NeighborhoodX

Any analysis is only as good as the data on which it's based.

Real estate market data is startlingly opaque. Information about most individual transactions is publicly available in city documents, but is generally difficult or time-consuming to identify and interpret. The online sites provide incomplete, contradictory, or irrelevant data. Square footage is often treated like a state secret. Other websites withhold relevant deal data so that users need to contact brokers. We saw a need for accurate, detailed data from a neutral party with no stake in the transaction.

We thought this would be easy. But even data as basic as commute times, and neighborhood boundaries turned out to be contentious. As we addressed these, we realized that numbers alone could not tell the whole story. So, we created beach neighborhoods in New York City? Or that so many neighborhoods were affected by airport noise?

Our vision was to allow users to make more informed decisions. Users should be able to see historic districts within neighborhoods, as well as flood zones or properties which might be too close to highways or elevated trains.

There are three key questions in New York City real estate: where are the pockets of overlooked value? What hot neighborhoods may already have the upside priced in? And which inexpensive neighborhoods may not be bargains? Our goal is to provide the data that helps answer these questions.

Constantine A. Valhouli

Constantine has been fascinated by how technology could affect real estate. His research on the Internet of Things has been presented at the Stanford/MIT Venture Forum, and is on the graduate curriculum at Stanford University. He has guest lectured at MIT, NYU's Stern School of Business, and is a panelist at industry events. He and his projects have been featured in the Associated Press, the Atlantic, BBC, Businessweek, CNN, Crains, Curbed, Dwell, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, Gizmodo, Huffington Post, Mashable, Monocle, MTV, Newsweek, NPR, Oprah, People, The Wall Street Journal, Thrillist, and the Washington Post. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dan Sachar

Dan has been building and launching significant new ventures since the early days of the Internet. He led the design and launch of new initiatives within Fortune 500 companies including GE, McGraw-Hill, and Reed-Elsevier. In the cable industry, Dan built the first digital media department for InDemand Networks (a Comcast subsidiary), including the company's first e-commerce platform which included licensing arrangements from iTunes, Hulu, YouTube and other digital channels. In the 1990s, Dan founded gift-giving site Guyville.com, subsequently sold and still thriving today. He holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Josh Turk

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Saurav B

For market commentary or for data regarding a story, please contact us at (917) 447-8800 or cvalhouli at gmail dot com. If you are on deadline, please let us know in the header of the email. To gain early access to our periodic market reports, fill out [this form] and we'll add you to our list.

The Team

Constantine A. Valhouli

Dan Sachar

Josh Turk

Saurav B

BUSINESS INSIDER / Shane Ferro

REVALUATE / Max Galka

THE REAL DEAL / Kerry Barger

CURBED / Jessica Dailey

MEDIUM / re:form

INHABITAT / Yuka Yoneda

THRILLIST / Christine Fishcher

UNTAPPED CITIES / Anna Brown

URBAN OMNIBUS / Jonathan Tarleton

BRICK UNDERGROUND / Leigh Kamping-Carder

INHABITAT / Yuka Yoneda

CURBED / Hana R. Alberts

HUFFINGTON POST / Jessica Goodman

BOSTON GLOBE / Mark Shanahan

BUSINESS INSIDER / Christian Storm

THRILLIST / Tyler Beckwith

GIZMODO / Adam Clark Estes

UNTAPPED CITIES / Billy Hagsberg

DURAN DURAN

CMJ / Eric Davidson

DAILY MAIL / Ted Thornhill

MASHABLE / Madeline Raynor

WASHINGTON POST / Pam Tobey

CURBED / Jeremiah Budin

ATLANTIC / Alexis Madrigal