How do I find an apartment in NYC without going thru a real estate agency?

May 5, 2006 8:25 AM

Non-realtor sources for an apartment in NYC/Bklyn?

Currently looking for an apartment in Brooklyn but would prefer to avoid dealing with a real estate agency due to the hefty, hefty fees involved. Ideally, I would prefer somewhere with a commute within a half hour of my job and coffeeshops/bookstores/bars in walking distance - I'm finding myself searching mainly in the areas of "Brownstone" Brooklyn and Williamsburg/Greenpoint as a result. Unfortunately, I have had no luck finding for-rent by owner apartments in those areas via Craigslist or word of mouth. What are other sources for finding NYC apartments for rent without parting with $1000+ dollars?

posted by huskerdont to home & garden (11 comments total)

I can advise that you steer clear of no-fee apartment listing services where you pay a membership fee on a per month basis. Complete crap.

I suggest that you walk the areas you like street by street and look for signs or flyers. In this type of housing market, many owners know that they don't have to do much advertising to fill an apartment. And older individuals who may own a building or two, probably aren't listing on Craigslist.

Some neighborhoods have their own local free papers. Look in those.
posted by kimdog at 8:43 AM on May 5, 2006

I second that. Definitely check out the neighborhood papers, often owners put their ads in there

also, I knew people in my last building who got the apartment because they bribed the super...still tossing money around, but supers are satisfied with much less than brokers. Problem is finding a vacancy. You can have a broker show it to you, and then go back and talk to the super directly. Underhanded, but so are brokers.
posted by milarepa at 8:49 AM on May 5, 2006

Do you know people who live in those areas? Because everyone I know in North Brooklyn got their place either via Craigslist or by asking other people's landlords.
posted by dame at 8:51 AM on May 5, 2006

Everyone I know uses Craigslist and the Village Voice classifieds.

Maybe you could add a specific followup explaining what you're looking for that you're not finding; there are probably 50 apartments added to Craigslist every day in Williamsburg alone. What search terms are you using? What other Brooklyn neighborhoods are you interested in?
posted by bcwinters at 8:56 AM on May 5, 2006

A friend of mine found an amazing place in Park Slope through the NYTimes web listings: she signed the lease before the apartment even made it into the print edition.

But otherwise, yeah, look for fliers: sometimes there are bulletin boards at neighborhood markets.

But I've actually ended up using a broker so far, ugh.
posted by xueexueg at 9:31 AM on May 5, 2006

Tell everyone you know- and I do mean everyone- that you are looking for a place. Like dame says, most sucessful searches (including my own) seem to happen because someone knows someone who is moving out of so-and-so's buidling and they snagged the place before it was even listed. Also, do you have any friends who are members of the Park Slope Food Coop? They have a well-stocked housing bulletin board (web and on-site) that's mostly rentals-by-owner.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 9:48 AM on May 5, 2006

I realize you don't want to pay a broker. But if you think about this as an hours saved/value for money proposition, you may reconsider.

I've done two searches for new apartments via the Craigslist/ bulletin board/ knocking on door route, and the process both times was massively time-consuming and emotionally frustrating. The quality of the apartments I saw was mediocre, and there was generally something a little off-putting about the setup, e.g., the owner stores her art supplies in a closet in the apartment bedroom, and "occasionally" will need to have access. More than 50% of the time, you arrive at the address to realize it's the wrong neighborhood (too far from transportation, no place nearby to get groceries, on a noisy corner, or just plain sketchy).

If you add up all the time you will spend doing a search yourself (including internet searches, phone calls, planning the subway stops, killing a couple of hours in between appointments only a couple of blocks apart -- not to mention the times you arrive only to get no answer to the bell, or the only person who has keys to the apartment has left for the day, or, well, whatever) -- add up all that, plus carfare, plus missed hours at your job .... by "saving" $1,000 on a broker you are basically hiring yourself to be a broker and paying yourself a very low hourly fee. And for that fee you receive the services of an inexperienced amateur broker (i.e., yourself.)

The areas you're looking in are very popular right now. You are competing for location and amenities with a lot of other people. If there were some kind of secret formula to finding a good apartment in a hot neighborhood, it wouldn't stay a secret for long. Which all points to this inescapable if not very cheering fact: a broker is going to find you an apartment a lot faster and easier than you are going to find one for yourself. You have to decide whether that convenience (or, rather, that reduction of pain) is worth the fee to you.
posted by La Cieca at 10:10 AM on May 5, 2006

Great comments and suggestions from everyone so far. Thanks.

1) I am looking for a 1br in the $1100-$1300 range in or around Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Ft Greene, Clinton Hill, Williamsburg or Greenpoint. Most every apartment in the area I've seen so far has been through an agent.

2) My major difficulty with RE brokers in New York is that too many of them are in for the easy kill and are either unskilled at their job or, alternately, too aggressive in pushing sketchy apartments.

I'm pretty easygoing with this stuff, but if I'm paying someone more than a thousand dollars to find me an apartment and all they want to do is convince me that 4th Ave. & 23rd is *really* Park Slope.... Nah.

Alternately, I've had other brokers try to hustle me into giving a 10% or 15% commission on the apartments they found me.

I recognize that it's a very tight housing market in NYC, but paying all that extra money for a broker who doesn't do much more than hand you a page of listings just seems like a horrible idea.
posted by huskerdont at 11:19 AM on May 5, 2006

You say you've had 'no luck' via craigslist. Have you tried a narrower search?

Beyond that, good luck. Brooklyn is very popular nowadays. I don't understand why. I'm a hell of a lot happier here in New Mexico. (The art and music are better here, too.)
posted by koeselitz at 11:29 AM on May 5, 2006

Koeselitz, your search shows exactly the problem ;). While there are plenty of by-owner apartments in Brooklyn, they are mostly in outer neighborhoods like Midwood, Sheepshead Bay and Bay Ridge that, while nice, have 45 min-1 hour commutes into midtown Manhattan.

I'm a native Brooklynite and love south Brooklyn to death... But spending an extra hour on the subway each day just isn't viable for me, L&B Spumoni Gardens or not.

As to why Brooklyn is popular? It's a quality of life thing. Restaurants from every corner of the world. Creative types on nearly every block. Neighborhoods that don't require cars. Vibrancy - walking to your corner store and passing by people from every possible walk of life. A great subway system. An incredible cultural scene. I could go on and on... but New Mexico ain't bad either. It's just, y'know, in a different time zone and stuff.
posted by huskerdont at 11:46 AM on May 5, 2006

huskerdont:

If you are getting the treatment you describe from a broker, then you need to dump that broker immediately. I mean, right there in the hallway of the second POS apartment he shows you. It doesn't hurt on your first day of looking to line up three or more brokers to show you stuff, then you can go with the one who is most simpatico.

What you describe (1BR, < $1300, Bklyn nabe) is pretty much hen's teeth, and I honestly think you're going to need a good broker to find it. If you are willing to do LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, you can probably pay closer to $1000 and the broker is not going to ask for more than 1 month's fee. Queens, they say, is the new Brooklyn, so maybe you can be an early adopter-type hipster.
posted by La Cieca at 11:56 AM on May 5, 2006