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As an almost accidental New York landlord with two apartments rented and one that we are renting ourselves I think this is going to fail. It's not a technology

by dblock 11y ago

As an almost accidental New York landlord with two apartments rented and one that we are renting ourselves I think this is going to fail. It's not a technology or a middle man problem. It's just that as a landlord I want to use an exclusive broker in a market that is always hot and expensive (New York). I can call my broker, leave the keys with the doorman (or the broker) and worry about nothing. I never have to be there to show the place (the broker is paid to do that) and I get a more qualified renter because the broker will spend time selecting them (which I otherwise have to do). The broker has shown so many crappy places that they will help the renter see that this is a fair, market value, deal. The best part, the renter pays for everything! And because they are able to shell out two months worth of rent for the broker's fee and deposit I get someone financially more sound and likely less crazy. Oh and one of our places is a Coop, good luck filling out a 80 page form and going through the coop board interview without a broker! That's a full time job, all the same paperwork as if you're buying a place. My current couple of renters had to supply 12 (twelve) letters of personal reference, 6 each! Another problem is that the renters "know" about the broker's fee but don't really consider it as part of the rental "price". Psychologically they don't add up those numbers, divide by 12 and say this is my rent. Apartment prices don't vary at all whether you are using a broker or not, at least not in my experience.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
> The broker has shown so many crappy places that they will help the renter see that this is a fair, market value, deal. Huh, I guess that's why the value-adding broker decided to show my wife and I an apartment that was well over $1k over our budget, in a five-floor walk-up when we told him that due to my wife's knee injury, a walkup of more than 2 floors was a completely and total deal-breaker for us. Not to sound combative, but I wonder how many potential tenants abandoned your broker by yelling at him on the 4th floor, from the 2nd floor, that we're literally physically incapable of seeing the out-of-budget apartment he was trying to show us, and then walking away.
- dblock 11y ago
  Well that sounds like a bad broker. Why did you go see that apartment anyway? I would just ask "what are we going to see" before going there.
  - pavel_lishin 11y ago
    It was a bad broker. But I've only met a single good one, compared to a dozen bad ones. We bothered trying to go up the stairs because we'd already spent 30 minutes getting to Harlem, and apparently it had a terrace. Classic sunken cost fallacy, compared with greed. Who doesn't want a terrace?
deleted 11y ago
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dcosson 11y ago
> as a landlord I want to use an exclusive broker How beneficial is the "exclusive" part? If it's a doorman building so the doorman can hold the keys and give them to any broker who shows up, and you list it so any broker can show it, is that a lot worse for you?
- dblock 11y ago
  As a landlord I want 1) to rent out my place at the best price the quickest to the best tenant 2) to deal with the least amount of people possible. So I give my place to 1 broker only and let them handle that. Since I am also a renter the broker cuts me a deal on the broker fee when I rent, basically making it free when possible. That's another advantage of being a landlord. Usually fees in NYC are 15%. The exclusive broker is going to make 7.5% no matter what. If another broker gets in, they might make 7.5%. If you're dealing with an exclusive broker you might be able to get a better deal, maybe 12% instead of 15%, they are more flexible on the price. If you want an intro to my broker, I am dblock at dblock dot org ;)

by dblock 11y ago

pavel_lishin 11y ago

> The broker has shown so many crappy places that they will help the renter see that this is a fair, market value, deal. Huh, I guess that's why the value-adding broker decided to show my wife and I an apartment that was well over $1k over our budget, in a five-floor walk-up when we told him that due to my wife's knee injury, a walkup of more than 2 floors was a completely and total deal-breaker for us. Not to sound combative, but I wonder how many potential tenants abandoned your broker by yelling at him on the 4th floor, from the 2nd floor, that we're literally physically incapable of seeing the out-of-budget apartment he was trying to show us, and then walking away.

dblock 11y ago
Well that sounds like a bad broker. Why did you go see that apartment anyway? I would just ask "what are we going to see" before going there.
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  It was a bad broker. But I've only met a single good one, compared to a dozen bad ones. We bothered trying to go up the stairs because we'd already spent 30 minutes getting to Harlem, and apparently it had a terrace. Classic sunken cost fallacy, compared with greed. Who doesn't want a terrace?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

dcosson 11y ago

> as a landlord I want to use an exclusive broker How beneficial is the "exclusive" part? If it's a doorman building so the doorman can hold the keys and give them to any broker who shows up, and you list it so any broker can show it, is that a lot worse for you?

dblock 11y ago
As a landlord I want 1) to rent out my place at the best price the quickest to the best tenant 2) to deal with the least amount of people possible. So I give my place to 1 broker only and let them handle that. Since I am also a renter the broker cuts me a deal on the broker fee when I rent, basically making it free when possible. That's another advantage of being a landlord. Usually fees in NYC are 15%. The exclusive broker is going to make 7.5% no matter what. If another broker gets in, they might make 7.5%. If you're dealing with an exclusive broker you might be able to get a better deal, maybe 12% instead of 15%, they are more flexible on the price. If you want an intro to my broker, I am dblock at dblock dot org ;)