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I'm new to NY and am renting in long island. I would like to get a clear idea about the broker's fee.
1. As oridiculous as it sounds, I was told that if look at the rental infroamtion online, call the listing agent to make an appointment, drive to look at the place myself, and the landlord's agent just shows it to me, and I have to pay 1 month rent(not the landlord who hires the agent in the first place). This is true？
2. Does it make any difference whether I use a tenant's agent in terms of fee? Do I pay extra or my agent and landlord's agent will split the broker's fee？
3. All listing in MLSLI has listing agents while cragislist has ads posted by owners directly. If contacting the owner directly would avoid the broker's fee, what would be the disadvantages of not going through an realtor?
Thanks for any replies!
In my experience, I have checked out places where the agent represents the landlord's interest but the tenant pays the fee, which I think is ridiculous but that's not uncommon. It might be something you can negotiate with the landlord if the property has been on the market a while.
If you want a recommendation for a GREAT tenant's agent, PM me. She has really gone out of her way for my boyfriend and me.
It's all market based. If rental vacancy rates are high, fees are rare and low. If vacancies are low, there is more competition so higher fees. Concurrently in a tight market, landlords are less likely to want to spend the time and hassle dealing with all of the responses so they gladly job it out to a broker who gets the fee. Let them deal with it. In a weak market, no one would bother paying a fee. I remember San Francisco which has a perennial <1% vacancy rate having a cottage industry of scammy apt finder services. If you don't want to pay a fee, find a no fee ad or go owner direct. The problem is in a tight market you're probably excluding 75% (just a guess) of the eligible listings.
Regarding the broker's fee: Wouldn't you as a renter want to make sure that you are renting from the actual owner of the house, a landlord vetted by a broker, and is generally a decent human being? To me that is worth paying the broker's fee.
Regarding the broker's fee: Wouldn't you as a renter want to make sure that you are renting from the actual owner of the house, a landlord vetted by a broker, and is generally a decent human being? To me that is worth paying the broker's fee.
I never had a landlord or a realtor vet I actually owned the place I was selling or renting. they are mainly busy housewifes doing a little side job. Not CSI Long Island
This won't work. Owner would open himself to a lawsuit with his listing agency.
...except it works in 49 other states, so... there's that.
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