the most intrepid New Yorker.  Perhaps it is because most of us actually spend time in our neighborhood, walking the streets, shopping at the store on the corner, etc. as opposed to suburban dwellars who will hop in their car and drive to the next town to run their errands.

Take Curbed's piece on What the Average Manhattan Rental Apartment Looks Like. Now, we've all heard that the average price of Manhattan rental apartments is as high as it's been in years... but what does that really mean?

Curbed decided to look at what was being advertised at that moment in all four of your basic NYC rental apartment sizes----studio, one-bedroom-, two-bedroom-, or three-bedroom rental apartments--for the "average price" in each category. So a studio advertised for $1989 (the Manhattan average for such an apartment) was a generous 500 square feet in a doorman building.

And the one-bedroom Manhattan rental apartment Curbed found at the average price of $2,690 a month is a pretty spacious looking beauty (pictured at top), in a building with a roof deck and screening room! My takeaway? If this is the kind of thing you can get for the average price, there must are plenty of great rental apartments for considerably less.

Of course, compromise is the name of the game for most of us when it comes to real estate in this town, so you may find yourself looking for a new neighborhood that is more affordable than your current one, now that prices seem to be bouncing back to higher levels.

Brick Underground launched an interesting new column a couple of weeks back called Transitions, which consists of personal accounts of what it feel like to move into a NYC rental apartment located in a completely different neighborhood than the one in which you're used to.

This gets to the core of my own trepidations about moving: once I understand a neighborhood--and I've lived in NYC rental apartments in four separate communities over the years, three of which I've really loved, for different reasons--it's hard to imagine uprooting and living somewhere else.

Which of the local restaurants are actually any good? Is that dry cleaner worth the price... or should I try the one up the block? Which ATM has the cheapest fee, which bodega the cheapest ice cream, what's the pre-walk at my new subway station!?

Anyway, the point of Transitions so far is that even though your new neighborhood seems totally foreign at first glance (one person moved from the East Village to Midtown East; the other from Greenpoint to Hudson Heights), you can find pros and cons everywhere you go (Greenpoint has the great Peter Pan bakery; Hudson Heights the great Fort Tryon Park, etc.) and you're likely adapt to your new surroundings very quickly. And, of course, any NYC rental apartment that's within easy walking distance to a subway means that all of the city's wonders are just a train ride (or two) away.

So what's the takeaway?  Well, although it can be stressful figuring out a new neighborhood, NYC is filled with a variety of great nabes in a variety of prices, and once you settle in you'll soon discover all of the things that make your new neighborhood great.

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Finding an apartment in the NYC area can be an arduous task. So everyone, especially those new to NYC, area always looking for renting tips to make the process go smoother. Below I will discuss a couple of important pointers for those of you starting your apartment search.

A pair of articles in The New York Times recently confirmed one thing I've been telling people for years about finding and signing for a Manhattan rental apartment, and seemed to bolster another theory of mine about NYC rental apartment living, something I've long suspected but have never been in a position to really know if it was true or not (significantly intrigued yet?).

Of course, you don't need the Times to tell you the field-tested tips and techniques of long-time New York City renters... the Urban Edge Apartment Guide for Renters has everything you need to know to make finding and signing your dream NYC rental apartment as painless and ultimately rewarding as possible. Still, it's always nice to hear that such an august source as the Paper of Record agrees with you. Anyway, the articles:

The first piece I read was the Getting Started column, Renters Should Be Sprinters. Here Joseph Plambeck makes the point that, even if you know you're going to want to move into a Manhattan rental apartment in, say, three months, unless you can afford to pay rent on a couple of homes simultaneously, there's no point in starting your search until about three weeks until your move-out (and move-in) date.

Sure, you CAN look a few months out... but in this market of high rents and extremely low vacancy rates, anything you see that's good is going to be long gone by the time you're ready to sign. Plus, landlords often don't know what they'll have available even two months from now, so looking when you're not ready to sign will only make you miss out on a rental apartment that you love, either because someone else is going to snatch it up, or because your dream home isn't even on the market yet.

Another extremely important point: you MUST be ready to sign on the same day you see place, so be prepared with enough money in the bank to cover at least three month's rent (for the one or two months due at signing, plus a security deposit), as well as proof of employment, bank records, and everything else we discuss in the Urban Edge Renter's Guide.

