New York Habitat Blog

In concert with our full length blog, New York Habitat has decided to publish a microblog on Twitter to provide the fastest and most up-to-date information for clients and apartment owners. Not only will you find the latest news and tips on our Twitter feed, but you will find special limited time discounts on apartments in New York, Paris and London plus villas in the South of France.

Follow us at www.twitter.com/newyorkhabitat or Twitter user newyorkhabitat.

• What’s new on the New York Habitat Travel and Real Estate blog (Find out the latest news on neighborhoods, events, apartment renting tips and more).

• Apartment discounts (Look for limited time discounts on selected apartments and vacation rentals on a regular basis, make sure to follow our Twitter feed because discounts can last from just a few hours up to 1 week and will only be show on Twitter).

• Market news (We will comment on the latest market news as it comes up. Feel free to share your thoughts by sending us a direct message with your thoughts or tweet your response via your account).

New York Habitat hopes to utilize Twitter to provide quick updates and the latest information for people who are interested in news about us and our apartment and vacation rentals in New York, Paris, London and the South of France.

You can also follow our Twitter feeds in other languages with the following user names:

• French: nyhabitatfr or  www.twitter.com/nyhabitatfr
• Italian: nyhabitatita or www.twitter.com/nyhabitatita
• German: nyhabitatde or www.twitter.com/nyhabitatde
• Spanish: nyhabitates or www.twitter.com/nyhabitates

Let us know what you think of our Twitter feed and give us suggestions of what you might like to see in future Twitter posts in the comments section below or by sending us a direct message on Twitter.

New York Habitat is proud to launch the newest version of our travel and real estate blog in Italian. Like the English and French versions of the New York Habitat Blog, the new Italian language New York Habitat blog will offer the latest news and tips about travel and real estate.

The blog will detail news and events occurring it New York, London, Paris and the South of France. The focus of the articles will include:

New York Habitat Blog in Italian: Photo of Big Ben, London

•    Neighborhood information and news
•    Updated Real Estate Market News
•    Local Events in Paris, New York, London and the South of France
•    Vacation Rental and Apartment Rental Tips
•    And more

When looking for vacation rentals, furnished apartments, apartment share and bed and breakfast accommodations, you will be able to find pertinent information on our Italian, French and English language blogs.

In addition New York Habitat will be able to offer the latest updates to owners, renters and other market participants in Italian, French and English. We encourage you to check out the New York Habitat Italian blog and comment below or on the new Italian blog with any ideas that you would like to see on the Italian side of our blog.

Enjoy!

After sharing with you some tips to determine if you are dealing with a legitimate company or agent before choosing an apartment,  this week we wanted to show you how to spot clues that the apartment you are looking to rent may be a fake.

Rental scams are on the rise, so it is more important than ever to look into the person or company that you are dealing with and make sure they are legitimate. Here are a few things to look out for:

New York Apartment: 2-bedroom vacation rental in Greenwich Village (NY-9572) photo

1)    Is there a legitimate company name on the contract that you can investigate further? : We have seen many fake contracts with “company names” like “Charming and Cozy Apartment in Time Square” or “1br-Beautiful Option for Hotels”. Those are not business names; they are lifted straight out of a rental ad!

2)    You are receiving communications from multiple email addresses or names: If the email address contains a company domain name (the part just after the @ symbol in the email) you can look up the company to get more information on them.

3)    There are errors in the rental dates or prices quoted: Most scammers cannot be bothered to take the time to change the details for every scam or they are scamming so many people that they become confused themselves. That is a major red flag!

4)    The directions to the apartment don’t make sense: Google Map the address and see if the directions you have been given are legitimate. Many scammers don’t know the area and have no idea how to get to the apartment. A legitimate rental agency or broker will know the best way  to get to the apartments they are listing.

5)    The wording of the contract or communication from the agent or company is awkward or has spelling or grammatical mistakes: It may also have numerous repetitions or contradictions within it. Legitimate companies and brokers will have professionals reviewing their contracts to make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors.

New York Apartment: 1-bedroom rental in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (NY-12503) photo

If you show up at your destination and realize you have been scammed: Read the entire story here… »

So, you’ve read all your travel guides on how to survive on $40 a day, packed your entire vanity into 3oz bottles and a quart sized Ziploc bag, found an apartment rental on the Internet and even managed to survive the cross-Atlantic flight existing solely on the one complimentary bag of airline peanuts. Magnifique! However, when you arrive at the location of that très chic, too-good-to-be-true vacation rental you found on the Internet, you find out the address you were given to your dream apartment is actually a Starbucks cafe. Mon ami, you have found a rental scam!

