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Show Summary
In this conversation, Sara Blau, a New York–licensed real estate agent and founder of LMK Lifestyle, discusses the complexities of the New York rental market, the importance of concierge support in navigating the process, and the unique appeal of living in Manhattan. She highlights the challenges renters face, including low vacancy rates and high barriers to entry, and emphasizes the value of having a knowledgeable advocate in a highly competitive real estate landscape. Sara also explores Manhattan’s diverse neighborhoods and what they offer to potential residents.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Sara Blau (00:00)
Manhattan has a super low rental vacancy rate. It’s 1.4%, and that’s the lowest it’s been in about a decade. So it’s extremely hard to get a rental, and you really need someone on the inside to help advocate for you.Make sure you have all your documentation ready so that when you are ready to find an apartment, you are ready to go and you’re going to secure that apartment. Otherwise, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose it.
Dylan Silver (01:55)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Sara Blau is a New York licensed real estate agent and the founder of LMK Lifestyle, a real estate and lifestyle services platform that blends high touch brokerage with personalized concierge support. She brings experience from Citibank’s corporate real estate and global event marketing groups, as well as her work as the founder of Game Changers New York, a global nonprofit focused on impact driven operations and partnerships. You can find her on Instagram, LinkedIn, or online at LMKlifestyle.com.Sara, thanks for taking the time today.
Sara Blau (02:27)
Thanks so much for having me, Dylan. I appreciate it.Dylan Silver (02:30)
Now, when we talk about rentals, relocation services in New York, I know people have lots of options and frankly, it can be overwhelming, right? Because you’re trying to find a place you’re not sure where to go to exactly. I’d like to start there and ask you, when people are looking for apartments, rentals in New York, where is typically the first place that they go to?Sara Blau (02:53)
Yeah, so typically people go to Street Easy. The first thing that they go to is Street Easy when they’re looking for a rental. The problem with Street Easy is a few things. Not all the listings are accurate. You have a lot of inaccurate information showing listings that are not actually available. And I’ve had a lot of the clients that come to me are starting with Street Easy and they say to me, I’m so incredibly overwhelmed. I cannot manage this on my own.They have a full-time job, they have a life to live, and they’re also trying to basically do a full-time job of finding themselves an apartment. so ultimately, they’ll try to start on their own a lot of the time, and then they’ll come to me saying, I need your help. And so right now,
Manhattan has a super low rental vacancy rate. It’s 1.4%, and that’s the lowest it’s been in about a decade. So it’s extremely hard to get a rental, and you really need someone on the inside to help advocate for you.
Make sure you have all your documentation ready so that when you are ready to find an apartment, you are ready to go and you’re going to secure that apartment. Otherwise, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose it.
Dylan Silver (03:57)
Now, 1.4%. I mean, of course, that’s you’re gonna have to find the place. It’s like finding the needle in a haystack. What’s typical as far as, you know, entrance fees? I’ve heard in some markets, it’s first last finders fee, brokers fee, and then, you know, security deposit. What’s typical?Sara Blau (05:00)
Typical is a few things. First, you have your application fee. Usually that could be $20 to $50 to submit that. And these are for rentals and condos. And so you have your application fee. They run your credit. They process your applications. That’s more of like an admin fee. Then you have usually first month’s rent also. So that’s going to be the first month actually of your rent. You’re paying that upfront so that you can move in immediately and that’s paid for. And then there’s also the brokerage fee.Typical for Manhattan is around 10 to 15 % of the annual rent. Occasionally, depending on the circumstance, it will be a one-month rent. But you kind of see a variation of those broker fees, depending on the agent.
Dylan Silver (05:40)
Now, in some other markets, I’m licensed in Texas. It’s a completely different scenario. So, you know, it’s interesting because depending on where you’re at in the country, it can completely change your perspective on renting. I’ve seen some places, you know, where I’m licensed where literally they’re giving you potentially months free or giving you some type of, you know, gift card to move in. And you have the opposite issue up there where people can’t find a place. And so.When people are dealing with these types of changes, I’m thinking one of the big benefits of going to someone like yourself is that concierge support as well, because there’s so many spinning plates in the air that they might miss, hey, I’ve got to handle the moving and ⁓ my gosh, this is happening in two weeks.
