It looks like Netflix is finally curling up in that bed they made for themselves, now that the fallout from their recent price hike is hitting them where it hurts: in the wallet. As Cher Horowitz would say: no duh. more ›

Guests are invited to furnish their private suburban backyard by selecting from the folder of supplementary add-ons. Things like a play pool, Slip ‘n’ Slide, packed cooler, hammock, a BBQ with meat selection, keg, a garden hose, sparklers, beer cozies, trampoline, hula hoops, water balloons, lanterns or popsicles and more. more ›

"Having the streaming only plan would not be so bad if ALL the movies were available but they are not! So your forced to get the DVD... This was my only luxury I COULD afford being on unemployment... no cable, just reg TV and wireless where I could find it. So I would watch movies at McDonald's or something or at the library. I can't afford $16 a month not on unemployment... Thank You netflix for taking the one little piece of entertainment I had!" more ›

Your days of enjoying a combo plan of getting a disc or two via those red envelopes in the mail and streaming content from Netflix are numbered, kids. Starting September 1, the popular site is implementing separate plans for streaming and physical disc borrowing. more ›

According to a Curbed tipster, a new four-bedroom rental available for just $32,500 at 158 Mercer Street is the former apartment of the late Mark Madoff—expensive rentals are all the rage, don't you know? Curbed says, "The listing doesn't make the connection (we can't blame it for wanting to fly under the radar) and we haven't yet heard back from the broker, but the details line up: Mark Madoff and wife Stephanie purchased the 4,169-square-foot #4M for $6.075 million in 2005. The brokerbabble describes the apartment as having 'a very high end, magnificent renovation.'" Of course, Madoff, son of Ponzi schemer extraordinaire Bernard Madoff, killed himself in his apartment last December. more ›

Nearly two years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that unsold condo projects and stalled construction projects would be turned into affordable housing in a new city program called Housing Asset Renewal Program (HARP). Now, that program has added its first building: A stalled condo at 382 Lefferts Avenue in Brooklyn which will offer 46 rental units. more ›

Just past midnight, police were called to a luxury apartment building in the Financial District. When they arrived, they found a man shot in the head inside 2 Gold Street. Max Moreno, a 21-year-old NJ resident, was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Buildings revealed that it conducted an undercover investigation of illegal apartment conversions—the agency's investigators went to Craigslist's rental sections, posed as potential tenants, and found "illegal living conditions in 54 of the 62 rental apartments inspected, including fire safety hazards such as inadequate means of egress, untested gas lines and single-room occupancies with locks on individual rooms." The agency showed a tape of one of those residences and issued ten tips for renters. more ›

Allen Ginsberg spent 21 years of his life (1975 to 1996) living in a fourth floor walk-up in the East Village, and now—following the death of his partner Peter Orlovsky, it's on the rental market. Earlier this month, The Allen Ginsberg Project stopped by as it was undergoing renovations, and there's little left of the poetic madman's presence. For example, the bedroom that his pal Harry Everett Smith once resided in is now a bathroom (read an interview Ginsberg did with Paola Igliori in 1995, where the two discussed his one-time roommate). more ›

Tracy Morgan, whose fish tank in an ugly Trump Place rental sparked a fire (okay, the tank's lamp was the culprit) in his apartment, has put the Upper West Side chapter of his colorful life behind him. According to New York, he's moved into a "posh"-sounding place in the West 50s "with four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, private parking, and a 1,000-square-foot terrace with views of the city. It’s unclear what he’s paying, though the landlord was recently asking $14,900 a month, with no explicit rules about aquariums." Two words to all renters, not just ones who may be living next to Morgan: Renter's insurance. more ›

When Barack Obama moved out of his apartment on 109th Street decades ago, he noted in his memoir that he fled "due to lack of heat.” Now Apartment 3E at 142 West 109th Street is back on the market, and the going rate is $1850/month (if you can't afford that, the nearby alley he slept in is probably a lot cheaper). more ›

It's a tale as old as time (or as old as Craigslist): The NY Post reports, "A bogus Manhattan real-estate agent was busted after scamming three potential renters out of thousands of dollars in deposits." Vincent Armas allegedly found people interested in renting apartments at 416 E. 13th St., 343 Lexington Ave. and 117 E. 102nd St. "One victim handed over nearly $1,500 in deposits to Armas, who supposedly made an arrangement to leave the keys with a friend, cops said. The victim picked up the keys, but they didn't open the door to the East 13th Street apartment -- and, in fact, other people were living there." Armas was charged with grand larceny last week. more ›

There are now two luxury rental buildings on the Upper West Side, eager to offer high-end amenities like rooftop misting wall and "a boxcar-sized mailroom where residents can address their envelopes and packages on a long black granite table." But if you want to live the high life, of course, you'll have to pay. As Curbed put it, "To those who think paying $8,000 per month for a two-bedroom apartment at flashy new [200 West 72nd Street] rental building The Corner is a bit on the crazy side, we ask this: How about $6,000? That's the entry-level rate for a two-bedroom at equally new neighborhood rental Aire at 200 West 67th Street." more ›

When the economy fell, the overheated residential rental market attracted tenants by offering perks like a month's free rent. But now the NY Times reports that the days of wine and roses—and owner-paid commission, free gym membership, iPods—are on the way out. A broker whose client got one month free rent said, "We sat at the lease signing and the agent said, ‘You are lucky — we aren’t going to do that anymore.’" This current quarter is apparently landlords' biggest time of year, since college graduates flock to the ciy; the Times says, "If landlords think they can get away with raising rents, this will be the time to try." The softer real estate market also benefited renters re-signing leases, so maybe it's time to break out the rent vs. buy calculator. more ›

