How to avoid bugs/roches/rats?

[cncm]

the place i am strongly considering has a storage warehouse underneath...i'm not sure what exactly they are storing. building management has been reluctant to go into specifics. however, the apartment (2nd floor) looks really clean. the super apparently comes in every week to clean the staircase. the building is 12 years old.

what do you guys think? i'm a little concerned about the warehouse...what if it stores perishable food items? hmmm...

what can i do when i move in to make it as bug/roach/rat repellant as possible? i don't have nor plan on getting a rat.

[mgalka]

Contrary to what many people thing, rats/roaches do not affect people on lower floors more than higher floors, even for big highrise buildings. There is less of an issue in very new buildings, but anything older than about 5 years old is about the same.
I researched this about a year ago by looking at the Census NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey data.

I would also be cautious of buildings that are above restaurants.

NYC is now publishing its 311 complaints data online, which includes rat complaints, among many other things you may want to check:
https://nycopendata.socrata.com/

Rat complaints may also be handled by HPD, which you can see here:
https://hpdonline.hpdnyc.org/HPDonli...e_address.aspx

This website also includes data from the above two sources, and also seems to some additional information as well.
https://revaluate.com

Depending on what kind of building you are looking at, if it is a large rental building, it may also have reviews on:
http://www.yelp.com/
or
http://apartmentratings.com/

[john620]

It all depends on which building you live in and how well vents, crevices and etc are sealed. Some buildings have a ton of rats and bugs and some just get the flies that come through an open window. It depends.