Cyber Grilling

I n an industry enamored of the latest and greatest technological tools—apartment-hunting iPhone apps, open-house check-ins on Foursquare, doormen who tweet—one agita-building convention remains a digital-age holdout: the co-op-board interview. Titans of industry and budget-minded first-time buyers alike have long been forced to submit to the traditional, in-person once-over. But that paradigm is being challenged. The Times recently reported that an uptown couple sat for an interview via Skype last fall, and last December, a West Village co-op followed suit. Warburg Realty broker Leslie Lalehzar reports that a couple seeking a rental passed muster at the co-op after meeting board members not in the flesh but via a webcam. They were in Europe and were eager to line up a place since they were expected Stateside in the New Year. After a previous rental applicant failed to make the cut, Lalehzar, who represents the homeowners, pulled a brand-new trick out of her bag: a Skype interview (“We needed candidates who could pass the board,” she explains).

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