Post-Bombing Apartment Rentals Still Bottom-Line Based

NEW YORK CITY-Having lived with the World Trade Center’s twin towers for decades before watching them crumble, it would be fair to assume that New York apartment building owners and managers might be scrutinizing potential tenants more thoroughly since Sept. 11. But industry professionals say that renting an apartment in New York remains strictly a numbers game.

“I don’t know of any difference,” says Gary Malin, CEO of residential brokerage firm Citi Habitats Inc. “You just make sure they qualify. I haven’t seen any major shift in philosophy. Building owners are looking to protect themselves in the same way they always have.”

With regard to more thorough background checks that might root out suspicious behavior, “I haven’t seen any of that. I don’t think it plays any role,” Malin says. “They look at the client on paper and as long as the client meets their requirements, they’re happy. It’s almost a science. And an annual income of 40 times the rent with no credit problems is typically what they’re looking for. They say ‘let me plug in my information and see if this client meets my requirements.’ A tenant’s a tenant and if they qualify, they qualify.”