New York City apartment open houses still have large queues due to the competitive real estate market. Rents are above the median income, making it hard for unlucky renters to locate good housing.

For Rent.Photo byLance GrandahlonUnsplash

However, as the housing market gets more competitive, new community listing services are springing up to help renters find available units faster and maybe even avoid paying thousands of dollars in broker fees upfront.

Tenants can talk about their experiences, get in touch with owners before apartments go on the market, and maybe even avoid real estate agents when looking for apartments because rents are rising and there aren't enough units.

According to the listing site StreetEasy, median monthly rents have been around $3,800 for the past two months. This is about $50 more than the same time last year.

A Spreadsheet For Rental Information

In April, Colleluori created a spreadsheet where people could post information about flats they were leaving and look at other units that would soon be available. In late April, he put a link to the "lease swap" idea on Reddit and said that he got about 100 entries in one day.

Colleluori claimed that waiting in line to view an apartment in Manhattan inspired him to create the worksheet. He had previously built an Airbnb-style platform for "van life" nomads looking for parking spots, showers, and WiFi.

Colleluori said that while he and his girlfriend were waiting, they talked to another potential renter who wanted to move into his girlfriend's studio apartment. He said that other people on the line heard the conversation and were interested in the idea of trading apartments. They didn't get the unit they came to see.

LeaseSwap NYC Got The Project

For Colleluori, making the spreadsheet late that night was the first thing they did. The people they met at the open house then added their names and homes to the list.

A few weeks later, he relocated the idea to a brand-new site he created, LeaseSwap NYC. It enables tenants to list houses they wish to leave in return for access to a map of other properties.