My wife is a rental agent at a very large Manhattan brokerage. It's quite a bit more complex here in New York than you imply. Yes, there are databases, and yes

My wife is a rental agent at a very large Manhattan brokerage. It's quite a bit more complex here in New York than you imply. Yes, there are databases, and yes she looks through them. But good units get snatched up so fast that by the time someone has taken photos and written it up in the database and syndicated it out to all the firms, it's already gone. The people who benefit most are those working with very difficult constraints. Imagine you are searching for a Studio apartment and can only afford $1,500 a month but the average rent in the area you are seeking is $2,200. Somewhere, there might be a $1,500 listing but it's going to go fast. If you have a broker you might have a shred of chance of 1.) even knowing about it 2.) getting access to the apartment the minute it's vacant 3.) getting a cash deposit submitted and 4.) passing all the landlord's test -- multitudinous because for every one person who barely has the credit to afford $1,500, there's 5 who can afford twice that standing in line behind them. Landlords are also king here because of how skewed the market is and therefore will do little to no work as part of the process. Getting photos, getting keys and access, it's an absurd runaround, hugely time consuming and barely worth the 15% (of annual rent), only half of which the agent receives.