Making the grade
S CHOOL is back in session. Does your neighborhood get straight As?
Real estate data firm Rentlogic has been handing out marks to New York City’s 1.1 million multi-family rental buildings since its 2015 launch. Using public information from the city on building violations — like mold or heat or hot water issues — the company assigns properties a score of A (excellent), B (good), C (needs improvement) or F (unacceptable). Grades are based solely on confirmed offenses, which can also include structural matters or pest problems.
The goal is to aid renters in identifying potentially shady buildings before they sign a lease, while also helping quality landlords tout their bona fides, according to Yale Fox, Rentlogic’s founder and CEO. The company announced last month that it has raised $2.4 million in seed funding.
So where should you look for apartment buildings with the best grades? Every neighborhood contains all manner of buildings, of course, but some areas do appear more rule-abiding than others. Exclusively for The Post, Rentlogic combed their data on more than 1 million buildings in nearly 300 neighborhoods across the five boroughs to identify the best and worst areas to rent right now.
The most surprising result: Prices aren’t always a proxy for quality. For instance, the city’s bestgraded neighborhoods include workaday spots like Great Kills, Staten Island, Floral Park, Queens, and City Island in The Bronx. (There, 99 percent or more of buildings received an A grade.) In the West Village, on the other hand, 76 percent of properties scored an A rating. In the East Village, only 52 percent of properties got an A. The lowest-scoring neighborhoods were Tremont in The Bronx and Inwood in Manhattan. In both areas, almost 9 percent of buildings scored an F. In West Harlem, the third worst, it was 7.6.
One Rentlogic user is Jerry Pi, founder of Pi Capital Partners, whose portfolio features 1,700 city rentals, including the 83-unit Elm East (one-bedrooms from $2,299) and the forthcoming 142-unit Elm West (scheduled for completion in 2019) buildings in Elmhurst. That’s a Queens neighborhood where a respectable 92 percent of buildings (including Elm East) score an A.