The Apartment Blogger

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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I wanted to officially note that the September 1, 2008 rental season is already in full-swing; and it seems we are going towards an extremely busy and competitive rental market this Spring and Summer. Not only have we (GrandCentralApartments.com) already been getting availability updates from a good portion of our management companies, we have seen a substantial amount of clients finalize their leases for September, 2008.

So for all you April-September renters, I would suggest you start your search early. As soon as the weather gets warmer and more people are out looking, prices will rise and inventory will go down.

The early birds get the worm.

On another note, Boston Real Estate Now, The Boston Globe Blog covered a new rent calculator-thingy called Zilpy.com. I’m not entirely sure how they get their information, but you can get some detailed info about Boston, MA (or any location you desire), such as:

• Renter occupied: 64 %
• Population: 589,141
• Vacancy rate: 4.9 %
• Median household income: $39,629
• Monthly rent affordability: $990
• Crime rate index: Violent: 5; Property: 4 (1-lowest, 5-highest)
• Ethnicity: White (54 %); Black (25 %); Hispanic (14 %)
• Age groups: 25 to 34 (21 %); Under 18 (20 %); 18 to 24 (16 %)
• Education: High School (38 %); College (13 %); Graduate School (10 %)
  Source: zilpy.com

Good luck,
IG

Filed under: Apartment Renting, Tips and Tricks by IG on 02.20.2008
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On New Year’s Eve there was a big fire in South Boston in a 19 unit, five-story condo building that used to be the Hotel Eaton. Although the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, two tenants on the first floor died. My condolences go out to the Clancy children and the occupants of the Hotel Eaton for their loss.

Since I live close by, I was witness to the fire and I saw what terrifying force a fire has and how fast it consumed the building and everything in it to the point were firefighters were afraid it will collapse after just 45 minutes.

Since, like most neighborhoods in the city, South Boston is tightly knit, the occupants of the two houses on either side of the Hotel Eaton had to evacuate their homes for almost a week before being able to go back home. And their homes were spared completely (except for some charred telephone cables) by the heroic efforts of the Boston Fire Fighters (G-d Bless them).

Witnessing this fire made me realize that while living in a building that has multiple floors with different tenants you could find yourself in a really bad situation without any fault or carelessness on your part. In a sense, you are at the mercy of your neighbors.

That said, I thought it would be a good idea to ask everyone that reads my blog to pay extra attention to the following fire safety tips:

1. Space heaters are a major fire hazard in the cold winter months. Old fashioned and even newer model space heaters; it’s important to make sure that they are never, ever left on while sleeping. Also, make sure you never place them next to blankets, drapery or anything flammable.
2. Candles should be supervised while burning and placed on a safety surface like a plate or a tray (not wood).
3. For you landlords, it might be a good idea to issue a similar reminder for your tenants, and make sure you replace the batteries on all the smoke and CO detectors in your property once every 6 months. A good time to do this is when the clocks change in the Spring and Fall.
4. When cooking, make sure that you don’t leave your kitchen unattended. It is so easy to get distracted and leave the kettle on by accident or a towel left too close to the burner. Possibilities are unfortunately endless. Better not to leave the kitchen.
5. Never smoke cigarettes in bed.
6. Do you have a fire extinguisher? Do you remember where it is? Do you know how to use it? Having a fire extinguisher next to your stove could save lives and your home.
7. Don’t forget to treat every alarm as a real emergency. Get outside, call 911 and then let the fire department decide if it was false or not.

Hopefully I didn’t go over the top with my cautiousness, but we are all better safe than sorry.

Stay safe.

IG

Filed under: Tips and Tricks by IG on 01.10.2008
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