Rental by owner seeking advice

18% of the annual? it's normally 15%. Let me ask a question: would you care if a broker brought you a client what they were charging?

hiu12,

The commission is negotiable between brokers and clients. I don't know who told you 18% (if a broker said that, fire them). At most it should be 15% if it's a co-broke with another broker. Some greedy brokers might want to get 15% anyway (fire those too). If you're not getting inquiries, the following come to mind:

1- You're asking too much,,
2- You might have bad pictures & or no floor plan,
3- You need to advertise in more sites,
4- You are not reaching the brokerage community since you're doing it yourself,

I am a professional photographer and a broker (lived in NYC for over 30 years). I usually charge 1 month rent for direct clients and provide free consultation as well as free photographs for my owners. Feel free to contact me if you want, I specialize in owner representation and also manage my family's real estate portfolio.

References provided upon request for both real estate and photography.

Best,

Vincent
Vince@opgny.com

The rental market is pretty hot right now -- the last two units I listed went to the first person who saw them. If you're not getting takers it's either bad photography or bad pricing.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

When I rented out a couple of condos, I never listed them anywhere but with a broker. If the client couldn't afford the brokers fee, I wasn't interested in having them. I made sure the broker got full, professional, personal, previous landlord, and credit references, and than always ran credit checks which the tenant paid for if they leased the apartment (I paid if I rejected them).

If everything checked out to my satisfaction, I was always willing to charge a little less than the market rate and at lease renewal never tried to gouge the tenant if they proved to be good tenants. It worked well for me for 15 years of renting. Not much turnover, rent on time and few complaints.

Don't be in a rush to rent, it's better to keep your apartment vacant for a month or two than to rush and get a deadbeat that doesn't pay the rent and is constantly complaining.

Good Luck.

I'd like help renting out my sprint shares. I pay you 15%? No no. You pay me 15%.

Flmaozz.

I'd suggest posting on SE. Craigslist is a mess, I haven't used it ever since SE showed up. As far as Trulia, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone in NYC looking there. You must be from the suburbs? The idea to use professional photographs, broker or not, is a good one.

A well-priced place should go very quickly at that price range, broker or not. If you go the broker route, I'd suggest paying the fee yourself. The broker you used to buy your apt would probably do a 1-month fee, to curry favor with you on resale. People are irrational when it comes to broker fees, some refusing to pay one as a matter of principal. I think "no-fee" will yield a rent that is probably 10% higher because of this, which you'll make back in a year if you pay a month's fee, the remaining years being pure gravy.

Congrats on saying "I know that's paid by tenant but it all comes out from the same pot" and not going down the "it's not coming out of my pocket" idiocy.

FYI, unlike the rest of the responses above, I am not a broker but rather a serial renter with a knack for finding great deals. I don't think I've considered even viewing a no-fee place in recent times. And the pics on my current place were pretty hideous, missing key features, so much so that I almost skipped past it on my online search. Hence, my advice to you coming from the other side.

Totally agree with Ionanda; it is basically impossible to find anything on Craigslist in NYC because brokers clog it up with fake ads. Is very frustrating. I don't think the tenants you are looking for would have patience for this. Put on SE! Easy. Professional photos will help, but its a rental so I don't think it makes a massive difference. People are looking for location and price. You have the first...

I may be a bit biased, but I think your best bet is to post it here! No better location if qualified traffic is what you seek.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/feedback/submit_your_listings?lct=footer&prd=submit_your_listing

Let us know if you need any help.

Good luck.

Hiu 12- Let us know what the property is and we may have a client for it.

If you are against using a broker to list the property, definitely list the property on streeteasy and nytimes. Not many Manhattanites use Trulia and I agree with one of the above posters that Craigslist has lost a lot of steam for rentals since SE came along. You may also want to touch base with the listing departments of some of the big RE firms out there about getting your listing in the system as an open listing, so that the brokerage community is aware of the apartment.

Aside from the above, hiring a competent and professional broker to market the property should do the trick. The rental market is still very strong so if you have no bites it's photos, price, and/or exposure.

I had no issues renting, and selling for that matter, units only on streeteasy.

I saw your listing. Your pics show very poorly. A professional photographer will be able to simultaneously capture the outdoor view without making the inside look like a dismal cave.

Put it on streeteasy at the market rent and you will find a tennet in no time. Play games and offer it above market and it will sit. Prett basic stuff.

Your pricing also seems off. Note the near-identical unit being offered on SE for the same price as yours, no-fee, with 1 month free. Marketed by a broker, professional pics, but it's been languishing on the the market for 3 months now with no takers. And that was during the "hot" summer rental market.

