[Harv0136]

Hi, I am moving to CT Dec 1 for work. I am looking for a townhouse or house that allows a small dog and having a hard time. I dont want to spend more than $2200 a month and am looking in west hartford, bloomfield, simsbury, farmington, avon. I've been primarily look on craigslist and also prudential and cold well banker websites. Almost every rental property I inquire about on the housing websites already has a deposit on it. A realtor through prudential has offered to help search for me. Is there a fee associated with this? I understand the fees for realtors when you buy/ sell a house but not rent. I'm not from the east coast so am not really sure how thing are different. Any advice/ suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

[AmyBergquist]

Typically if you are going with a rental that's listed on the MLS (and would then show up on Realtor.com, Prudential, Coldwell Banker, etc.), that landlord is offering a fee to find a tenant. That fee is split between the listing agent and whoever brings the tenant. In that case you would most likely not need to pay your agent a fee because the landlord has already agreed to cover the commission. If you're looking for places on Craigslist, the landlord is probably not covering a fee for the agent, so you may have to pay them out of pocket. Commission for a rental is typically 1 month's rent, split between the two agents. So that would be 1/2 month rent for you, if you needed to cover it.

Ask the agent that offered to help you how they would handle it. Just make sure you understand if you will be charged or not. For the rental price range you're looking in, landlords often have hired listing agents and are covering that cost.

[Harv0136]

Thanks so much!

[jdhall1]

Rentals do pretty fast. I have had a few rental listings this year, and all have gotten good offers that were accepted within 1.5 weeks of having them hit the market.