Skip to main content
Fulltext search
FILTER RESULTS BY:
RECOMMENDED IN RENT
Moving to NYC after college? Here's how to find a rental apartment
RECOMMENDED IN BUY
How buying real estate in NYC is unlike anywhere else
RECOMMENDED IN SELL
A guide to using a no-fee renovation loan from a NYC real estate firm
RECOMMENDED IN IMPROVE
How to make your NYC renovation more pet-friendly
BEST REAL ESTATE WEBSITE!
National Association of Real Estate Editors
BEST REAL ESTATE WEBSITE! National Association of Real Estate Editors
Brick Underground
Social Links
follow:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flipboard
  • search
Brick Underground
☰ Brick Underground
Brick Underground
Brick Underground
☰
Brick Underground
  • Buy
    • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
    New condos in Manhattan
    Investing
    Rise of all-cash deals in NYC reshapes the real estate market
    139 East 23rd St. #8, a floor-through two-bedroom boutique condo in Kips Bay
    New Construction + Condos
    What you need to know about buying a NYC apartment with direct elevator access
    empty nesters in modern kitchen
    Rent
    Empty nester checklist: What to consider if you are buying or renting in NYC
  • Rent
    • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
    Apartment buildings on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village
    Affordable Housing
    Cuomo’s attack on Mamdani’s $2,300 apartment brings rent stabilization into the spotlight
    Woman walking down street in Jackson Heights
    Roommates + Landlords
    Ask Altagracia: Can my landlord refuse a lease assignment if I need to break my lease?
    Sponsored By Outerbridge Law P.C.
    chinatown in lower manhattan
    The Market
    Manhattan median rent hit $4,700 in July, the fifth record in six months
  • Sell
    • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
    Aerial view of downtown Brooklyn
    Sell
    Median sales price in Brooklyn climbs to $995,000 in the second quarter
    Downtown New York City
    Sell
    Manhattan deals rose to highest level in nearly two years, defying national trends
    Modern residential buildings in Chelsea, Manhattan
    Negotiations + Closings
    What is a post-closing possession agreement and what are the risks for buyers and sellers?
  • Live
    • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
    FlatRate moving brick underground
    Live
    How to troubleshoot your move in advance
    Sponsored By flatrate
    Apartment buildings in Lower Manhattan
    Renovation
    What repairs are co-op and condo owners responsible for, and what do buildings take care of?
    Big Apple Moving stackable eco-friendly bins
    Products + Test-drives
    Do I have to use cardboard boxes when moving in NYC? Are there any green alternatives?
    Sponsored By Big Apple Moving
  • Improve
    • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide
    insurance adjuster inspecting mold
    Products + Services
    How to tell if your apartment has mold—and how to get rid of it
    Woman on the phone to a plumber about a leaking sink
    Small Projects + DIY
    Here's what I learned to get our absentee landlord to fix things fast
    Apartment buildings in Lower Manhattan
    Renovation
    What repairs are co-op and condo owners responsible for, and what do buildings take care of?
  • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards
    • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Property Management
    • Structure & Systems
    • Sustainability
    Burned and Boarded Up Windows
    When should your board hire a public adjuster?
    Manhattan GM
    What should we consider when renewing insurance for our building?
    Facade of NYC buildings
    How much is insurance on a NYC co-op or condo building?
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsored Content
    • Experts
    FlatRate moving brick underground
    Live
    How to troubleshoot your move in advance
    Sponsored By flatrate
    14th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan
    Roommates + Landlords
    Ask Altagracia: My landlord denies offering a rent reduction during a renovation. Can I still pay a lower rent?
    Sponsored By Outerbridge Law P.C.
    Big Apple Moving stackable eco-friendly bins
    Products + Test-drives
    Do I have to use cardboard boxes when moving in NYC? Are there any green alternatives?
    Sponsored By Big Apple Moving
  • Brick Report
  • About Us
  • About Us
Email Address
Fulltext search
FILTER RESULTS BY:
New Main menu
  • Buy
    • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
  • Rent
    • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
  • Sell
    • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
  • Live
    • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
  • Improve
    • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide
  • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards & Buildings
    • Boards
    • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Property Management
    • Structure & Systems
    • Sustainability
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsored Content
    • Experts
  • Brick Report
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertise
  • About Us
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER →
Social Links Footer
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Search
Rent [ SPONSORED ]

3 crafty ways to find your next NYC rental (and potentially skip the broker's fee)

By Renthop  | May 2, 2016 - 11:30AM
ADVERTORIAL
image
SHARE:
Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter
Print
More...

In the spring and summer, New York City rents traditionally reach scorching heights, inflamed by tens of thousand of college- and graduate-school who descend on the city to start their careers all within a few short months. With competition at its keenest and rents at their most painful, it pays to add some non-traditional tactics to your search to find the gems missed by others.

"Most renters, especially first-time renters, approach their search the same way. They work with a broker who shows them apartments in a range of rental buildings, or if they're trying to avoid paying a broker's fee, they look online for no-fee rentals advertised directly by major landlords," says Lee Lin, founder of RentHop,  a nationwide apartment listings site that typically has over 50,000 rental listings, around a third of which are no-fee listings. "If that's all you do too, you'll have tons of competition and you'll totally overlook great options that aren't being marketed to the masses." 

