Revamped website Address Report mines public data for the scoop on your next rental
It can be tough to get the real lowdown on an apartment before you actually move in--noisy neighbors and vermin have a way of revealing themselves after you've signed the lease and handed over a security deposit. The founders of Address Report are banking on the idea that an easy-to-use online database of apartment info is worth paying for.
Formerly known as Rentenna, the site first launched in 2011, with a combination of data and rental listings. But, as Kavyon Bina and Kevin Dolan, two of the site's co-founders, tell us, they decided to get rid of the listings component and adopt a new name after noticing that browsers mostly used the site to look up information about buildings, rather than to hunt down apartments.
Pulling data primarily from public records, Address Report is just what it sounds like: you plug in an address, and it pulls up stats on commute times, area green space, crime, noise, filth, and rodent complaints, and individual building data on everything from elevator times to registered violations.
A good amount of information is free, but for more detailed, customized reports on things like specific commute times to the places you visit most frequently, you'll need to sign up for an upgrade version, which runs at $17.99 for two weeks' worth of access (i.e. a typical window for apartment hunting.)
They've also got data on construction permits coming to the site soon, which Dolan says will help "predict noise and disruption" as well as gather information on a building's past renovations. Welcome news for those of us who've been blindsided by never-ending construction work (or a negligent landlord) after settling into a new building. (And that's everyone in New York, right?)
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