broker showed me a no-fee apt

Hi everyone, I have been using a broker to look for rental apartments. I have not signed a single document or contract with him. He showed me an apartment that I was intrigued by and wanted to pursue. Still curious to see what's out there, I want on an rental website and looked for similar apartments in the neighborhood I was searching in. The very apartment I was looking at came up immediately... [more]

Hi everyone, I have been using a broker to look for rental apartments. I have not signed a single document or contract with him. He showed me an apartment that I was intrigued by and wanted to pursue. Still curious to see what's out there, I want on an rental website and looked for similar apartments in the neighborhood I was searching in. The very apartment I was looking at came up immediately and was listed as "no-fee". Point being here: I did not go home after the broker showed me the apartment and looked it up specifically to see if it was "no-fee". The broker never said the rental was "no-fee". What do I do here? I obviously do not want to pay the several thousand dollar broker fee when I don't have to. However, the broker - whom I met with three separate times - did provide me a service and I wouldn't feel comfortable not paying him some compensation. What if I found an entirely different apartment on my own without the broker? Can people use brokers and then decide that they are better off without one (provide that they didn't sign anything or just go around the broker and get a no-fee apartment the broker showed them)? Please let me know what you think. Thank you for your time. [less]