Newer websites to list a rental apt. Do any of them work?

Many agents are willing to be flexible with commission. Remember, the agent is able to pre-screen tenants, run credit checks, market the apt. and be available at a moment’s notice to show the apartment. For tenants, the agent is available to show the apt, match them with a good space. RE agents who work with tenants is basically thankless. It’s a lot of leg work, checking out the space, waiting for no shows, and advertising on the landlord’s behalf. The agent only is paid when the apt is rented. As pointed out by other comments, often ads run independently are scams and bait & switch. One important thing to remember is the RE agent is not allowed to discriminate under any circumstances.

peaceout

in General Discussion 7 years and 11 months ago

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renoishard2 | 7 years and 11 months ago

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I own a townhouse and have been renting out 2 units in it since 2010 (with broker free or similar fee). From the beginning I listed on Craigslist and NY Times (at least 5 times each). Every tenant I signed found me through CL. I don’t think I’ve ever even gotten 1 inquiry via the NY Times. Starting 2 years ago, I have also listed my apts on websites that are newer (at least to my awareness), such as nakedpartments, renthop, ny bits, zumper. I’ll call them “alt” sites.

Again, basically zero inquiries from these alt sites. Meanwhile, plenty of inquires through good old CL (even though there is a torrent of spam re-listings – CL pls stop this!!), which I take to mean the apt is nice enough and the rent is reasonable enough to generate interest. So my q to both landlords and renters is: is anyone actually using these sites?

SCAM 1. Is Renthop a scam? Renthop is the one exception – I get quite a few alleged inquiries but I think they are bogus bc there is never follow-up. I think renthop is trying to deceive me into thinking the listing is working and designed to keep me paying a small listing fee. Any landlord have a similar history with renthop?

SCAM 2. Many brokers respond to the CL ad, claim to have an “interested client”, and ask to make an appointment and so they need the street address. I think this is also a scam. If you give such a RE broker your address, they add it to their list of exclusives and now their “clients” have to pay a broker fee even if they come to me directly. Can anyone confirm or disprove this theory?

peaceout | 7 years and 11 months ago

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The RE agent should only list the apt IF this agreeable with the landlord. An open listing means the landlord has the right to rent the apt. – if the RE agent rents thru their listing s/he can charge a commission. The RE agent is supposed to inform the perspective renter that this is an open listing. Bottom line, there are many people who still go thru agents, and little by little the commission is under the common 15% – it’s more like 10-12% or one month.

mozeeatupu | 7 years and 11 months ago

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They’re all owned by Zillow.
Postlets
Diverse Solutions
RentJuice
Buyfolio
HotPads
StreetEasy
Retsly
Trulia
Outlook
Naked Apartments

knmafbzyrfxo | 7 years and 11 months ago

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So I’m on the opposite side of this equation. A tenant looking for a landlord without going through a agent (because it’s expensive enough moving).

I found Renthop to be a pain and really spammy. I ended up putting them in the spam folder because it would send me things I didn’t ask for: I’m looking for a 2 br in Bed-Stuy. It would either send me a 1 br in Bed Stuy or 2br in another neighborhood. So frustrating. There were also too many of the luxury apartments on it for me. I’m looking for a brownstone or smaller building.

I also think you are spot on with the brokers on CL.

If you had success with CL with minimal fuss I would stick with that, that’s what I’m doing. The others are too targeted towards brokers, millennials, and squeezing their percentage out of both ends of the equations – who has time for all that?