“Just be straight with people” when posting real estate listings on Craigslist, founder Craig Newmark told industry professionals at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference yesterday. “Don’t do any keyword spamming… people online are getting smarter and smarter.” Newmark said that the real estate section of his classified listings site is mostly self-policed and that there are fewer indiscretions by agents now than there were five years ago. “In New York, I have agents quite frequently sending us e-mail about other agents‘ inappropriate acts,” including posting in the “for sale by owner” section, he said. Other words of wisdom from Newmark: avoid posting listings more than once every 48 hours and always disclose what agency you are affiliated with, he said. [Inman News]

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Another Manhattan rental scammer was caught stealing deposits from would-be tenants last week, the Post reported. Paul Budden, 45, allegedly posted a Craigslist ad for a West Harlem apartment at Seventh Avenue and 145th Street to which three victims responded. Posing as an agent, Budden has been accused of having the victims sign contracts and put down deposits on the apartment before disappearing without giving them the keys. [more]

For those who are short on attention and flush with the woes of shared New York City real estate, reality TV has the answer. MTV is offering the chance to vent roommate frustrations to the entire country. The network — via Craigslist — is scouting Lower East Side residents with “SERIOUS roommate issues” for a reality show segment called “True Life: I Have Roommate Issues.” Those without truly “nightmare” living situations (and a photo) need not apply. [Craigslist via EV Grieve]

Kevin Ellerton, the CEO of Blackstone Properties, which has snagged a significant market share but also drawn ire from competitors.

From the February issue: At the ripe old age of 24, Kevin Ellerton is managing to become one of
the most powerful players in the Lower Manhattan rental game. To hear
his competitors talk, he’s also one of the most loathed.
Ellerton is the CEO of Blackstone Properties, a company he started
less than two years ago with a high school friend, David Yomtobian.
(Ellerton’s company has no relation to the powerful private equity firm
the Blackstone Group.)
By Ellerton’s calculations, about half of all brokered rental deals
in the Financial District and Battery Park City are inked by Blackstone
agents. While executives at other Lower Manhattan firms say that number
might be closer to 40 percent, they grudgingly concede that Blackstone
has grabbed a formidable share of the rental market in a very short
period of time. [more]

Concessions lead to flare-ups between agents and renters

One might think that months of free rent and scarce broker’s fees — hallmarks of the current marketplace — would ease the notoriously fraught relationship between renters and real estate agents.

On the contrary, the ever-changing array of incentives is leading to confusion for renters and fueling flare-ups with brokers, experts say.

“It can be very confusing for clients, because landlords will change these offerings on a moment’s notice,” said Bruno Ricciotti, a principal at Bond New York Real Estate.

When an incentive changes unexpectedly, renters often think they are being scammed.

“Unfortunately, clients always think that brokers are deceptive,” said Marc Lewis, the president of Century 21 New York Metro, who has recently seen several disputes between clients and agents arising from misunderstandings about incentives. [more]

Conventional wisdom tells us that seemingly too-good-to-be-true Craigslist apartments are often just that. But Time Out New York decided to put this theory to the test, visiting the real-life counterparts of some photo-less, dubiously advertised units. The result was surprisingly positive, with just one of the four units examined deemed to be a complete aberration from its promised credentials. The sub-standard apartment in question, a $1,850-per-month one-bedroom with a “bathroom the size of an airplane lavatory” and a “window in the closet; ideal for growing cannabis” was called out for being worse than promised in its ad.

The Caravan homepage

Given the recent bad-news headlines many apartment hunters who enjoy Craiglist may worry that they’ll be the next unwitting victim of a Web-savvy serial murderer every time they look at an apartment. A new short-term sublet and house swap service, Caravan, aims to solve that problem by forcing users to go through a screening process before they can use the service. The concept is predicated on the idea that working through brokers is costly and time-consuming, but that skipping the middleman altogether is risky. The company says it’s geared toward creative professionals — the uber-trendy jet-setting types that travel internationally at the drop of a hat and can’t be bothered to hire a broker. While the service just started, early reports say that Caravan plans to expand its business, offering job and office space listings, in the coming months.