Finding An Apartment In NYC - A Real Estate Story

There's a popular Right of Passage in New York City real estate- The Broker Fee. Even when renting, people expect to pay the standard 15% of the annual rent to the man or woman who opens the door to their new home. The majority of renters will say, "It's easier just to get it over with, than go through months of scams and Craigslist posts all to wind up paying the fee we thought we could avoid."

As a very stubborn woman, I set out in the Spring of 2015 to find a place for us to live.

"We will NOT pay a broker fee."

We rifled through hundreds of Craigslist posts, Streeteasy.com photos and statistics, and the occasional broker who marketed themselves as being "No Fee." At first glance, the market seemed to be wide open. The search field would show result after result after result.

"This is going to be a big piece of delicious cake!"

However, after a few emails, the scams started pouring in, bait and switch became a standard term, and lies surrounded us like air. In the end, we found a No Fee, One Bedroom apartment in a Luxury Building.

But sure enough, we had to go through a lot to get there.

Find #1: A Craigslist scam for a gorgeous apartment in the West Village

"Hi Theresa (the name originally listed on Craigslist),
the apartment looks amazing!
Is it still and available and could we get an appointment?
Thanks,
(The Wachtels)"

The exact response, 10 minutes later:

"Hi,
Nice to talk to you The unit is here still to rent. We thought we had the unit rented to someone that we gave a walk-through to today, but now it seems that they are no longer needing to move, so we need to keep searching. You were the second one to contact me.
I am sure you want the address of the place, but my husband doesn't want me to advertise the address as a standard precaution. Last time we did that without verifying people, it was broken into and ripped up. We don't want that to happen again! That is why we require you to confirm you recieved your updated credit report before we setup a tour.You will be responsible for cable, internet, and phone, if you decide to have these services. For the FIRST time, we are allowing pets at this property. The rental term is one year, but can be switched into a 6-month lease if preferred. We just ask that you give us fair notice if you are moving out.
If you would like to set up an appointment, go to the link below and request a copy of your free credit report. We recommend this site because all of our tenants used it and haven't had any problems. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your report We are not concerned with any negative scores, it's more of a formality to ensure you are a serious tenant. Simply get your report just CLICK HERE (formerly a link to a credit report website).
Remember, print out the report and bring it to the tour.. We'll also waive your security deposit if we see that your rating is above 600+.
Please let me know when you grab your report. I can then schedule you for a showing of the place.
See you soon,
Alexa Conklin"

It was strange sounding so I Googled this response and immediately found that it was a pretty common scam. Bummer.

Find #2A: Bait and Switch

"Hello! The apartment looks wonderful! Can we schedule a visit at your convenience?"

"Please give me a call to schedule the appointment."

I would then proceed to call the broker who responded. Occasionally, this process would be done through email. Unfortunately, It would always just so happen that within the last few minutes the apartment had been rented. We would then be the recipients of a version of the following phrase:

"However, I have an excellent set of units that are still available. What are you looking for? What is your budget? What is your most recent credit score? What are the names of the applicants?"

"I WANT THE APARTMENT IN THE ADVERTISEMENT!"

After succumbing to several phone calls and emails like this, I simply learned to ignore them. Unfortunately, one of them got to me via this method and wasted 45 minutes via phone and 4 hours in-person.

Find #2B: The Real Estate Broker via Bait and Switch

I was contacted by an agent, who I will refer to as "Norman," regarding an apartment that was listed as being "No Fee." He spent 45 minutes speaking with me about what I was looking for in an apartment. I gave him specific guidelines and told him EXACTLY where I did NOT want to be. I also specified "No Fee" as this is why were okay working with him (originally we wrote off all brokers).

Our first apartment viewing in the East Village resulted in him assaulting another employee, whom I will name, "Gerald."
Norman immediately yelled and screamed at Gerald for a few minutes before Gerald finally said, "I'll show her the apartment!"

As I realized this nonsense was not going to stop, I made Norman stay downstairs while Gerald and I saw the apartment.
When I was finished, Norman said, "Wait for me outside...I'll be out in a sec."

I slowly walked down and heard more yelling. Then I heard Gerald say, "Take your hands off me! Don't touch me!" and then he ran down the stairs while Norman ran after him yelling.

Once outside, the two continued to argue. Norman shouted insult after insult. I literally waved my hands in front of them until they stopped fighting. It was horrifying and after hearing some of his insults, I was particularly offended for both the other guy and myself.

As we walked away, I said, "You probably shouldn't put your hands on people. It's assault."

He replied, "I thought he wanted to fight."

We get to the second location in Chinatown, where I SPECIFICALLY said I did NOT want to be as it was too far away. Norman proceeds to verbally intimidate the other realtor, who I will call "Harry," the entire duration of the visit. Later, I came to find out Harry and Norman worked together for the same real estate company.

In the end, despite the location, I say how much I like the Chinatown apartment and ask about the fees/move-in costs. (Reminder: we specifically reached out to him because he had said, "No Fee.")

As I pass through the subway turnstile, he gives me a little smug laugh and hollers, "There is a fee of $1000."

I decided to go home and find Harry. It was a nice apartment so I wanted to make sure we both could see it together. Perhaps location is less important than we thought, if all or most other criteria are met.

