How to rent an apartment in Bed Stuy
We’re new home owners hoping to be landlords soon. Finding tenants is taking longer than we had hoped and I have a few questions: 1)Is it worth using a broker and can anyone receommend someone great for properties in Bed Stuy. 2)We have our 3.5 bedroom–huge, gorgeous duplex listed at $2,500 (It really is amazing,…
We’re new home owners hoping to be landlords soon. Finding tenants is taking longer than we had hoped and I have a few questions:
1)Is it worth using a broker and can anyone receommend someone great for properties in Bed Stuy.
2)We have our 3.5 bedroom–huge, gorgeous duplex listed at $2,500 (It really is amazing, way nicer than anywhere we’ve ever rented) does that price seem reasonable?
3)Other than through Craigslist and friends does anyone have recommendations for how to find tennants without a broker?
Thanks!
…this is on stuyvesant ave. near halsey st. so, it looks like about 5 blocks from the utica stop.
i may be viewing a 1BR apt. on the top of a 4-story brownstone in bed-stuy this weekend. it’s on stuyvesant ave. near the utica stop for $1150. is this a decent rent for the area? the pics of the apt. look decent. per google maps, the street looks pretty residential and nice as well.
i’m new to the area, have researched brooklyn, but do not know it firsthand.
i’d appreciate any insight on this area. i’m a single woman with a budget and would like to live in a fairly safe area. i’ve heard various things about bed-stuy, good and bad. i’m just starting my apt. search. thankfully, i can move anytime, but would really like to move this summer.
thanks!
We got our dream tenant through a broker. Having endured a nightmare rental with bad neighbors, noise, smoke, and non-caring landlord, our tenant was as eager to find the right landlord as we were to find the right tenant. A match made in heaven.
After three wonderful years, we’re afraid to even raise his rent, lest he consider moving. He’s that good!
I also know people that have had good success with posting a sign in their window “apt for rent” and a phone #. Other people recommend posting it on the bulletin board of the Park Slope coop.
Fwiw, we used Craigs List in the fall for renting and had a fair number of inquiries, but a neighbor ultimately referred us to the people we rented to.
A number of landlords in my neighborhood, Clinton Hill, will only go through a broker and many people seem to accept that it gives them access to places they may not otherwise see.
Good Luck.
As a renter for coming up on 7 years in NYC, I have to say that I take the broker fee into account when thinking about what I’m willing to pay for an apartment: I divide it by the number of months in the rental term and add that to the monthly charge and compare it that way to no fee places.
We found our first rental through Village Voice when they used to have decent listings; last time, we went through Craigslist. Both times were no broker fee, and both times we found great places and had (and continue to have) great relationships with our landlords. We are now looking again (not in Bed Stuy, though), and I look in the Village Voice (though there’s basically nothing there these days), Craigslist (though there’s a lot of nonsense to sort through), parenting listservs, and the New York Times. I’m also able to do more by way of word of mouth because I know the community better.
If I were you, I’d be aware that you do lose a group of renters, and potentially reduce the rent your apartment will command, when you go through a broker who charges a fee to the renter. And, as a no-fee-renter, I don’t think fees weed out “losers”, I think they weed out people who are careful about their expenses and prefer to spend on things of clear value to them — like a beautiful apartment — and not on things that have less apparent value from a renter’s perspective; in my experience, brokers fall in the latter category — as they have often known less than I do about apartments in my neighborhood that meet my needs. From an owner’s perspective, having a broker may add to your peace of mind and take some of the paperwork burden of renting a place off your shoulders. But there are plenty of renters, like me, who would hesitate before paying between $2500 and $4500 (the one month to 15% fee) for the privilege of confirming that they have decent credit and no history of shirking their responsibilities, as renters or as people. From my perspective, the value of the broker is all to the owner and, as such, the owner should pay the fee — either flat out, or in the form of reduced rent.
Just another perspective.
Good luck to you!
The price might be a little high. Who are you hoping to rent to? Usually prices work out to about $600 or $700 per person (or room). But I don’t know.
I live in Bed Stuy but our rental isn’t ready yet so I don’t have personal experience renting. Friends of mine who live nearby posted a flyer at Pratt and got some recent graduates with their parents as co-signers. Other friends of mine rented a very nice place in Bushwick by posting a flyer at a coffee shop there. FWIW, I have never seen a duplex for rent in Bed Stuy — usually the rentals are floor-throughs for $1100 to $1400. Don’t know if that makes a difference.
I would really have to disagree with MaconStreetMan about Craigslist. It has become uber sketchy. There are so many criminals (think “Craigslist Killer”) using it it, I don’t know how anyone can use it without feeling uneasy. Craigslist does not vet any advertiser or advertisement on their site, nor do they vet those who respond to the ads. Brokers vet those who are applying to rent units. Unless you have a way to do the background checks without a broker, I would steer clear of any do it yourself site. Our condo does not allow sublets without a background, housing court and credit check of potential sub-tenants, nor does my employer hire anyone without a background check. Do your really want to take the risk with your family’s safety?
I haven’t seen your place and it sounds fabulous, but FWIW, I thought I was going to get $1300 for my amazing 1 bedroom in Bed Stuy (the one with the fantastic cook’s kitchen, molding everywhere, radiant floor heat…) and wound up renting it for less than $1200.
The market is kinda sucky, and nice seems to be worth only so much when it comes to rentals.