Other rental sites besides Craigslist
Hello Brownstoners–I just found your website and wondered if owners with rentals only go through brokers or if there is another way they advertise apartments for rent? My roommate and I have been trying to avoid paying a broker’s fee on an apartment and are so far having no luck finding anything on Craigslist for…
Hello Brownstoners–I just found your website and wondered if owners with rentals only go through brokers or if there is another way they advertise apartments for rent? My roommate and I have been trying to avoid paying a broker’s fee on an apartment and are so far having no luck finding anything on Craigslist for Brooklyn South (we are in Williamsburg now).
Are there local papers or other websites that are more popular for owners in the Carroll Gardens/Fort Greene area?
I’m a landlord who for years rented all my apartments no fee directly over Craigslist. About a year ago I stopped and began using a friend as my exclusive real estate agent. He’s had no problem renting all my apartments and the tenants he’s brought in seem to be less maintenance by and large then the many of the folks I used to rent to.
It’s a great arrangement. I don’t have to wait around for people who often don’t even show up any longer and I get better tenants. Once in a while, if an apartment is particularly hard to rent for some reason, my agent will list it no fee so I don’t have any rent loss.
I suggest all landlords make similar arrangements with agents. The secret to being a happy landlord is not having to personally interact with tenants. Managing buildings is a tough, unpleasant job, and I’d rather be out looking for new opportunities, or even playing video games, than trying to collect rent or supervising the repair of a broken toilet.
As a landlord I found craigslist invaluable. I used it to find great tenants and everyone benefited. One just has to be very persistent looking at every no-fee ad. I think thats the only and best resource to find an apartment.
I found a great apartment on Craigslist in Kensington on Ocean Parkway for under 1K…My honey found a temporary job, we’ve sold stuff Craiglist is great.
I find all my tenants from craigs list.
you just have to look hard to find a nice place.
I usually put my address on the ad to let people know where its located instead of people playing games with different neighborhood names etc..
also i find it very annoying brokers keep calling me to show my places to their clients. I never end up renting to any of their people. waste of my time. I always put no brokers please. yet they keep contacting me.
I’m a landlord and I use craiglist, and it works great, both for me and prospective tenants.
For people looking for an apartment without a fee, I think craigslist is still the best. I agree with 5:35, you just have to learn to look through the all the crap and find the good listings.
And please don’t come on brownstoner’s forum to tell us you are looking for an apartment (like some people occasionally do), because landlords don’t come here to find tenants.
This rental market is tight, so expect having to do some work to find a nice apartment, expecially if you don’t want to pay a fee.
My boyfriend and I just moved back here after living away from Brooklyn for a few months. We were shocked by how difficult it was to find a place that was within our price range, in a good location, and that was knowing that we would have to pay a fee! We tried everything: Craigslist, reading notices in Starbucks on 7th ave and Ozzies on 5th Ave, talking to people. Eventuatlly after seeing a bazillion agents who showed us a whole lot of crap, we went to Maya at Brown Harris Stephens. She’s a breath of fresh air – responsible, listens… oh, and she teaches yoga at the gym next door so she’s got to be honest…
craigslist is fine you just have to know how to use it.
That’s because the brokers and agents have discovered it and now use it as an ancillary tool to their websites. If you search for listings that specifically say no brokers or for rent by owner-you should be able to find some listings. That said–As a landlord with a couple of apts about ready to go onto the market-I would love to hear where other brownstoners have listed their rentals as I am not a big fan of using agents and brokers.
I’m not the poster, but craigslist is filled with junk. It used to be great. Now it’s not any better than the village voice.