The second article that caught my eye recently is maybe less immediately useful for seekers of Manhattan apartments for rent, but it got me thinking about the often extravagantly expensive lures buildings use to attract high-paying tenants, and whether people actually use these extras once they're in.

These days, most any newly constructed luxury apartment building in the area comes fully-loaded with an almost unbelievable range of services and amenities, from the now-expected gym and luxuriously appointed common spaces (screening rooms, roof decks, billiard rooms, etc), to more unique add-ons such as golf simulators, pet spas, fire pits, bowling alleys, video arcades... the list goes on.

But according to the piece in the Times, "hardly anyone uses these spaces", which has always been my suspicion. Now, however, landlords of many NYC luxury rental apartment buildings are hiring people who will get residents to actually gather in these gathering places. Fitness classes in the gym, storytime for toddlers in the playroom, salsa classes, cooking demonstrations from local chefs... anything to enhance the sense of community in the building, which is nothing but a good thing for both renters and landlords.

The lesson: while having all of these amenities is nice, are you willing to pay for them if you're not going to really end up using them?  If you think you may need some prodding, ask if the building you're considering has activities and classes as well.

Just a couple of renting tips for you. As we've mentioned before, a comprehensive guide to renting in NYC and the surrounding area is available on the Urban Edge website.

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One of the best things to happen to this town in the past couple of decades has been the (for the most part) thoughtful, democratic and welcoming development of New York City's long-neglected waterfront.

Residents of Manhattan and Brooklyn apartments all up and down the west side of Manhattan, as well as stretches on the East River, most notably in Lower Manhattan, and anyone living near the hugely ambitious remaking of the Brooklyn riverfront, have all enjoyed a dramatic increase in appealing, accessible open space near their homes, and so in the quality of their daily life.

And the story of the transformation of NYC's waterfronts is far from over. Just last week there was news that will effect residents of both Brooklyn and Manhattan, about the Hudson River Park and the remaking of Pier 57 (and so of particular intertest to those in Chelsea, the Meatpacking District, and the West Village), and about the next stage in the development of Pier 1 in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, of immediate import to residents of DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, and Cobble Hill.

Residents of Brooklyn within a mile of the East River should take note of the massive, mixed-use proposals revealed by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation last week, which will forever change the way we all interact with that prime expanse of public land by the East River.

The plan here is to build a hotel, residential and, one would assume, retail complex directly below Brooklyn Heights and hard by the still-new Brooklyn Bridge Park, which has quickly become a prime relaxing/strolling/snacking space for residents of Brooklyn apartments.

Like all big development projects in such an extremely visible, much-loved space, the various visions for the new Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, three of which are pictured here, generated not a little controversy, the focus of which are fears that such high-end new neighbors--the hotel (up to 225 rooms) and condos (up to 180 units) will strictly be of the luxury variety--will take over or somehow limit access to the public park.

Another fear of Brooklyn residents: that the designs are all a bit too mall-ish, which is the last thing the Brooklyn waterfront area wants or needs. Brooklyn residents and the public as a whole has only until December 22 to make their feelings known, at which point a design will be chosen, with construction slated to begin as early as next March.

Meanwhile, residents of Manhattan in the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, and West Village communities received an update on the future of Pier 57, which many hope will turn the somewhat decrepit 900-foot pier at the western end of 15th Street into a retail, entertainment a park complex.

Even though the planned renovation and commercialization of Pier 57 has been in the planning (dreaming?) stages for nearly five years now, it seems like, this time, residents of the area should be ready for the project to begin for real. That's because Youngwoo and Associates submitted their $200 million design into the city's land-use approval process last week, the first step in an admittedly financially-challenging process to getting Pier 57 off the drawing board and onto the river.

And this design is something to be excited about, I think, for all Manhattan apartment residents, incorporating as it does an open-air market, complete with shop and  cafes (mostly using repurposed shipping containers, a la Lot-EK and their great Dekalb Market), as well as a permanent space for the Tribeca Film Festival, and a two-acre rooftop park and marina. Fingers crossed on this one.

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We've been hearing for years that the next hot neighborhoods for NYC rental apartments will be in Queens, particularly in the communities of Long Island City and Hunters Point, right across the East River from Midtown Manhattan.

