Seeking rental real estate agent - East Bay edition

March 21, 2024 11:58 AM

Looking for personal recommendations for a rental real estate agent in the East Bay!

I'm looking for a house/apartment/condo for rent for myself starting the end of May. Ideally in the Berkeley /Alameda/Emeryville CA area, but I am open to alternatives that are commuting distance to SF.

Rental apps aren't great or necessarily accurate, so I would prefer a professional opinion from a trusted source. If this is you or someone you know, can you please drop their link and let me know why they are great? Thanks!

posted by Space Kitty to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

I've lived (and rented) in the east bay for 25 years and never thought to use an agent...following out of curiosity!
posted by Molasses808 at 8:35 PM on March 21

In New York City rental real estate agents — or “brokers” performing the same function — show rentals because of brokerage fees. I think this is unsual to nonexistent in the Bay Area for better or worse. Perhaps I’ll be corrected, but I never heard of it when I lived there.
posted by reren at 6:32 AM on March 22

It's been awhile since I've actively looked for a rental (and I've never looked at high-end, newer-construction condos), but not once in the 15 years I've lived here have I heard of someone in the Bay Area using a broker. It's possible that people who can afford like $3.5k+/mo for a 1br are plugged into a completely different set of resources than me, but even still I imagine I would have heard of people who used rental brokers, even if it wasn't the norm in my own social circles.
posted by knucklebones at 5:18 PM on March 24