do brokers REALLY have listings not on internet?

do yourself a favor and look at agencys that seem to have alot of listings in the area you want. Then call an agent and ask to see units in your price range. The best thing to do is go out and view apts with your own eyes...

I concur with MR17_5. Another bit of advice is to call one agent; not 100.

Pocket listings are those which are not officially on the market but the broker has been told the buyer would be willing to sell--usually for a set amount. Low-balls and bargains are not to be found among pocket listings. All other listings for which a broker's agreement is signed generally must be posted to the MLS within 72 hours or something of the signing of the contract with the broker. And if it is a real brokerage, they are pretty much covered by streeteasy.

Pocket listings are often short-term; there's a lot of "we're going to be out at the summer house for August, if you can get $15K for the place then we'd be interested, but at $12K, not so much."

More formal listings, at least for REBNY members, have to be posted within 24 hours now I think.

There are a lot of brokers who deal with high-end downtown rentals, including me, but if you deal with any REBNY member agency you should be fine.

As far as the "can you do-it-yourself" question -- well, of course you can. Most people who can afford five-figure rentals choose not to -- because 1) their time is more valuable than that and 2) they often get into a co-op sublet situation and the packages are a pain. But some people like doing their own rentals; inonada on this board can be a valuable source of help if you want to go that route.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty
member, Real Estate Board of New York

for higher end it is a tossup. There are tons of brokers that don't do REBNY and don't use streeteasy, NYTimes and only cobroke through other agencies. At the same time, if you know what buildings you are interested in, it is possible to contact those brokers directly. I'm not sure what the value of doing it yourself actually is, unless you're looking at a doorman building that has its own leasing office, but then they do advertise on this site.

There are also brokers that have prior client who are planning to move or breaking their leases but haven't let the management company know. The brokers then will rent the apartment before it actually hits the market. Just like with anything, really, there are always secrets.

"More formal listings, at least for REBNY members, have to be posted within 24 hours now I think. "
Bingo.

If there's no exclusive agreement, it doesn't have to be online.

>But some people like doing their own rentals; inonada on this board can be a valuable source of help if you want to go that route.

Really Ali?
inonada said he could find 100 rentals that matched a renters' criteria, then narrow that down to 20 to visit and 5-6 to negotiate with.
Could you do that? Could you find 100 rentals matching any given criteria? Could you negotiate 5-6 rentals at any given time and have them be responsive to you?

there are a few old school mgmts/owners that dont have websites or really do in the internet thing.....

*dont

My old building in Brooklyn did not post their availability on the internet, they had a relationship with a broker and let him do leases for 90% of their availability. The balance of units went to friends of the owner and/or family of departing tenants.

OP: wow, thanks everyone!!!