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Eyes Wide Open: The Truth about No-Fee Apartment Rentals in NYC

by | Feb 4, 2016

Don’t lie. You can’t deny that when the phrase no-fee shows up next to an apartment listing you do a little happy dance. What can be better than not paying those pesky broker fees? It’s already expensive enough to rent an apartment, especially in New York City.

Let’s set some things straight: no-fee doesn’t necessarily mean no broker fee. No, it means the landlord decided to pay the broker fee for the client. Wait, let’s rewind; what exactly are no-fee listings? There are two types. The first type of no fee listing is the “owner-paid broker fee,” found typically in newly constructed luxury buildings. In order to fill the new buildings quickly, landlords will pay the broker fee on your behalf but in turn will rent the units at a more expensive rate in order to make the money back. Doesn’t sound like that good of a deal, right? The second type of no-fee listing is when you decide to go directly to office management sans broker. While your take-charge attitude is admirable, unfortunately you will still eventually pay that fee over the course of your lease as the management increases your monthly rent.

https://www.theagencyre.com/?utm_source=Julep&utm_medium=BannerAd&utm_campaign=OtherListingsSellingAptThe truth is the best apartments in New York City will most likely never be advertised as no-fee. Ask yourself why landlords would ever willingly choose to pay more to rent an apartment. Let’s face it, landlords are not just altruistically paying the broker fee. Realistically, they wouldn’t – unless they were unable to find people who wanted to rent the apartment. At this point, the landlord could tack on the words “no fee” and seemingly “pay” the broker fee in order to make the apartment more appealing.

Still not convinced? Think about it: Manhattan has a vacancy rate of less than 5%. Once a good apartment, even a decent one, becomes vacant, hoards of apartment hunters enter the field to snatch it up fairly quickly. If an apartment is good, it doesn’t need a no-fee label to sweeten the deal. That being said if you do decide to go forward hunting for your dream no-fee apartment, our team here at TripleMint would be happy to help you look. Here are the approximate average no-fee rental prices in Manhattan today:  Studio:  $2,800, Alcove Studio:  $3,200, One Bedroom: $3,600, Junior-4/Convertible 2: $4,600 Two Bedroom: $5,500, Convertible 3: $6,200, Three Bedroom:  $6800.

We don’t want to shatter your dreams of finding that perfect no-fee apartment. It’s definitely possible. We just don’t want you to limit your search to only no-fee options, without knowing the bigger picture. Be smart and make sure to enter cautiously into the realm of no fee listings with your eyes wide open.

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