Sara Blau (06:24)
Right, 100%. So LMK Lifestyle, our whole premise is that we are an end-to-end service. Everything from the real estate component of actually trying to secure you an apartment and obviously successfully doing so, and then also all the services that you need to actually get into the city. So that’s moving. Let’s say you have a roommate, need to build a flex wall, which is common for Manhattan. We have our flex wall connection. We have laundry services, dry cleaning.beauty services. And what we’re doing is we’re partnering with these various companies and building relationships with them so that we can provide our clients with special discounts and perks that they otherwise would not have access to. And so we’re also providing a verified vendor relationship to them saying, this moving company provides a great service. They’re going to give you a discount.
And we have relationship with them, meaning we can trust them. They’re verified. They’re going to do a great job with your move. They’re going to get you and all your things into the city safely, ⁓ know, undamaged. And you’re going to have a great experience moving to the city, moving to the city. There’s, so many components. And of course, once you get here, you also need recommendations for everything. You need your hair salon, you need your nail salon, you need your barber.
Dylan Silver (07:34)
Right.Sara Blau (07:37)
The list goes on. You need your favorite restaurants and bars and coffee shops. We’re there to provide that entire process for you and provide recommendations for all these different things that you will need once you’re here as well.Dylan Silver (07:50)
Now, one of the things I think people tend to gloss over when they are looking for, you know, where to move is some of those things that you mentioned. then also, hey, what’s gonna be, you know, the distance exactly commuting wise and then also, you know, by foot to wherever it is that I need to get to. Now, of course, New York being a place where you’re typically taking public transportation, I would imagine. Actually, let me ask that.Sara Blau (08:13)
Mm-hmm.Dylan Silver (08:14)
Are most people taking public transportation or do you have a fair number of clients who are driving themselves around?Sara Blau (08:19)
No clients of mine are driving themselves around, I’ll tell you that. ⁓ At least not at this point. And most people are taking public transportation. Some people will come to us and they’ll say, I want to be a 10 to 15 minute walk from my office. That’s more common, but really no one’s driving. Driving the city is not pleasant.Dylan Silver (08:38)
It’s yeah, I can imagine. And so, you know, when folks are trying to do this search on their own, I’ve seen this, you know, before I was a realtor, would show up that places that maybe had availability were showing as, you know, 100 % booked basically, they had no available ⁓ leases. And so one of the things that is super beneficial from partnering with someone like yourself is you have really access to an industry data that folkseither don’t have or wouldn’t be able to dig into, because either they don’t have the time or they just don’t have the access.
Sara Blau (09:46)
Right, exactly. That’s one of the huge points of ValueAdd that we serve. And that is relationships with the management companies, relationships with listing agents, relationships with landlords. And we’re getting access to apartments that are not showing on the market. They’re off market. They’re not going to be online. My clients who are potentially trying to do it themselves to start with, they are not seeing those apartments. And not only that, once we get an application for an apartment,because of my relationships with these folks, we’re able to say, listen, this is a really good client. They have a great credit score. have, let’s say, great guarantor. I know them personally. I can personally vet for them. We could even sometimes surpass other applications in the process. So even if there’s already an application on a department, we’re still able to almost, for lack of better words, boot the other person out and get my client in because of that. So I will fight for the client. I will…
try as hard as I can to get them what they want. If they tell me that this is their dream apartment and this is where they want to live, no other choice is going to be as good as this one. I will fight for them to get that apartment.
Dylan Silver (10:54)
I mean, yeah, that’s a big deal because, you know, when you’re in an area like New York where it can be a situation where, you know, landlords have to look at, what’s potentially going to be the eviction process for us as investors? This could be potentially a year, maybe longer legal fight. We we don’t want to have to deal with that. So now we’re looking at guarantors. We’re basically making the barrier to entry higher and more strict. So having someone like yourself who would say, look,here’s my client and advocate for them, not just where to go find the apartment, but also, let’s get them in here when they might not have that connection with that landlord.
Sara Blau (11:33)
Yeah, the barrier to entry in Manhattan, especially right now is extremely high. There are tons of documents you need to provide. And I had a client last night say, I feel like I’m buying a house. This is the amount of documentation I feel like I’d do for buying a house, not even a rental, even a short-term rental, a 12-month lease. So it’s very off-putting for some people to have to provide all their finances and 10 different forms of documentation.just to be able to apply to the apartment. And then from there, you still, of course, have to get approved. So you have to be prepared for those things. And what I’m doing with my clients is before we even go out to tour, they need to have that documentation ready. It needs to be accurate. It needs to have everything they need. If they’re asking for a pay stub for, and if they’re asking for a tax return with the first two pages, it’s gotta be the first two pages. It can’t be the first page or else you’re gonna get denied.