Here are 3 not-so-obvious ways to scoop your competition and find a great rental:

1. Look for lease breaks

Someone else's job transfer can be your lucky break. When circumstances compel a renter to break their lease early,  management companies and landlords often tell them that as long as they can find someone to take over their current lease, they won't be penalized or be on the hook to pay rent through the end of the lease.

What that means for you is that you probably won't have to pay a broker fee (unless the current tenant has hired a broker to market the apartment).  Moreover, the current lease holder might be willing to negotiate price in order to avoid paying through the nose for an apartment they don't live in anymore.  Just make sure you check with the management before you sign any deals (to make sure they're okay with the lease turnover) and keep in mind that the rent may go up as soon as the lease expires, which is probably in less than a year.

Sometimes lease breaks can be found through word of mouth (or social networking as it were). You can also search RentHop for sublets and lease breaks.

And to find out more about an individual co-op or condo in advance, check out RentHop's buildings page.

2. Rent a condo

Condos are not just for buyers.  In fact, plenty of people buy them as investments and rent them out.  

"When you rent from an individual condo owner as opposed to a rental management company, the apartment tends to be in better shape," says Lin. "That's because condo owners put real time and money into their apartments since they care a lot about resale value and usually condos have less renter turnover and wear-and-tear than pure rentals. And you're more likely to get luxury finishes like Carrera marble tubs and Viking ranges."

Renters also often find that condo owners are quicker to respond to problems than supers or management companies, since they're more invested (literally) in the property staying in good condition. 

And, "you can often save 10 to 20 percent on a condo over an apartment in a regular rental building, between the owner agreeing to pay the broker fee and wanting to find a stable, low hassle tenant quickly," says Lin. 

But there are some fees to consider, too, including condo association costs and higher application fees (expect to pay anywhere from $50-$400 for application fees and condo fees can easily be about $1,000 a year). And sometimes those amazing building amenities (like state-of-the-art gyms) and privileges like owning a pet are reserved for owners only, so make sure you read your lease carefully for details. 

3. Rent a co-op

Co-ops are the second most common form of housing in New York City after rentals. In a co-op, a corporation owns the buildings and people buy shares in the corporation (the larger the apartment, the more shares).  Because of their somewhat legendary restrictions (buyers have to be approved by a co-op board and usually must plan to live there as their primary residence rather than renting it out as an investment) co-ops tend to be signficiantly less expensive to buy. To accommodate circumstances like a temporary job transfer, most co-ops let owners rent out their apartments for one to two years every 7 to 10 years, subject to board approval.  

You'll have to jump through a few more hoops to get approved--including passing a board interview, filling out a board package that includes extensive financial documentation, and paying application fees of anywhere from $50-$400. It can take several weeks or longer to secure approval. Also, you'll only be able to rent for a couple of years at most--and if the owner decides to sell, you may be out of an apartment sooner--so if you're looking for a longer term living solution, this isn't it.

However, says Lin, "All these inconveniences usually pay off in the form of lower rent than either condos or traditional rentals."

RentHop is a search engine to find apartments for rent that uses mathematical algorithms to aggregate and score listings inventory from top landlords and brokerage firms. With over 6 years of NYC apartments rental data and millions of listings observed, RentHop's proprietary HopScore sorting ensures renters find high quality listings posted by trusted managers and agents.

 

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.
SHARE
TWEET
BRICK’S PICKS
NYC apartment building with AC units
My neighbor's dripping AC is driving me crazy. What can I do?
Historic brick facades of NYC apartment buildings
Getting overcharged by a landlord? Here’s how the Tenant Protection Unit helps rent-stabilized tenants
Apartment buildings in Soho
New Rent Guidelines Board report justifies a rent freeze, tenant advocates claim
Brooklyn apartment buildings
Understanding net effective rent: Here's how to calculate your real monthly rent
image
How much should you renovate your NYC apartment or house before selling?
Council Member Shahana Hanif hold press conference before the City Council vote on Arrow Linen spot rezoning.
City Council signs off on 10-story towers for Arrow Linen site
Follow Brick on Instagram
@brickunderground | #brickunderground
Brick UndergroundBRICK UNDERGROUNDREAL LIFE. REAL ESTATE. REAL NEW YORK.
Social Links Footer
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Search
Main menu footer
  • Buy
    • The Market
    • Investing
    • New Construction + Condos
    • Affordable Housing
    • Co-ops
    • Negotiating + Financing
    • How to Buy in NYC Guide
  • Rent
    • Affordable Housing
    • Roommates + Landlords
    • The Market
    • The Search
    • How to Rent in NYC Guide
  • Sell
    • Staging + Open Houses
    • Negotiations + Closings
    • Getting Ready
    • How to Sell in NYC Guide
  • Live
    • Neighbors
    • Kids + Pets
    • Neighborhood Intel
    • Products + Test-drives
    • Troubleshooting
  • Improve
    • Small Spaces
    • Small Projects + DIY
    • Renovations
    • Design + Architecture
    • Products + Services
    • How to Renovate in NYC Guide

Get more news you can actually use...

Email Address

Delivered to your inbox weekly - for free.

*By signing up you agree to receive occasional emails on behalf of our sponsors

Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Advertise

Copyright 2009-2024 by BND Ventures Inc | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Ad Choices | Login