The Apartment Blogger

Dear Readers,

I apologize for not adding to the blog in so long but we are working tirelessly on a few exciting things:

1. We hope to launch our new website by the end of this month (fingers crossed).
   The result of which will revolutionize the way people find apartments for rent on the internet by creating a very easy and simple user experience.
   Stay tuned.
2. We have also accelerated our national expansion efforts; hoping that we will be helping renters find great apartments, save time, and money throughout the U.S.
3. There are some exciting partnerships in the works that would add even more value to both our users and to the listing owners/managers.

Back to the rental market:

There are new or at least a much larger group of entrants to the rental market, namely:

• Home owners whose property got foreclosed.
• Tenants in foreclosed multi-family buildings that are getting evicted by the banks.
• First time home buyers or just buyers in general that now can’t get a mortgage because of the much stricter guidelines and full doc’ loans.
• Buyers that are scared about prices going down even lower who are still waiting things out.
• You have more students that require more apartments due to the new law that limits the amount of students in each apartment to 4.

As a result, we are noticing an upwards trend for prices of rentals this Spring/Summer season.

IG

Filed under: Current Trends by APT4rent on 06.11.2008
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I felt it was important to explain the broker fee system in Boston to all the new renters out there; especially the “No Fee Brokers”.

If any of you ever wondered what makes this group of extremely wonderful and generous people donate their time and expertise for free then here is your answer.

A broker or real estate agent gets paid the equivalent of 1 month’s rent in virtually every transaction in which an apartment is rented.

There are 3 ways that they get paid:

1. You, the renter, pay them a full month’s rent fee.
2. You split the month’s rent fee with the landlord so each party pays a half-month’s rent.
3. The landlord pays the full month’s rent fee.

Scenario 3 is better known as the “No Broker Fee” apartment.

From my experience, if the landlord is willing to pay such a high incentive, the fee ends up being passed down to you anyway in the form of higher monthly rent. For example, a $1200 a month apartment with a one month’s fee would end up being $1300 a month ($1200/12=$100 extra dollars per month) so the landlord recovers his expense. Your rent is higher than it could have been if you rented the unit directly through the owner/property manager.

Also another point worth driving home – no matter who pays the broker fee, the more rent you pay, the more fee they get. That relationship usually leads to you seeing apartments that are at the top if not slightly over your price range.

Bottom line is this: if you want to avoid paying a broker fee you should not go around with brokers. It doesn’t matter whether they classify them self as Fee or No Fee; there is no free lunch.

IG

Filed under: Apartment Renting, Tips and Tricks by IG on 03.29.2008
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