Soft Rental Market?
I’ve rented 2 floor-thrus in my Fort Greene brownstone for the past 3 years with no problem, but I always use a broker. Suddenly, I’m having trouble. Has the bottom fallen out of the rental market already? Has anyone else had to lower rents? I’m probably going to list it on craigslist – any other…
I’ve rented 2 floor-thrus in my Fort Greene brownstone for the past 3 years with no problem, but I always use a broker. Suddenly, I’m having trouble. Has the bottom fallen out of the rental market already? Has anyone else had to lower rents? I’m probably going to list it on craigslist – any other ideas?
You could offer to pay the fee for to the broker instead of the tenant paying it… and I’d bet these days the amount would be negotiable. I never used a broker until recently, and have had mixed experiences with it, but in some ways it is a simpler way to deal. And I’m not defending brokers or anything, but the last time I looked two brokers that we didn’t end up using spent a fair amount of effort on our behalf. I still feel kinda bad for them.
ive been seeing alot of 2bedrooms in northern park slope in the 2000 range. If your apartment is nice and cheap it will get rented but if its expensive and shitty its not going to get rented anymore like it used to.
I agree with all the posters who say it’s silly to use a broker when there’s Craigslist. Owners can do a better job of screening than brokers.
Last time I rented, I found a nice apartment but didn’t take it because of the broker. Among other things, I know for a fact he didn’t run my credit or check my references but he told the landlord (who I met) that he did.
I don’t know if they were running a scam together, or if a nice landlord lost a good tenant because of her broker.
Landlords, if you have to use a broker, make sure you use someone who’s been operating out of a storefront for years and is licensed, not some guy who contacts you because they see your ad on Craigslist. Also consider paying the fee yourself.
The “tenant pays broker fee” model is different place to place. When I lived in California I never saw it. New York has tended that way for years, except when times are rough, like now. I know someone that just this month got a 2 bedroom rental for $2000 in the west village, with the landlord paying the fee. Four tenants left the building at once and the landlord freaked out.
My experience as a renter and landlord is that going the FRBO route is always the better option for non-absentee landlords. Trustworthiness is an easy hurdle to overcome as if you request a credit report, letter from employer/paystubs and reference, you can easily weed out the jokers. Moreover, tenants respect and value your decision to go without a broker, and generally end up being more respectful and upstanding as tenants. A landlord who shows he cares about his tenants and his apartment by doing it on their own garners a much better relationship with their tenant.
a 1 month fee is about max for me.
and thats if the apartment is awesome.
oh c’mon there are lots of scummy brokers who will say they have the perfect candidate, their credit cleared, everything good just to take their money. you really arent guaranteed a perfect tenant. in fact youll probably just have a more demanding tenant as they now just paid the first months rent, security, AND 15 of the yearly nut. that is a huuuuuuuuuuuuge chunk of change.
*rob*
What I don’t get is why the tenant gets stuck with the broker fee in the first place. The landlord should be paying that fee because the landlord is the one that supposedly benefits from the broker’s services — for the tenant it’s an unnecessary and unwanted expense in almost all cases.
I would love if someone could clarify this for me because it has bugged me forever. That model is completely broken from the tenant’s perspective.
I don’t reccommend to anyone not use CL or post anywhere else for that matter. I have property in an other area where CL is my best option and I have used it. You get alot of responses, people make appointments and then they don’t show and don’t call. The process is real work and there is a reason for the fee. One perosn only sees themselves showing up and asking what is the broker doing for this money? How many propects do you have to go through before you A: Find Some on who wants it and is willing to sign on the dotted line and B: You also agree to rent to? If you don’t put the work into it, you can be in for a lot of trouble. I only reccommend that you need to take the extra precaution. After all, it is a business, you have a mortagage, your insurance premiums are double/triple as non-owner occupied, your interest rates are higher for the same reason. Once you find those good tenants, be nice to them and don’t get greedy because you think you can get another couple of hundred dollars.