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Wanted to tap into the collective wisdom of this forum. My lease expires at my current apartment on Jul 1 and I am trying, hoping to find a no broker fee apartment for my next place to live (looking for 1-BR in UWS). I did not have much time to look at the websites of the property management companies and so far I had a look at the "by owner"/ "no fee" sections of websites like craigslist, streeteasy, etc. In most of the cases (more so for craigslist and less so for streeteasy) I still ended up either (a) talking to brokers, (b) finding out that there is a fee on the listing or (c) discovering that the listing is not valid any more, apartment has been rented, classic bait-and-switch scenario.
That being said, I wonder whether it is only me being unlucky with my search or am I missing something? Is there any smart and efficient way to find an apartment without a broker fee on it in the City?
You walk around to different buildings and talk to the doormen. They know whats going on better than the agents ! Dress well and if you find a place you really like slip a little $ under a business card and thank the doormen for his help. They want people like you as tenants.
Agree with CNYC, walking the neighborhood and asking doorman is effective.Also as your walking you can use your cell phone to connect to for rent signs on the buildings. I did have good luck with craigslist,put in the amount, by owner,etc. Owner called me and it worked out. Scams are the downside, really have to careful,fake owners showing an apt they have access to, taking cash deposit,etc. NY Times has pretty good rental web site.
LOL. You will always pay some sort of Broker fee weather you realize it or not.
For example:
A no fee apt for $2500 could've been rented through and agent for $2200 or even $2100. Depending on the fee negotiated you actually end up paying more rent at the end of lease then if you would have paid a brokers fee one time.
Certain leasing offices in buildings sometimes charge you $200 more on rent cause they have to pay that staff. Big complaint I always gotten was such and such website from landlord said starting at $2200 but when I call or go in person they only have $2500/$2700, etc
By all means go to the doorman, sometimes those "referrals" from the doorman to landlord mean they get a bonus especially when they tell you an apt is $3500 but it's really $2950. They get a sweet check. Doormans take care of us brokers as well.
Seriously someone is always getting paid one way or another without you knowing it. Sometimes it's just a matter of where/how you want to give your money away.
LOL. You will always pay some sort of Broker fee weather you realize it or not.
For example:
A no fee apt for $2500 could've been rented through and agent for $2200 or even $2100. Depending on the fee negotiated you actually end up paying more rent at the end of lease then if you would have paid a brokers fee one time.
Certain leasing offices in buildings sometimes charge you $200 more on rent cause they have to pay that staff. Big complaint I always gotten was such and such website from landlord said starting at $2200 but when I call or go in person they only have $2500/$2700, etc
By all means go to the doorman, sometimes those "referrals" from the doorman to landlord mean they get a bonus especially when they tell you an apt is $3500 but it's really $2950. They get a sweet check. Doormans take care of us brokers as well.
Seriously someone is always getting paid one way or another without you knowing it. Sometimes it's just a matter of where/how you want to give your money away.
Spoken like a true real estate agent silver bull. For the most part you are right but there are those on craigslist that are doable and legit you just need to be careful and it takes a lot of effort that most people do not want to put in.
Although I am not actively looking for an apartment, I have done quite a lot of online apartment research over the past few weeks in anticipation of my move to NYC. Where I live now almost everything is on craigslist, it is just that simple. Sure there is no nice map interface on clist, but there is no Realtor BS either. As a landlord myself Clist is all I have to use to rent a condo/house. And like most landlords, I include important information, like the address, the available parking, and the sq ft of the property, because I don't want to waste my own, and other people's time showing them a rental that does not meet their needs. It is as if the rental listing in NYC are intentionally vague and spread out over multiple websites just to make it harder to find an apartment. And the Realtors that work the rental market in NYC have to be some of the most underhanded in all of Realtordom, with their outdated listings, and their hidden search terms. How did such a dysfunctional system evolve?
brokers have been watering-down craigslist(by owners) for years now, eventhough it is illegal and against cl rules...
you will have to do a lot of work to find a true desirable by owner posting this days.
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