3 ms·

Not exactly real estate agents for buying/selling but related: I remember reading about the fact that, at the time, most apartments in NYC were "broker only" (

Not exactly real estate agents for buying/selling but related: I remember reading about the fact that, at the time, most apartments in NYC were "broker only" (aka you can only see and then rent an apartment if you are using a licensed real estate broker). The more I thought about this, I started to see the benefits for both sides: - for the landlord: the broker acts as a filter for people who are serious vs "looky loos" (actual quote from a real broker) - for the tenant: the broker wants repeat business so they will, in theory, only deal with reputable landlords - for the tenant part 2: if you are a busy, hard working individual, the broker acts as your "agent" (in the principal agent sense of the word) to save you time by going and finding apartments for you so that you can focus on your high paying job.

uw_rob 3y ago
The problem with brokers is that they can charge 1-2 months rent. That means you can easily be left with a 8k bill for moving into a new apartment. The job literally could not exist anywhere else because no one would pay it. But they aren't making any more land in Manhattan and they aren't building subway lines quick enough so landlords get to pass that expense off to tenants
- alexpotato 3y ago
  If you are a top earning investment banker or lawyer, it's still worth it to pay that rather than spending 10+ hours of your time going to apartments etc. Most of "seeing apartments" is "let me get to the apartment by cab (stuck in traffic) or by subway (oh, delays, oh well)" so it's even less efficient for you to do that vs a broker.