I wouldn't have thought your location, both with the general area as well as what's going on directly across the street, would enable that sort of rent. The 3-month summer-season languishing of the above listing, professionally-marketed at a cheaper effective rent, should confirm that. In NYC, if a listing in that price range sits for longer than a month, it's over-priced.

inonada, maybe hiu12 has to get that amount of rent for a successful investment.

Very snarky, alanhart. Tsk, tsk.

Have you considered working with broker Jim Hones? He may have a tenant who would pay for the rental and 15% fee.

Great. Thanks for all the comments!

My husband and I are being relocated back to NY after many years away (Chicago, LA, Houston) for his business.
We are beginning our search for a place to call home.
PM me if you are interested in showing it to us. We are in town through Friday. No kids, no pets.

You should list with brokers and tell them to collect their own fee. If I had one asset I would pick two of the major brokerage companies and give them the listing. Tell them to collect their own fee - they will market it for you and find the right tenant, run the credit etc. I think your "it all comes out of the same pot" analysis is misguided. You've already lost a week it sounds like -that's a lot of money. The right renter will have a very big "pot" so they will see the fee as a one time necessary evil (or their company will pay it, or their parents will pay it etc).
There is no harm in listing it with brokers right? So why not do it (and post on CL "by owner" and on SE.) If the brokers bring you the right tenant before you find someone on your own then great. Why would you care that they paid a fee?

ha ha jazzman, broker psyops I love it.

Yes hiu, the fee a tenant pays has NOTHING to do with your rental price, NOTHING AT ALL!!! people LOVE to pay fees on top of rent - they dont even think about it!!!

Jazz, go scrounge somewhere else?

It is always amazing how many people come here and have no idea how to use this very website!

PM her if you are interested in showing her how to use it.

aubergine: Give the OP your e-mail. (Create a new account, don't use your regular e-mail).

Why don't you just post the link to the listing?

Ottawanyc
about 14 hours ago
Posts: 204
Member since: Aug 2011
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Why don't you just post the link to the listing?

He's a for rent by owner. He don't do smart.

gcondo - I'm a landlord not an agent - you misunderstand the market and what people are and aren't willing to pay for. Believe it or not some people actually like the service a broker provides. They have more time than money. They are happy to pay the fee because a good broker saves them time/headache.

And it's been my experience that the kind of people who are willing to pay for a broker (because their time is more valuable than money) are a LOT LESS LIKELY TO COMPLAIN about anything that goes wrong in their apartment. They've just got other things to worry about (and are often home less often too).

Who would do you want as your tenant - a penny pinching craigslister who will look at 100 apartment over 5 months before renting in your building - or a guy with a broker who has seen two apartments and says "this is good enough, I'll take it, I don't have time to see more places because I've got to get back to the office."

Discouraging someone from listing with a broker is silly.

>or a guy with a broker who has seen two apartments and says "this is good enough, I'll take it, I don't have time to see more places because I've got to get back to the office."

You want someone who will settle for your place?

Also, you COULD post using a broker, have the broker collect the fee + deposit + first months rent, pay you the latter two. This is very common. Then, you could tell the renter you will credit them with the brokers fee for their 12th & 24th month of rent, half each month. This would encourage you getting a long-term renter. And would make it effectively "no fee."

SOmone post a link to the ad please.

huntersburg - why not? why not rent to someone with low expectations and more important things to worry about than the fact that there's a little peeling paint in the bathroom because a neighbor upstairs splashed some water on the floor?

jason - i love long term renters but in a environment like this I hate 2 year leases. Next year my market rents are going up 10% regardless of who wins the election. If the economy gets better, there will be new jobs and more new hires means higher rents. If the economy is bad then people will stay in the City longer because there won't be any jobs elsewhere. The longer people stay the fewer apartment availabilities. And, if the NY economy get's better and the rest of the country doesn't then it will be 1998 all over again. If your credit score doesn't start with a 7 or 8 then you better have a roommate who does.

We just aren't building enough new housing to support the population growth.

Jason, search for OP's name and Trulia.

"Jason, search for OP's name and Trulia."

WTF? That is NOT a 2/2! TOP says s/he is renting a 2/2! That is an ad for a STUDIO with mostly stock photos of the building and NO photos of the actual unit.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hiu12+trulia&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS483US483&sugexp=chrome,mod=17&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

So Jason, are you saying that inododo was tricked by a fraud?

Simple Just list it on street easy.Put open house on Sunday from 1-3. Leave your tel # not email. Those that are interested will call you to tell you they are coming over. You should be able to rent it out after one or two open houses.

Yeah, the link has changed I guess Jason. You can see the hiu12 name isn't on the studio listing.

In any case, that's the building. It's the same apt as this:

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/rental/882980-condo-540-west-28th-street-west-chelsea-new-york

Only with dark pics, FRBO, same price but no free month. Of course, new to the market rather than 3 months stale.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/20365-effectiveness-of-the-rental-ad?