Better the Thermometer Than the RENT-O-Meter!

Yep, a New York City heat wave’s truly amazing ability to turn all forms of matter—animal, vegetable, mineral, gaseous (I’m looking right at YOU, gaseous!)—sticky, stinky, and angry should have earned it an honorary Law of Thermodynamics all its own by now. But until that day when every physics textbook is rewritten, only those who’ve experienced soaring temperatures in virtually any NYC neighborhood really get what the Lovin Spoonful meant when they sang:

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

The good news is that heat waves are only a few days out of the year—not so the monthly rent you agree to pay when you sign a lease on an apartment. So how do you know whether the amount of rent you’re locking into for a year or more is the dollar equivalent of an NYC heat wave? According to the New York Sun—the newspaper, not the gaseous fireball that has unleashed its brutal wrath on NYC this week—just consult the Rentometer.

To see how the rent you are being charged for your studio, one-bedroom, or multi-bedroom apartment compares to what your neighbors are paying for similar apartments in similar buildings, just enter your address, apartment size, number of units in your building, and voilá! The Rentometer will read low, median, or high.

Keep in mind, however, that while the Rentometer bases its readings on actual rents being charged in any NYC neighborhood you enter, it’s still a fairly blunt instrument. For example, the Rentometer doesn’t consider whether or not an apartment is in a doorman building, has appliances and luxury amenities or if it has bullet holes, rat turds, and free-standing toilet in the kitchen.

The Rentometer also cannot gauge what you might personally value in an apartment, so if that free-standing toilet in the kitchen is your one must-have, than you might be happy to pay way over the neighborhood's average rent for the comfort and convenience of washing dishes while you pee (at least happier than your dinner guests will be). Also, rent stabilized and controlled apartments in many neighborhoods may skew the median far below market rate for newly rented, renovated apartments.

The Rentometer is brought to you by Rentomatic.com, a company designed to bring greater transparency to navigating the real estate market for renters and buyers as well as landlords and sellers. Rentomatic also offers services—not all of which are available in NYC yet—designed to facilitate communication, financial transactions, and “feeling the love” between tenants and landlords. It’s a San Francisco-based company so we’ll have to let that last one slide…

Still sticky? Stinky?! ANGRY?! Hang in there! Here's more of the Lovin Spoonful for you:

Cool town, evening in the city
Dressing so fine and looking so pretty
Cool cat, looking for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city
Till I'm wheezing like a bus stop
Running up the stairs, gonna meet you on the rooftop

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

Lyrics: The Lovin Spoonful, “Summer in the City” (1966)
Image: NASA, Multiple solar flares on the surface of the sun