What to ask a potential roomie, a rent-stabilized penthouse, & more

By Austin Havens-Bowen | August 28, 2020 - 3:00PM

This week, readers visited Brick Underground for the best questions to ask a potential roommate. You want to make sure you and your roommate are a match in case there's another shutdown and you're stuck quarantining together, and you should ask how serious they take social distancing to avoid conflict later.

Also of interest: A New York couple's experience of moving to a rent-stabilized penthouse on the Upper West Side in the 1970s. Almost 50 years later, they still pay less than $1,600 a month.

Here, in full, are this week's most popular posts.

1) The 21 best questions to ask potential roommates to get the perfect match

2) From Chelsea to the UWS: Leaving a railroad apartment for a $325 rent-stabilized penthouse

3) If you’re willing to apartment hunt now, Manhattan is a ‘buyer’s market on steroids’

4) What's a 'classic six' apartment, and why are they so desirable?

5) How NYC's new landlord-tenant mediation program works

And from this week's sponsors:

Lenox Terrace tenants receive $1.1 million class action settlement. This could be good news for other renters [sponsored]

Austin Havens-Bowen

Staff Writer

Staff writer Austin Havens-Bowen covers the rental market and answers renters' questions in a column called Realty Bites. He previously reported on local news for the Queens Ledger and The Hunts Point Express in the Bronx. He graduated from Hunter College with a BA in media studies. He rents a one-bedroom apartment in Astoria with his boyfriend and their two cats.

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