I need to find an apartment • Hacker News Board

Re: I need to find an apartment

#31

Post by giraffe_lady » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

bluefirebrand wrote: post #23

dazbradbury wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are genuine privacy concerns at play here, for example there may be existing tenants/owners who don't want people randomly knocking on the door because someone saw an ad online. Or getting a bunch of junk mail because there is an extra data point about the property. I guess the variety of concerns will vary from country to country depending on local laws / existing open data though.

I don't think it is reasonable to expect to be able to list real estate for rent or sale, and also expect privacy with regards to the address.

Yeah but this is a "the customer isn't the user" situation. The tenant wants and deserves privacy, and it's their privacy that can be compromised by the listing.

The owner doesn't really have a reason to care, I don't think, and may even be incentivized in some situations to reveal information the tenants would rather they not.

Re: I need to find an apartment

#32

Post by ghaff » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #25

haswell wrote: post #4

I'm in the middle of an apartment search. I was reflecting the other day on how much searching for an apartment has changed over the last 10 years. Conclusion: it hasn't changed much at all. It's still necessary to search on a myriad of sites. Most of the time, by the time you inquire, a place is gone. Or the ad was misleading and that "$2000 2BR" is actually "$2000 for the cheapest Studio we have, but we also have 2…

In San Francisco, when I was looking for an apartment,, I always ended up with an apartment with the worst pictures / missing things in the description on Craigslist, because they had less interest / were cheaper. The market for rentals is never efficient and will never be! People who post to Zillow with a perfect description know they can extract more money for it.

I bought my house in the late-ish 90s before the web was really a big thing and certainly before things like Google StreetView. I spent a lot of time driving around to see places where I ended up not even stopping the car once I got there.

Today, there would be a lot more information available. However, as you suggest, I assume all that available information probably increases the efficiency of connecting a property with potential buyers/renters so you're less likely to luck into something that others just haven't found yet. (The funny thing is that the house I ended up buying turned out be being sold by someone I knew quite well at work.)

Re: I need to find an apartment

#33

Post by sofixa » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

This reminds me of the small Go utility i wrote to help when i was in a similar situation. My focus was entirely on checking the location though, and see how much time it'd take to get to my various points of interest ( work addresses, places where things happen, favourite restaurants and bars, etc.). (It was just one of the things we were looking at with my SO, but it was a factor).

It's all Google Maps with arguments so i should probably open source it, someone might find it useful.

Re: I need to find an apartment

#34

Post by aqme28 » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

I'm currently searching in Berlin and the market has become insane. Here's a response I got yesterday:

"With more than 1200 prospective tenants, it was really difficult for the landlord to make a decision.

Unfortunately, we have to inform you that the landlord has decided on other prospective tenants.

Thank you for your understanding! "

Re: I need to find an apartment

#35

Post by actually_a_dog » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

wildmanx wrote: post #19

Looks to me like procrastination from doing what he actually needs to do. Which is to click on those links to find an apartment. Tech won't solve that. Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/974/

I’d call it more of a variant of the XY problem: https://xyproblem.info/

Re: I need to find an apartment

#36

Post by vmception » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:08 PM UTC

haswell wrote: post #4

I'm in the middle of an apartment search. I was reflecting the other day on how much searching for an apartment has changed over the last 10 years. Conclusion: it hasn't changed much at all. It's still necessary to search on a myriad of sites. Most of the time, by the time you inquire, a place is gone. Or the ad was misleading and that "$2000 2BR" is actually "$2000 for the cheapest Studio we have, but we also have 2…

> Aggregators like Padmapper helped for awhile

Everyone that attempts to address the housing market just winds up realizing how lucrative it is to not fix it

Once they get a little data and hire some agents its just a reversion to the mean

Re: I need to find an apartment

#37

Post by fennecfoxen » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:10 PM UTC

giraffe_lady wrote: post #31

bluefirebrand wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is reasonable to expect to be able to list real estate for rent or sale, and also expect privacy with regards to the address.

Yeah but this is a "the customer isn't the user" situation. The tenant wants and deserves privacy, and it's their privacy that can be compromised by the listing. The owner doesn't really have a reason to care, I don't think, and may even be incentivized in some situations to reveal information the tenants would rather they not.

What information? “This apartment exists at LOCATION and will be available for rent at DATE?” And you think the tenant is entitled to stop the world from knowing that because the tenant is residing at that location before DATE?

Goodness. I should give the First Amendment a hug.

Re: I need to find an apartment

#38

Post by baobabKoodaa » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:13 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #34

I'm currently searching in Berlin and the market has become insane. Here's a response I got yesterday: "With more than 1200 prospective tenants, it was really difficult for the landlord to make a decision. Unfortunately, we have to inform you that the landlord has decided on other prospective tenants. Thank you for your understanding! "

This sounds like rent caps.

Re: I need to find an apartment

#39

Post by pacetherace » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #34

I'm currently searching in Berlin and the market has become insane. Here's a response I got yesterday: "With more than 1200 prospective tenants, it was really difficult for the landlord to make a decision. Unfortunately, we have to inform you that the landlord has decided on other prospective tenants. Thank you for your understanding! "

1:1200 is probably worse than most selective universities.

I know it is not apples to apples comparison but it’s the first thing that came to my mind.

Re: I need to find an apartment

#40

Post by tecleandor » Sat, Apr 09, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

At least OP had the full address of those apartment on that website, so he could plot them on the map. Here in Austria, most leeches, sorry, realtors, avoid putting the street in the ad to prevent you from trying to contact the property directly and bypassing their fees, so apartment hunting is even more of a headache. Still, amazing work from OP.

Oh, around here (Spain) usually they don't put the address in the ad so you can't cross check the information with the national registry and find that the apartment is 20% smaller than claimed.