Anyone who has ever tried to rent an apartment in New York City knows that the struggle to find a place you wouldn’t mind laying your head, that is actually within your budget, is very real. Although there are nearly 1 million rent-stabilized units in New York City – nearly half of the city’s total inventory – getting your hands on one is something like being struck by lightning or matching all of the numbers in a Powerball drawing. But help is on the way, as two teenagers are doing their part to make the search a little easier for the city’s residents.
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Derrick Webster Jr. and his friend, Beckett Zahedi, developed Realer Estate, a free tool that scans public records and listings to help renters find affordable and rent-stabilized units around the city. The teens say a lesson on the city’s affordable housing crisis in their economics class inspired them to take action.
In an interview with ABC 7 New York, Zahedi said he was surprised by how difficult it is for renters to find available rent-stabilized units – regulated apartments with legal limits to how much tenants can be charged and how much their rent can increase year to year. Units are listed by the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, but the teens said the list is often incomplete and can be difficult to navigate.
“Most renters I’ve spoken to don’t even know it exists,” Zahedi said. “And so I thought there’s no way this is the best way to find rent-stabilized apartments. Let’s try to make this easier.”
Their tool cross-references every available apartment listing on the market with the rent-stabilized building list to let apartment hunters know which units meet the criteria as they search.
Webster says he and Zahedi taught themselves to code, first building a tool to help them with math. As they got the hang of it, they thought they could use their powers to help the greater good.
“I started asking myself, ‘How can we help renters before they even get into the real estate market because it’s lacking transparency?’ We looked towards public data and resources that people know about but aren’t really able to digest,” he told ABC 7 New York. “We focused on the accessibility of information to really help people navigate the affordable housing crisis at this stage.”
Although Webster and Zahedi have never rented an apartment themselves, they hope their tool will help connect people with homes they can afford.
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