5 red flags that could slash your apartment's selling price

New York City may be a seller's market, but that doesn't mean you can just set whatever price you want, kick back, and wait for the feeding frenzy to begin. And even if you do package your apartment just right to appeal to buyers, factors that are out of your control—like construction, crime, and neighborhood noise complaints—could still end up influencing buyers, and shrink your sale price.

The good news? You can uncover a ton of valuable info about your building and its surroundings in just a few seconds via a detailed, free report from apartment and neighborhood database AddressReport, provided to New Yorkers in partnership with luxury real estate brokerage, Engel & Völkers NYC.

Checking your AddressReport before selling is a lot like looking up your credit report before buying: A smart and easy way to arm yourself with extra intelligence about your property and your neighborhood, including how it compares to other listings and the New York City market overall. This will help you and your broker craft the most informed and effective sales strategy.

"Buyers are always looking for the 'inside story' on a building or area, and they can get lost Googling around for information that isn't verified and is often rooted more in emotion than fact," explains Stuart Siegel, the president and CEO of Engle & Volkers NYC.  "With AddressReport, buyers and sellers have access to objective, third-party data, and we can start conversations about the market and the listing in that context."

To retrieve your AddressReport highlighting 5 of the top price-affecting variables and more, just enter the address of your building here.

1. Complaints and Violations

New York City apartments can be quite "seasoned" and tend to come with many "charming" quirks, but a building with a number of repeated complaints or violations (like chronic heat or hot water problems or pest infestations, for example) may signal to buyers that the building isn't well-maintained. AddressReport shows the number of complaints and historical violations at a given address, including dates and types of problems, their severity and whether or not they were resolved, so you and your broker can figure out how to respond if a buyer raises the issue.  

2. Construction Projects

Demolition and construction are generally considered good for a neighborhood and for property values in the long term, but first comes months (and possibly years) of noise, scaffolding, construction vehicles and building materials and general unsightliness that may drag down your asking price.  AddressReport displays the number of demolitions within five blocks of an address in the last year so you can get an idea of how much construction is on the horizon.

3. Neighborhood Crime & Safety

New York City is generally regarded as safe but crime still exists and varies by district (burglaries are more common in wealthier areas and assaults are more prevalent in less gentrified neighborhoods), which can affect your selling price. AddressReport documents the most common felonies in the last year within three blocks of a given address, and color-codes them by crime type to give you an overview of your area’s crime level.

4. Access to Transportation

A long walk to the subway or a chronic taxi shortage can turn potential buyers off a building. AddressReport offers info on walk time to the nearest subway stations and taxi stats (including the typical wait time by hour of day for a yellow cab, and how many cars pick up and drop off from a given corner) so you get a sense of whether your building’s location is a selling point—or not.

5. Flood Evacuation Risk

The risk of flooding is an ever-greater concern to New York City buyers (who wants to put their life savings into a purchase that could wash out to sea in the next superstorm?). AddressReport evaluates a building’s threat of evacuation due to coastal flooding by pinpointing its location on a map divided into 6 zones and color coded by risk of evacuation (with green being lowest and orange, the highest).

Enter any building address and AddressReport will generate a free, on-demand "background check" revealing the unbiased truth about that co-op, condo or apartment building and its neighborhood.