How to spot an ?Airbrb,? a new league of rentals springing up in coronavirus-era NYC. I move too much. A series of events ? a new job, a hostile roommate, restlessness ? led me to live in four apartments in two years. These narrow escapes got me into the habit of looking at Craigslist and Listings Project and Zillow at least a few times a week, just in case I have to pack up again. In my search for the spectacular yet affordable dream apartment, one with 20 years of rent stabilization and a separate kitchen as opposed to a patch of cheap tile in the corner of a living room, I?ve noticed a new league of homes in New York City?s COVID-19-era rental market: ?Airbrbs,? what I call the slew of Airbnbs recast as rentals.
Without the usual tourists ? and even after the company bailed out its hosts ? the city?s Airbnb hosts have taken on the mantle of landlord to attract local renters until the vacation rental market bounces back (Airbrbs, you see). Most listings don?t admit the truth about their recent past, but Airbrbs are like obscenity: You know them when you see them. And their sirenlike promise of free housecleaning and designer furniture is both intriguing and repulsive. Once I noticed this phenomenon, I couldn?t stop obsessing over it. I found myself with one tab open to Craigslist?s ?apts/housing for rent? map and another showing Airbnb?s map view, seeing if I could spot any overlap. Some of these Airbrbs state their origins explicitly, like this place in the East...