Here we have a very pretty map from the recently revamped listings area of the New York Times' online real estate section. Er, so what? Well, over the past few weeks, we've been hearing rumblings from real estate brokers across this fine city that the NYT revamp included a tweak to the way the website recognizes neighborhoods. A tweak that has, for example, banished West 97th Street listings from the tony Upper West Side to the ominous clutches of Manhattan Valley.
Here's a typical complaint to the Curbed inbox:
Did you know that the when the New York Times changed their website for real estate - they used a professor from Columbia (sos I heard) to map out the areas instead of REBNY, real estate sites, companies, etc for their new format?
So that if you try to find something on the upper West Side it appears as Manhattan Valley? And West 18th St is East Village — and so on. It is impossible to find all the open houses in any given area.
There are so many errors , and so many complaints from the brokers and sellers and they (the New York Times) refuse to do anything about it. It is almost impossible to find a listing or an open house because of their mapping. I believe that we should stop buying the Times until they fix their page so that they can give the public a chance to at least see what is but there - especially in this economy - they are doing anyone a favor.
So far talking to them over the course of three weeks has brought no results.Alrighty then. In the NYT's defense, Manhattan Valley is a real neighborhood, even if it's not the nomenclature preferred by some real estate brokers. And in our tests, the East Village ended logically at 14th Street. So, anyone out there seeing other oddities? We'd also welcome hearing from this so-called Columbia professor, whose existence is fast becoming part of the urban lore of the New York City real estate industry. Prof, dude, drop us a line.
· New York Times Real Estate [NYTimes]
Loading comments...