And while there has been a significant number of new developments in the area, particularly along Long Island City's waterfront, as well as a number of of new restaurants, galleries, and nightlife options, the supply of places to live hasn't quite matched up to the hype. Until now, it seems.

Recently there were numerous announcements about big new Queens rental apartment projects in that borough's increasingly desirable neighborhoods of Long Island City, Hunters Point, and, just a subway stop or two away, Queens Plaza. These Queens neighborhoods are about to get a whole lot hotter.

In Long Island City's centrally located Court Square, for example, Rockrose Development Corporation has broken ground on Linc LIC, a towering, 42-story rental building--which instantly makes it one of the tallest buildings in the borough!--that will feature more than 700 rental apartments when it's completed in 2013, ranging from 450-square-foot studios to 1,400-square-foot three-bedrooms.

Rockrose promises that Linc LIC will be flush with amenities, including an 8,000-square-foot courtyard, with lawns, on the third floor; and another with grills, bars and tables, on the 31st. And to further entice young families, creative types and professionals to come on over to Queens, the price of these Long Island City rental apartments will likely be at least 25% less than their Manhattan counterparts.

And Linc LIC is just the beginning! Rockrose plans to add three more Long Island City rental apartment buildings to their Court Square complex in the coming years. Expect the immediate neighborhood to get a whole lot more lively.

Meanwhile over by the East River, Long Island City's most ambitious rental apartment development, the stunning, seven-building, $1 billion residential complex known as the East Coast Project, pictured at top, last week officially became "just past half-done" according to the Wall Street Journal.

The East Coast project is the dream-apparently-come-true of the development firm TF Cornerstone, which has spent two decades designing, planning, and, now, building their Long Island City rental apartment haven, which is likely to offer up some 3,500 units of market-rate housing.

And over in Queens Plaza, that area around and under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (nee the famed 59th Street Bridge) which city officials once hoped would blossom into a kind of "Queens Times Square", is instead becoming one of the borough's busiest in terms of rental apartment development.

Several thousand new Queens rental apartments should be on the market in the coming years in Queens Plaza alone, say local realtors, and all priced about $1000 less than comparable spaces a 15-minute subway ride away in Manhattan. Stay tuned on this one.

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New York City real estate groupies never tire of inventing new Manhattan neighborhoods (and to a lesser extent in the outerboroughs) whenever a few blocks of an existing community start to take on a new character, no matter how long or firmly the area has already been established in the city's collective conscious.

The change can involve new construction, or a repurposing of, say, industrial space into NYC rental apartments. It can be spurred on by a wave of new retail establishments, or restaurants, their owners seeking lower rents in fringe or less populated communities. Or it can be sparked by the residents themselves, who land in an overlooked, or mostly non-residential, part of town.

Anyway, two pieces last week reminded me that the realtor's zeal remains strong for renaming even the smallest slivers of neighborhoods. But however silly these names can sometime seem, there is often real change going on behind the "branding", and so it's worth taking note by every seeker of a Manhattan rental apartment.

Welcome to Chumbo! The Wall Street Journal reported on the recent influx of "creative types" who have found surprisingly affordable Manhattan rental apartments in a slice of Chinatown between East Broadway and the water, across the East River from Brooklyn's super-trendy (and, often, super-expensive) DUMBO neighborhood.

In addition to the relatively cheap Manhattan rental apartments of Chumbo--a three-bedroom rental apartment averages $2,700 in Chumbo, as opposed to $7,000 in DUMBO--the young and adventurous are also drawn to the neighborhood's authenticity, which usually just means that it hasn't been overrun by chain stores and glassy new development.

Plus, there's already a thriving restaurant scene in place for residents of Manhattan rental apartments in these parts--the tiny storefront Xi'an Famous Foods sells excellent lamb sandwiches for example; the Italian small-plates spot Bacaro is pretty and delicious--and it's within easy walking distance of such in-demand communities as the Lower East Side, the South Street Seaport area, as well as the increasingly cleaned-up and open spaces by the river.

Welcome to NoMad! Also in the Journal was an article about the neighborhood north of Madison Square Park--"NoMad"--centered on Broadway and Fifth Avenue, and for years home to not much of interest for residents of apartments in the vicinity.

