Online Extra: New York's Real Estate Know-It-All

Brokers might tell you about the two-bedroom co-op boasting panoramic city views from Lower Manhattan's 275 Water St. But for the inside scoop on the developer who may be floating plans to erect an eight-story building next door, potentially obstructing that view -- and wreaking havoc on your property value -- turn to Lockhart Steele. His Web log, Curbed.com, dishes the dirt the brokers don't. "In our special little city," writes Steele in a post on the property, "today's vistas are often tomorrow's brick walls."

Steele, 31, has made a fledgling business out of an obsessive hobby: collecting New York real estate gossip. His blog details Gotham's neighborhood secrets -- from where the city's largest rats are (reportedly in Brooklyn's Fort Greene section) to the future of the Apple Bank building on the Upper West Side (it may be going co-op). The tidbits he gathers often rankle realtors. Jonathan Phillips, for example, who represents 275 Water St. for Halstead, says brokers don't misrepresent properties, and he's quick to point out that Steele never contacted him for comment.