New York: Vaction Rental 1-bedroom in the East Village (NY-11155 Photo

It pains us to see our fellow globetrotting travelers end up in this predicament. So, as you ponder how this could possibly have happened to a très savvy travel aficionado like yourself, let us pass along some advice on how to spot various apartment rental scams so you don’t end up sleepless in Seattle (New York, London, Paris, or anywhere else in the world).

Obviously there is some hesitation involved in renting an apartment in a distant place. However, apartment rental scams happen everyday to people right in their own cities as well. As avid travelers, we all know that the thrill of travel is the quest for adventure; paired with adventure is both risk and reward. Just make it a calculated risk and do your research before you rent that furnished apartment or roommate share apartment, otherwise you might have booked yourself a one-way ticket to trouble.

New York Habitat thinks that a great way to help clients determine which apartment is right for them is to let them see what previous clients have said about our apartments. You can take a look at reviews that previous clients have sent us for each apartment in New York, London, Paris and the South of France directly on our website. Fantastique! We encourage you to ask for apartment suggestions from our knowledgeable agents as well. They have visited many of these apartments themselves and know many of the owners personally.

Read the entire story here… »

New York Habitat is proud to launch a new version of our travel and real estate blog for our French readers. The new New York Habitat French blog like its English counterpart will offer the latest news and tips about travel and real estate.

Eiffel Tower, France: New York Habitat Blog in French

The blog will detail news and events occurring in New York, London, Paris and the South of France. The focus of the articles will include:

• Real Estate Market News
• Events
• Neighborhood information
• Apartment Rental Tips
• And more

When looking for vacation rentals, furnished apartments, apartment share and bed and breakfast accommodations, you will be able to find pertinent information on both our French and English language blogs.

In addition New York Habitat will be able to offer the latest updates to owners, renters and other market participants in French and English. We encourage you to check out the New York Habitat French blog and comment below or on the new French blog with any ideas that you would like to see on the French side of our blog

Enjoy!

Have you been looking for apartment ratings and reviews about New York Habitat apartments, or do you want to post a rating or review about your experiences with us? Today we will share with you some popular travel rating and review sites where New York Habitat has been reviewed regularly.

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Insider Pages

Insider Pages: Insider Pages is a site, which reviews businesses city by city. They include everything from review of spas, to restaurants critiques to ratings of vacation rental agencies. Several of our clients and owners have taken the time to share their experiences on Insider Pages and the reviews have been good! Here are a few of our favorite headlines:

• ***** New York Habitat, The Best of The Best
• ***** Never stay in a hotel again . . .
• ***** Perfect Agency!

Follow the link to the New York Habitat Insider Pages reviews to read all of the feedback.

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Amazon.com

Amazon.com: The Internet’s version of a department store, Amazon.com sells a little bit of anything. For products that Amazon does not offer they have created ratings pages to help find the best products and services. Once again this has been a popular forum to express reviews of New York Habitat’s apartments and our service. Some top headlines includes:

• ***** New York Habitat: Great place to list an furnished apartment
• **** Great place in Paris!
• ***** Great service

To read all of the comments visit Amazon.com Customer Reviews of New York Habitat.

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Epinions

Epinions.com: One of the oldest feedback sites Epinions has been around since before many people even had e-mail addresses. This site is designed to encourage people to review products and services by offering incentives for quality reviews. This has been another popular place for clients and owners to rate us. Some feedback includes:

• ***** Simply amazing service!
• **** No surprise in the apartment and this is a sign of reliability.
• ***** The ‘Right Choice’ for getting the ‘Right Service’

Click to read all of the Epinions reviews about New York Habitat.

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All of these types of forums can be helpful in gaining more information about products and services from the internet. We invite you to comment below on other websites that you use to express your feedback about New York Habitat’s apartments and service. We look forward to reading your ratings and reviews.

New York Habitat and especially the blog team
would like to wish you, your family and friends
a happy and healthy holidays and new year.

New York Habitat Greetings

Our rental agents in New York, Paris, London and the South of France wish you the best.

Please check back in the new year for more great posts about everything New York Habitat related.

Don’t forget, the New York and Paris Furnished Apartment Market Reports will be published shortly after the new year.

Photograph provided by francois-roux-photography.com