Are you only searching no-fee apartments in order to save money?

We’ll show you how to adjust your rent to account for a 15% broker’s fee. You’ll expand your apartment choices significantly, and spend the same as you would on a no-fee apartment.

Why are there so few no-fee apartments? Two reasons:

1) It’s not easy to bypass brokers because most landlords rely on them to find tenants.  They do this because the alternative is expensive. There’s a significant cost for landlords that rent out their apartments directly – staff salaries, advertising, office space, etc.

2) If you’re using a broker, no-fee apartments are only available in buildings where the landlord will pay the broker’s fee so you don’t have to.  And unfortunately, for a great apartment, a landlord doesn’t need to pay the fee for you.  He/she knows the apartment will rent out without the added incentive of no-fee.  (More on why this is the case in a previous blog post.)

So how do you search for with-fee apartments in order to expand your choices, but not spend a penny more than you would on a no-fee apartment?

Try searching for with-fee apartments, but lower your max rent to account for the fee spread over the length of your lease.  You may be thinking: “I don’t want a cheaper apartment!”  But while you definitely will have to sort through some apartments that don’t meet your standards, you’ll likely come across a few gems that you otherwise would never have seen by searching no-fee only.

[Read more →]