Inman

New tool for aspiring NYC renters

Rentenna.com, a real estate startup launched in late 2011, takes rental-related data — including landlord and building reviews from current and previous tenants; perceived value; building amenities; and proximity to subway associated with thousands of New York City-area apartment buildings — and creates a score on a 100-point scale.

The focus of the tool, said Kayvon Bina, one of rentenna.com’s founders, is on multilevel apartment buildings, but there are some smaller rentals in the mix, too. The algorithm used to calculate the "Apartment Review Score" uses hundreds of data points to evaluate more than 7,000 New York City apartment buildings in the rentenna database now.

Users can search by borough, neighborhood, building name or address. They can also filter results by common rental search attributes such as price, layout and amenities. In January, rentenna.com added an interactive map feature that allows users to scan rated apartment buildings on a Google Map. Scored buildings pop into view when they enter the map’s focus zone.

Rentenna.com is currently looking at a handful of other cities in which to expand before the spring rental season begins, Bina said.