Is the East Village really the Leased Village? When you talk about New York City neighborhoods you talk about how different each of them are. One neighborhood in particular has always been so much more unique than so many others for so long.
We are talking about the East Village. The place where hippies used to roam, punk rock was born, and where that bar you have to go to every other week because your friend is dragging you to see poetry recited.
One attribute that makes the East Village vastly different than all other neighborhoods in Manhattan is the housing situation.
Property Shark has compiled data from multiple sources that shows that the housing situation in the East Village is just as odd as the famed neighborhood.
It's a neighborhood rich in history, but still, sadly, sort of trying to shift the significance of what that means. Take The Jefferson Theatre, for example. It opened in 1913 as a vaudeville theater and was still operating until 1977.
Today, condos stand on the once famed theater and all that remains is its name.
Despite that, it's still retained much of its character over the years. Whether it's kitschy apartments with old AF bathtubs, or Kanye nonsense to keep the vibe alive (definitely not the same vibe, but a unique one in and of itself), the East Village is its own cultural edifice.
Of course, you should never move anywhere alone if you can help it. Sometimes you just need a housemate or roommate to make it work financially. That's why there's Roomi.
Roomi's the free app that helps you find a roommate in the safest, most secure way possible. With Roomi you don't run into robots or spam listings from a Nigerian homeowner who, out of the goodness of his own heart, is renting a 3-bedroom loft for $800/month.
Roomi knows how stressful finding a housemate who's not a sketchball is. That's why their listing team is dedicated to sussing out the spam and the fake posts so you don't wind up living in some kind of crazy sex kitchen (not quite sure what that is, but it's not something we want to be a part of).
Download the Roomi app right here and find the reasonable roommate you've been longing for today. For free! Read on for why the East Village is the 'hood to live right now!
1. Mostly rental
One of the most astounding finds is that 82% of all housing in the East Village are actually rentals. So, out of the 33,240 units, only 5,828 aren't.
[anad]
That's bad for people looking to retain as much of the same character of the old neighborhood as possible, but good for people looking for a stopgap between Upper Manhattan and Brooklyn.
2. Transient neighborhood
A high percentage of rentals, affordable or otherwise, doesn't necessarily mean that nobody wants to live there forever, but you can take it as the East Village being packed with people not really ready to settle down just yet. Why is that a good thing?
Well, if you're anything like us, you want to be in an area you're down with, and around people that maybe aren't exactly like you, but are close enough in age you don't have to worry about steppin' on toes or cramping their style, so to speak.
It also means that affordability is even easier because, let's face it, you may not be looking to buy an apartment or condo, but you're definitely not trying to kill yourself affording any apartment on your lonesome. You need a roommate or housemate. That's why there's Roomi.
Roomi is the app that makes it easy to find affordable and safe shared housing in NYC. For free. How? Simple. It provides a seamless and secure channel of communication between potential roommates.
Everyone who lists through Roomi gets vetted by their security team. No creeps, no goons, no non-humans. Everything’s carefully and critically examined because safety is no joke, especially in NYC. Download the Roomi app right here and find the right housemate in the East Village.
3. More affordable than Upper Manhattan
As of April 2016, the median rent in the East Village was $3,450, and this number just beat out the Upper East Side. You're looking at spending about $40,000 each year in rent alone which is simply absurd.
Thankfully, there are little over 6,000 affordable housing units in the neighborhood for low-income tenants.
Between April 2015 and 2016, the average rent went up 1.7%, according to MNS. While that's still not a great look, it's a much lower rate than the majority of Manhattan.
4. Actually not a bad idea to buy now
Of course, this is highly contingent on your ability to buy, but in NYC, with the near-guarantee of increased property value, it's not a bad idea to either settle in for the long haul or pull a Jeremy Renner and flip while the money's hot.
If you're in the buying mood the East Village might also be a perfect fit for you. The median price for a home is $767,000, a 30% drop from last spring and a 23% drop compared to the rest of Manhattan.
[anad2]
This year, the most expensive home so far went for $2,650,000, which was 1,500 square-foot condo. Last year? The most expensive home was a 5,600 square-foot condo that went for $7 million.
5. It's just dope
The East Village is just different. The nightlife is top-notch which is why we love to party there. Artists have called it home for decades, even if Mr. West created absolute chaos by almost performing there.
Even when we lose icons like St. Mark's Trash and Vaudeville or St. Mark's Bookshop, we're still super enamored with what the East Village was, is, and still could be.
Check out 6 Stunningly Underrated NYC Landmarks You Simply Must Visit.
[via Property Shark] [Feature Image Courtesy Instagram]