Rental Listing - Best Websites Now?
We have a 2-fam. We always list the apartment no broker, no fee. It’s been a few years since the last vacancy. What are the best palces to list now? I’m hearing CL is so full of bait and switch spam litings– even if you filter for no broker, no fee — that potential tenants may be relying more on other sources. Any thoughts? recommendations?
slopefarm
in About Brooklyn 11 years ago
16
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16 replies
brokelin | 11 years ago
Agree that tenants can tell a genuine craigslist listing – if you describe it well, post photos, say where it is, and indicate that the contact information is for the owner. Not all of the more fiscally responsible tenants will come from brokers. Some who have the time to do their own search ARE very fiscally responsible – they don’t want to waste a chunk of money on a broker’s fee – and they apply that rationale to most expenditures, which is why they have such good credit scores. Brokers can save a tenant time, but the price is too high for what they charge. And, as apartments have gotten much more expensive since I last used a broker, back in the 80s, the fees are really exorbitant for the time saved these days. Also, brokers in hot neighborhoods often jack up the prices on nice places to way above the market rent, so a fiscally responsible tenant who wants to pay market rate, not more, will often look for by-owner listings on craigslist, if they have the time. And, lastly, when I was a tenant, especially in a brownstone or other very small building, I preferred getting to know something about who I was renting from, just as the landlord wants to know something about their tenant, so it can be best to have the face-to-face conversation, which I’ve never had when signing a lease through a broker intermediary – I would have ruled out some landlords I got this way, had I the chance to meet them first. Because if they don’t hire someone to manage the place, you are dealing with the landlord after you rent anyway – better to meet them first, I’ve learned – crazy is often evident in a first conversation.
slopegirl | 11 years ago
We listed our apartments (in our building where we live) as no-broker no-fee and then a friend talked me into being my broker: the pros of using a broker were we got great tenants who were very well qualified financially, and the cons being some of these tenants are a teensy bit higher maintenance than no-fee types. But not by a lot. The type of tenants we like having: older, quieter, full time working, relatively well-off, and STABLE all came from the broker. We liked our home-found tenants better as people, but they were as a whole younger and more likely to move, so I’m glad we made the switch to broker-sourced tenants. Something to think about. Our “high maintenance” tenants require some kind of minor attention maybe every 2-3 months. Not bad at all.
landlord | 11 years ago
I used to use CL for my park slope property. However, now I use a broker as they do a much bette job at screening the tenants then I do. If I was renting an apartment at a building where I was also living, I would never use CL. I would want to ensure that I get the best tenant to live under my roof. If your in a prime area, use a broker. Many will gladly pay the brokers fee.
theoperadiva | 11 years ago
You are in Park Slope, yes? If so, Park Slope Parents would be a great place to post. There are always TONS of people looking for apartments there and you’ll likely get stable tenants looking for a long-term arrangement. I found all of our best rentals through PSP before we bought our home.
adam_dahill | 11 years ago
Zillow is another option to post free rent listings.
daveinbedstuy | 11 years ago
What about the NY Times and brownstone. that’s where I listed and got quality lookers
slopefarm | 11 years ago
thanks. It seems like people are still searching CL for rentals, so we may as well list there. Thanks for all of the advice.
CTG | 11 years ago
I am a renter who very recently went thru an apartment search matching your specs (2 fam, no broker, no fee, +2k/mo) and in addition to CL we used StreetEasy, Naked Apartments, Brownstoner Listings and Trulia. Savvy renters looking for “no-fee, no-broker” are able to weed out the scams by cross referencing them on other sites. The apartment we ultimately rented was legitimately posted on CL (no fee by landlord) but hijacked and falsified on Trulia and StreetEasy (broker w/ fee). My experience is that 2-fam no-fee landlords are still using CL.
nancyk | 11 years ago
I posted to cl, but also gave the listing to multiple brokers. Rented through the broker who brought me very qualified tenants.
rh | 11 years ago
I used Craigs recently and it still gave me the best results after all these years. I posted on Stephanie’s List too…talk about flakes, but there were LOTS of inquiries. Oh, and Brownstoner and NY Times. The new tenants came from Craigs though.
mozeeatupu | 11 years ago
I’ve used CL and Padmapper, both got their share of hits and misses as far as people showing up or not. Also postlets lists in all the other sites, like CL and streeteasy etc. I ended up going with a realtor because I saw that people who use agents typically are more financially secure and the agent runs all the credit reports etc. So all I had to do was just look over all the paperwork and pick the tenants.
housepoor | 11 years ago
Recently I used Streeteasy and had good results. You still get inundated with brokers telling you “they have the perfect client ready to sign a lease” despite saying “no brokers”, but you’ll never avoid that. CL listings just ooze bait-n-switch to me. I’ve asked prospective tenants if they used CL and the response was universal: they looked there first, but could never trust the listings after a couple sleazy encounters. Good luck.
slopefarm | 11 years ago
Major, if I knew that, I wouldn’t be posting my query here.
majorhints | 11 years ago
What sites have you heard people transitioning to from CL?
slopefarm | 11 years ago
thanks. My main concern is if a substantial part of the market I am looking to attract has moved on to different sites, i want to list where the people I want are looking.
Arkady | 11 years ago
I haven’t done it for 3 years but used CL then. Several people were surprised that the listing had ‘told it like it is’ but the numbers of potential renters who came to see it were good. I think the way you phrase the ad makes a diff – make it stand out w/ sincerity & legitimacy.