⁓ We’re doing cover letters for these folks. So I’m writing extensive amounts of information about the person so that the landlord of the management company feels they really know the person who’s going to be living in their building and they’re going to be a good fit. And I could say that other realtors are not doing that same type of service for their clients.
Dylan Silver (12:48)
Yeah, cover letter is next level. Cover letter for a rental. That’s next level. I want to ask you, ⁓ pivoting a bit here, Sara, for folks who are commuting into the city from outside versus folks who are living in Manhattan, is there a specific type of avatar of someone who really wants to be living in Manhattan versus someone who’s commuting out? Is it strictly financial or is it someone who has a family?Sara Blau (12:49)
Yeah. Yeah. Right.Dylan Silver (13:15)
Or is it a mix of different factors that would drive someone to want to be living in Manhattan specifically?Sara Blau (13:21)
It’s New York City, it’s the greatest city in the world. think a lot of people, especially if you grew up in the Tri-State area, if you went to a school that has a lot of New York folks, this is a highly desirable market. This is a great place to live. It’s a great place to start your career and to live. It’s vibrant, it’s active. You have a million things going on whenever you want it. You have the true American dream here. You can work as hard as you want and succeed.It’s hard to live here financially. You have to be able to afford it. But once you’re here, you have an excellent time with it. And I know people pay a large portion of their paychecks to live in Manhattan. They’d rather live in Manhattan, even in a not so great apartment, than to not live here at all. So it’s just a highly desirable city. I live here. I grew up on Long Island. I came to Manhattan going, I came to Manhattan my whole life. We’d go visit my grandparents who lived here.
We would go to theater, restaurants, et cetera. And it’s just fun to live in Manhattan. think that, you know, I almost feel like it speaks for itself. You know, I’ve never, never felt like I had to vouch for Manhattan before. It just seems so natural to me that everyone would want to live here, truthfully.
Dylan Silver (15:12)
Let’s dive into it because I’m from northern New Jersey. I grew up about 30 miles outside of New York City. So I personally understand the allure. But for folks who may not be from New York at all and they understand, you know, it’s a big city. There’s a lot going on. But you’re dealing with some factors that you’re not going to be dealing with in some other places, right? You traffic increased rents. You can’t drive your car around.You’re dealing with more people all the time, you know, potentially don’t know everyone that you’re dealing with on a daily basis. So for folks you may be looking at, well, that’s that side. Give me the highlights, because I know it’s probably second nature to you, but what are the absolute highlights of living in Manhattan?
I lost your audio.
Sara Blau (15:53)
Can you hear me? Okay, so Manhattan has, I think, something for everyone. And when you look at each individual neighborhood, they’re extremely different. If you’re someone who wants more space, more residential feel, a little bit more quiet, Upper West Side is a great location for you. If you want bars and the hustle bustle and a diverse community, I think East Village is good for you. If you want really good bang for your buck,Dylan Silver (15:53)
Yeah.Sara Blau (16:19)
I’d say Murray Hill or Fie Die. If you want, know, there’s something for everyone. So I think that because of that, all the different neighborhoods attracts a large, a diverse population because everyone feels once you’re here, you really can make it feel like your home. And, you know, I think every neighborhood has something else to offer, but ultimately there’s an underlying vibe of this. There’s so much going on there. There are cafes open 24 seven.There’s, you you could get a quiet vibe with a street line, with a tree line street, or you could get a street that never sleeps and you have everything in between. So really depending on what you’re looking for, I think there’s something for everyone.
Dylan Silver (17:00)
I can definitely resonate with that. I think that that’s one of the aspects that’s so incredible about New York versus some other places. Literally at any time of day, you can do basically anything. And it’s really geared towards what your interests are. You mentioned some of the different vibes that you might find in Manhattan specifically. We actually are coming up on time here though, Sara. Any new projects that you’re working on and then as well, what’s the best way for folks to get in contact with you or your team?Sara Blau (17:29)
Yeah, well, Dylan, thank you so much for having me on the show. There are a few ways you could contact me. You could call me or text me at 516-509-7278. You could look at our website at www.lmklifestyle.com. Follow us on Instagram, LMK Lifestyle, Facebook, LMK Lifestyle, or my personal LinkedIn. And we can have a conversation and I’m happy to help guide you through the rental process.what it means to live here and really help guide you through your whole end-to-end process of being in Manhattan. We have a lot of different services, really something for everyone. So if you’re interested just for an informational call, feel free to reach out.
Dylan Silver (18:11)
Sara, thanks for coming on the show today. Thanks for your time.Sara Blau (18:13)
Thank you, Dylan.