The restaurant and nightlife scene in NoMad is very different today, led by the Ace Hotel on 29th and Broadway, which a few years ago offered below-market rents (in exchange for a cut in the profits) to the hip establishments in its lobby, such as the excellent Stumptown Coffee (pictured above) as well as the sceney Opening Ceremony clothing store, in an effort to liven up the neighborhood a bit.

Today, of course, there are more options than ever for Manhattan residents in NoMad, from the other Ace Hotel dining options like the Breslin, John Dory and No. 7 Sub as well as the nearby Hog Pit and Nuella. And it doesn't stop there: a Museum of Mathematics is opening up down the block from the Museum of Sex, and, possibly coming soon, an outpost of the historic (almost 100 years old!) smoked fish and appetizing legend Russ & Daughters, located in the definitely coming soon NoMad Hotel.

So, will Chumbo and NoMad become permanent additions to the list of Manhattan neighborhoods (e.g. TriBeCa), or will they just be a passing fad (e.g. ViVa--never heard of it... that's my point)?  Only time will tell.

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The November report on Manhattan and Brooklyn rental apartments released last week showed that the trend toward higher rents, lower vacancies and fewer concessions continues unabated. In fact, Manhattan apartment prices are up from November last year by anywhere from 5 to a harrowing 18 percent in the case of two-bedroom rental apartments in non-doorman buildings.

All told: the average price increase, year-over-year, in Manhattan rental apartments is about $660 a month. The news is slightly better for seekers of Brooklyn rental apartments, where rents in Bushwick, for instance, for two-bedroom rental apartments, are down; and even in DUMBO prices are lower, by as much as $250 a month on the mean one-bedroom rental apartment, though at $3,400, it's still no bargain.

That said, the news could be worse for NYC rental apartments seekers, if a trend in the rental market on the west coast is any indication of the future here in the east.

According to an article over the weekend in The New York Times, the demand for rental apartments in San Francisco is so high right now, and the supply so law, that landlords have taken to charging application fees to combat (and profit from) the mountain of paperwork that's arriving with each listing.

A quick look in early November on Craigslist San Francisco revealed that fees for applying for a rental apartment currently range from $20 to $45, though landlords clearly don't always mention such fees in their listings. According to one rental apartment seeker over the summer, 15 of the 20 apartments he saw required a upfront fee to apply, though some witheld the charge until he became a "finalist".

Needless to say, this increasingly prevalent policy in San Francisco can get expensive in a hurry for those hunting for rental apartments. It's a windfall for owners, though: one landlord claimed to have received 250 applications for a $3,500 a month loft in the Mission district, and at $40 a pop, that's a quick $10,000 just for letting people look!

Now, application fees are nothing new in NYC (even during a "down" market), and we've even see "goodwill" deposits required when applying for an apartment to make sure you're serious about renting it if approved. We've also seen landlords collect multiple applications, and we've seen landlords who temporarily take units off the market when they get an application.

But the issue apparently in San Francisco is not the fee itself, so much as the number of people applying for each apartment (sometimes in the hundreds, if reports can be believed), and the fact that all but one application will be approved.  In theory, you could apply for 20 apartments (and pay an application fee), and never get selected just from the sheer volume of applicants, not because of your credit score, etc.

Also of potential interest to NYC rental apartment seekers is the use of "revenue management software" for determining annual rental increases by landlords across the country. The programs come in a few different guises, including Rainmaker LRO (stands for "lease rent options") and RealPage Inc., but the principle is the same: designed like the software used to price airline tickets and hotel rooms, these programs weigh dozens of short- and long-term variables--from competitors’ rental rates to market conditions to seasonal trends--and spit out the highest rent a landlord can feasibly get away with charging for any apartment at any given time.

Relatively few residents of NYC apartments live in a home in which a computer is in charge of raising their rent--one of the country's largest publicly-traded apartment owners, Equity Residential, uses Rainmaker LRO on only 8,290 units in the New York metro area, with less than half of those being rental apartments in the city itself.

However, clearly the trend here is heading toward an increasingly rents-by-robots future, with even smaller landlords investing in the technology in cities across America, asking their computers to determine the ideal rental prices and occupancy rates on their properties in order to maximize revenue.

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