4 Ways to Find a No Fee Apartment

Apartment hunting in New York City is no picnic. The current real estate market makes finding an apartment a particularly daunting task right now because demand outweighs supply.

One result of the undersupply of available apartments is the preponderance of broker's fees that are charged to apartment hunters. These fees typically range from 1 month's rent to 15-18% of the annual rent -- a pretty steep fee to shell out up front on top of the security deposit and moving costs.

Fortunately, New York's real estate market moves in cycles. When the market is in the doldrums and rents are (relatively) affordable, don't be shy about asking your landlords to include enticements such as a free month's rent, a free membership in the building's gym, or reimbursement for moving costs.

Even with current market conditions, you do not always have to pay a hefty fee to a broker. We have found that it is possible to find a nice selection of affordable apartments and bypass the upfront broker's fee. The following are 4 proven strategies for finding a no fee apartment:

1. Go Straight to the Source

The best way to avoid paying a broker's fee is to avoid the broker altogether. Many companies that manage apartment buildings handle the rental process directly. The following is a list of some of these management companies. Note that some of them manage large buildings and have onsite offices, while other companies handle different buildings from a single office.

Algin Management Company
(212) 725-7662
(718) 896-9600

Bettina Equities
(212) 744-3330

The Brodsky Organization
(example of building under management: The Concerto at 200 West 60th Street)
(212) 247-4444

Liberty Residences
99 Battery Park Place
(212) 898-4800

Milford Management
Claridge House at 201 East 87th Street, (212) 722-9242
Normandie Court at 225 East 95th Street, (212) 289-5000
Windsor Court at 155 East 31st Street, (212) 684-5900
30 Lincoln Plaza, (212) 956-4049

The Olnick Organization, Inc.
(212) 835-2400

Related Management
(example of buildings under management: Carnegie Park, The Monterey and TriBeCa Tower)
625 Madison Avenue
(212) 319-1200

Rockrose Development Corp.
(examples of buildings under management: Turtle Bay Towers, Plaza East, Plaza West)
309 East 45th Street
(212) 697-4422

Rudin Management
345 Park Avenue
(212) 407-2400

2. Use a No Fee Broker

A number of brokers have broken with the tradition of charging renters a high percentage of the annual rent as a fee. In some cases (although perhaps not in this overheated market), the landlord, rather than the renter, pays a fee for brokering the landlord/tenant match. In other cases, the broker collects a nominal payment (usually less than $300) in return for providing the prospective tenant with a list of opportunities and showing him/her the ropes.

One of the no fee brokers we have heard good things about is:

Rent-Direct.com
166 Fifth Avenue
(212) 645-9797
e-mail: info@rent-direct.com

3. Look Online

Use the resources of the Internet as the ultimate way to dodge the upfront broker's fee. In addition to Rent-Direct, as mentioned above (which runs a nice web site in addition to their walk-in business), here are a few sites we have checked out and found to be useful:

Apartment Source

The Apartment Store

Rent.Net

4. Scan the Ads

Of course, you should also consider looking for an apartment the old fashioned way -- by reading the classified ads in the newspaper. Look for the key phrase, "no fee," which generally indicates you will be renting directly from the owner or management company. Be persistent -- although close to 90% of the ads we checked list apartments for which you will have to pay a fee, the remaining 10% still amounts to a large number of apartments.

The best papers to check for New York City apartments are:

Sunday's New York Times (usually available Saturday night)

Wednesday's Village Voice, which is usually available Tuesday night (or visit their website which is updated daily)

Bottom Line

No matter how you find your apartment, there will be some market cost involved in matching the renter to the apartment, and that cost will ultimately be passed on to you. Much the same way that there is a recruiting cost for every unfilled job that an employer has (whether an employer pays an executive search firm, advertises in the paper or on the Internet, or pays "referral fees" to other employees who recommend qualified candidates), one way or another, landlords will pay SOMETHING to fill an empty apartment. The purpose of this article is to help you minimize your costs -- so that you are not paying a steep fee just because someone in the middle is trying to assume the role of matchmaker.

Happy apartment hunting!

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