I emailed Harry and we planned to meet the following day so as to avoid the open house…and Norman. During our visit, we spent an hour looking at all the available units. We chose our favorite and our second favorite and planned for a down payment on the spot. Unfortunately, our being misled in the beginning resulted in the following conversation:

"So exactly how much is everything, including the fees."

"Well the fee is 15% of the annual rent..."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It comes to $3591."

"Are you kidding me? We were told these would have a $1,000 fee."

"I don't know why Norman would say that. I don't know how he was planning to manage that. But I really like you guys, so I can knock it down to 12%. So it will be $2872..."

"Well, originally, he said he was showing me 'No Fee' apartments. Then it went up to $1,000 and NOW it's $3.5k. I'm sorry, but this is quite a shock...We will have to think about this..."

In the end, we told Harry he was wonderful; but it just wasn't going to happen.

Find #3: The Real Estate Broker via The New York Experience

I had only seen Murphy Beds in movies and TV shows from the 70s. I never ever thought I would see one in real life and even more strongly, I never ever thought I would see one in a brand new renovated luxury apartment in NYC.

"Can you meet with this agent this afternoon? She's charging only a low fee, so maybe it won't be so bad."

I met with "Irene" in front of a fairly nice building on the Upper West Side. The inside was stunning. It was gorgeous and new. We headed upstairs and I signed some form saying I would only work through her for this particular building, which was fine. We headed to apartment number 1.

"This is a studio that goes for $2300/month."

"What is this?" I said, pointing to a strange microwave thing.

"That's a convection oven."

"What. Does that mean."

"You can make simple things, even cook meats in it."

"I'm not grasping this concept. Can I make a cake in it?" (If I can make a cake in it, it's a real oven.)

"Well, I've never heard of anyone doing it, but there's a pizza and popcorn button on it!"

I walked around a bit more in the 250 square foot "apartment."

"Come look at the bathroom!"

"Okay, I'm good."

"Want to see another one?"

"Sure, okay."

It was in this other apartment that I got to see the Murphy Bed. The rooms, I cannot call them "apartments", were clean and nice; but I could not believe that a 250-275 square foot apartment was going for $2300-2495/month and no unit in the building had an actual oven. !!!What!!!

In the end, I had to block Irene because she wouldn't stop calling me to show me apartments. Bless her motivated heart.

Example #4: The Owner is a Slum Lord

There are moments that will live in our minds forever. This one outlives things like my childhood birthdays and grade school award ceremonies.

I set up an appointment to see an owner owned apartment on the Upper East Side/ East Harlem.

"Just ring all the buzzers. The door to the apartment is unlocked. Someone will let you in."

"Ohhhkay..."

This should have been my first clue; but I didn’t know these clues yet!

I visited the apartment and thought it was quite nice. It wasn’t gorgeous or new or anything, but it was no fee so we were excited. I tell my then boyfriend (now husband) he should come see it. I can't make the decision without him. We meet there and he agrees it's not spectacular; but it will do for the time being, plus there's no fee! Yay! Bonus! I call the landlord to tell him I think it will be great and we can start making arrangements to lease it. He strangely says he will even meet us when we are back at our apartment in Queens to go over the paperwork. I think he's being accommodating, but later I come to realize he's trying to be quick about it.

"Okay, I think we should do it. What do you think?" asks my boyfriend.

"I think it's okay...it would end the search, it's big, it's no fee..."

We continue to walk around and open everything.

"Okay. Okay. Okay, we said as everything was checking out fairly well!

There was only one thing left to examine.

I hopped across a mattress that was inconveniently placed in the living room, in order to open the living room closet and the cupboard above it.

As I open the above cupboard, a shower of cockroaches pours out. I scream and run back over the mattress. My boyfriend opens the closet door below and we see a stream of cockroaches falling to the floor, clusters of them in the corner, and numerous ones crawling on the side.

"No!" was all I could say. We briefly snapped a photo of a few for evidence and ran out.

"Unfortunately we will pass on the apartment. There were too many cockroaches. Thanks for letting us view it though," I texted the landlord.

I never heard back and I will always wonder what poor soul did not see the cockroaches before they signed the lease and paid their down payment.

On our way home that day, my boyfriend and I left the subway in Queens and walked past an apartment building he had been living next to for 2 years.

"It's probably super expensive," we both agreed.

I snapped a photo of the leasing information. A week later, I gave them a call.

Example #5: Walking Into A Luxury Building Without a Broker By Your Side

When I called that number, I spoke to a lovely woman who explained the building, the units, and the costs. The website was neat and clean and informative. There was no fee, a gym, a doorman, a bike room, an elevator, and the building was brand new. The lighting was spectacular and the price was reasonable. We took it that day and signed the lease 6 days later. We had to sacrifice a location change; but in the end it was worth it. We knew the neighborhood was safe, the building hadeverything we wanted, the apartment itself was amazing, and we didn't have to pay someone thousands of dollars for opening the door for us.

I have to say, the take home message is simply “Do your research.” What you think is the only option, may just be one of many. Even though it was the only one someone else took, it doesn't mean it's the only one for you!

We'd love to hear your Real Estate stories too! We welcome you to share with us :)