Ten Dirty Tricks of New York Rental Brokers

Finding a place to live can be an intricate quest with many unknowns. Brokers who have their own plans for you play an important role in this process. Spoiled.

In fact, brokers have a whole scheme of pressure on you - in order to sign an agreement before you yourself are ready for it.

Below we have described all the dirty tricks that brokers have been doing for many years.

1. They are silent about additional costs

When you move into an apartment, you may have to pay extra for security, pay the first and last months of the rent, and make other payments.

Brokers never warn about additional fees until you fall in love with an apartment. Basically, they claim such expenses when there is no turning back for you.

2. Hide who pays for their services before signing a contract

Your broker may initially be vague about paying for his services. When it comes to signing a contract, he will name the cost of his services, which can be thousands of dollars. Failure at this stage means a lot of time has been wasted. Therefore, with tears in your eyes, you simply pay the invoice.

3. Brokers under the guise of owners offer apartments for rent

If you think that you can find an apartment without intermediaries by an ad, we must disappoint you. Even if an ad is found via the Internet and at the other end a person introduced himself as the owner, do not believe it. They will meet you, show you the apartment, and then demand payment for it.

4. Use images from Google to advertise the apartment better

Often bad brokers can distract our attention from the interior of the apartment with street photos, playing on our fantasies.

Do not be distracted by beautiful pictures, demand real photos of the interior.

5. "Double jackpot"

There are brokers who take payment from both sides: from landlords and tenants. Thus, they hit a double jackpot.

In this case, it is worth asking landlords about payment of services to the broker. If they paid for his services, you do not have to spend money.

6. The deposit is not a guarantee yet

Apartments that you liked someone busy? No problem! You may be asked to make a deposit to be first in line in case the tenant refuses to rent.

Never settle for that. The broker will keep this money. This is pure deception and theft.

7. Earn on checking credit history

You need to prove your credit reliability, and the broker is pleased to offer to do it? Do not get fooled! They rip many times more than this service actually costs, and put the difference in their pockets. Previously find out how much a credit history check costs, and only then agree to the services.

8. Without revealing details

For example, a broker can hide that the apartment is on the sixth floor and you need to climb only on foot the stairs. Or in the ad indicated the area of ​​apartments Upper West Side, and in fact it West harlem. Thanks to such tricks, brokers confuse you, although their work is just the opposite: to help you find the area that you, and not they, want.

9. Many promise, and then leave from responsibility

Be careful with the promises of brokers. They can tell that the missing washing machine will be installed as soon as you move into the apartment, or they change the color of the cabinet when they know for sure that you will move. They will say everything you need to sign a contract, and then they will leave from responsibility.

10. Play on emotions

Brokers will initially show you the worst, smallest and dirtiest apartment, for which you do not need to make an advance payment. They might say something like, "This is what you get without prepayment."

An unsuspecting client will want to pay an additional fee so as not to see more scary apartments. Although there are many good apartments in the city without any fees.