Can anything pry New York renters away from their dependence on Craigslist? Jumppost is trying, and may just succeed. Instead of dealing with the frantic search for a new place two weeks before your lease is up, Jumppost rewards renters for listing and looking early. Plus there is a cash incentive: if you list your apartment 2-6 months in advance and someone wants to rent, Jumppost will pay you $500. Co-founder Jordan Cooper told the Post, "Our goal is to make Jumppost and Craigslist the two places everyone goes to find their next apartment." more ›

Since he's expected to become Good Morning, America's new co-anchor, former Clinton advisor and current "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos is naturally looking for new NYC digs. According to Page Six, he and "his wife, Alexandra Wentworth, were in town to house-hunt over Thanksgiving, and they're coming back next week to shop for a $40,000-a-month rental, reports The Post's Jennifer Gould Keil." Seriously, $40,000/month—we thought that was just A-Rod-style rental money. more ›

The Real Estate Group of New York released its August data on the Manhattan rental market yesterday, "Renters have been able to take advantage of relatively bargain prices, which continue to significantly lag in year-over-year trends, while this flurry of activity has led to decreasing inventories around Manhattan good news for landlords and property managers." Notably, in non-doorman buildings, rents for studios dropped 8.03% vs. August 2008, while one-bedrooms were down 5.92% and two-bedroms fell 8.24%; in doorman buildings, studios were -7.09% (vs. August 2008), one-bedrooms -10.02% and two-bedroms -6.87%. TREGNY says "we’ve seen some landlords begin to test the market again this month with price increases," but "it seems to us that this is still a gamble unless one truly feels their current inventories can withstand the market’s current volatility." TREGNY's CEO Dan Baum added that landlords want their tenants, "The concessions out there right now are pretty aggressive." more ›

A lawyer for the $65 billion-dollar Ponzi scheme man says that there will be no appeal for 150-year sentence handed down to Bernard Madoff last week. Ira Lee Sorkin said, "The decision has been made, and that's it." Next up for Madoff is finding out where he'll spend the rest of his life—he requested to be sent to the Otisville federal prison. CNN Money notes that it's "70 miles northwest of New York City, where he used to reside in a $7 million apartment, ...and one of the closest medium-security prisons to New York City, where Madoff has family." Also, there's a "prison camp, textile factory, a full-time rabbi," and, according to a prison consultant, "one of the largest and most active religious programs for Jewish inmates in the Bureau of Prisons." more ›

Back in March, the economy forced developer Bruce Ratner to scale back plans for a 76-story Frank Gehry-designed building called Beekman Tower to just a 38- (or 40-) story structure. Now, the NY Times reports that a deal between Ratner's company and labor unions will help save "as much as 20 percent on labor costs" and allow construction to resume at Beekman Tower. Forest City Ratner executive MaryAnne Gilmartin said, "We’re thrilled to be going back to work. It’s a great project and a great building." Beekman Tower, which will be the tallest residential building in the city at 867 feet, was originally planned as a condominium, but FCR made it a rental (given the economy). Gilmartin also said, The savings we achieved go a long way toward insulating the project from any dip in rents or any protracted period of time required to lease up the building. We’re really bullish on this building." more ›

The NY Times' real estate section's big feature is about the very nice deals renters are finding these days. Not only are renters trying to downsize to save money (one couple moved to a slightly smaller place to save $600/month), sometimes they're able to trade up AND pay less. For instance, there's a woman who, when she couldn't find a decent Lower East Side in her budget last year, moved to a Midtown studio—that smells of burgers—for $1,800/month; now, after her landlord refused to lower the rent, she found a bigger LES one-bedroom for $1,700/month—with no burger smell! Of course, a Citi Habitats broker admits, "Probably somebody who’s relocating would still be surprised today: ‘This is the size of apartment I get for this price?’ But New Yorkers think this is great right now. Maybe you appreciate it more if you spend more time here." more ›

What better time to go condo than during a credit crisis? The Real Deal reports that the owners of 36 Gramercy Park South, the landmarked and last rental building right on the private park, sent its tenants a "red herring" condo offering plan (red herring because it needs to be approved by the Attorney General's office first). And some details: "The 53 units at 36 Gramercy Park East are being offered for sale at an average price of $2,448 per square foot, though large units facing the park are going for much more. The most expensive apartment, a 2,078-square-foot, three-bedroom on the ninth floor facing the park that is currently rent-controlled, has been priced at $6,545,700, or roughly $3,150 per square foot. The least expensive, a 323-square-foot studio at the back of the building, has been priced at $484,500, or roughly $1,500 a square foot." At those prices, you'd think you'd be able to picnic in the park, but no. more ›

The AP reports that rental brokerage Citi Habitats found rents for all apartments (except one-bedrooms) fell slightly during the third quarter, versus last year. (One-bedroom rental prices grew 1.7%.) "The dip may seem to indicate a weakness in the market, but the firm says there has been no precipitous decline in rental rates or substantial increase in vacancy rates," adding that it's rented more apartments between July and September this year than last. The next quarter's data should be interesting! more ›

A class action lawsuit was filed in New York federal court yesterday, alleging that real estate firm "Brown Harris Stevens Brooklyn LLC (BHS) and its senior vice president and two real estate agents discriminate against families with children attempting to rent apartments in Brooklyn." more ›

Property owners are not holding their breath for a citywide ban on domestic smoking, like the ones barring lighting up in bars or restaurants, but non-smoking is increasingly becoming a requirement for renters in New York City. more ›

Looks like someone took that pirate trend a little too far. The NY Times is reporting on Brian Markey and Owen Cahillane, who are sailing the high seas in their floating abode. Okay, no sailing is involved, but the two roommates, recently transplanted from New Orleans and channeling the spirit of Davy Crockett, live day in and day out on a houseboat in the Bronx. more ›