nofee vs. fee bait and switch

I am new to this fee broker world and so far what I see makes me want to pack my bags and leave NYC. All I want is a place to live! We were shown an no fee apartment and the same night submitted our application. The next day the agent calls us to tell us the landlord switched to pay only half the fee; however, he agreed to continue processing our application and of course charged us application... [more]

I am new to this fee broker world and so far what I see makes me want to pack my bags and leave NYC. All I want is a place to live! We were shown an no fee apartment and the same night submitted our application. The next day the agent calls us to tell us the landlord switched to pay only half the fee; however, he agreed to continue processing our application and of course charged us application fee. Because the whole thing smells fishy to me at this point because no deposit was taken and have a hard time believing he is going eat the fee. So I googled the apartment again and noticed it was relisted by a different broker charging a one month broker fee. When I googled I found the name of the management company of the apartment building and they also own 6 other buildings in the area, but when I tried to call direct then number has been disconnected. This is a large 6 story apartment building so people live there - thoughts to what is going on. Are we out our application fee and just keep looking?? [less]