What should I expect to pay a rental broker?

The standard fee is either one month's rent or 15% of the annual rent. Some landlords are paying brokers fees, but most do not.

you should not pay a broker's fee. There are high end rental management firms.

Try renting an apartment from Glenwood. They have some nice buildings (The Grand Tier and 10 Barclay Street) and you won't have to pay a broker fee.

nothing. nybits.com

The fact of the matter it that brokers charge 15% of the total annual rent for their fee for service. Being a real estate salesperson I do understand in the high end market, this commission adds a steep price tag...less bang for the buck. There are many No-Fee apartments out there in this market and that being a renters market, use this to your advantage. . With this said, I would not pay a brokers fee at this bracket and take advantage of the OP "Owner Pays" market. Watch out though...some rental units are priced to rent, while some "No fee" apartments are not priced according to what the market will bear, for the owner/property manager increases rental prices to compensate the broker to bring in the tenant.

50% - forget about it…this is a clear example of a why the real estate industry is frowned upon…this is robbery!

Robert Madrid - RE Salesperson

The "rack rate" fee is 15%, but no one is paying that. Brokers who are being egregious are asking 12%. Brokers who were reasonable 12 months ago were asking 1 month. Today, brokers are trying to get paid 1 month through a combination of renter and owner, but if you are the one specifically hiring the broker, probably unlikely that the owner would pay a portion, but still, if you pay it make sure it is with the upfront understanding that this broker is going to find the $15K+ listing and get it for you for $10K (and offer to pay him the full $15K to prove that you mean it - just my suggestion, if this math works out, you get 5K*12 savings in exchange for an extra $5K). Or just do some looking yourself and realize especially with condo owners who need to rent, if you have good credit and don't look like you need a shower and have references, the market is geared to you - very very strongly.

it depends on the type of property that you are looking for and the broker that you are utilizing. Some brokers do not allow their agents to take less than 15% of the year's rent. If you want a private rental, meaning you desire a residence that is not typically an all rental building, you may have to pay that fee because most likely it is being listed by an agent. There are also just general rental buildings, the entire building is rentals only, and in these types of residences often times the owners (large corporations) offer incentives, including one month's free rent, and to pay part or the entire broker's fee. Really, in the current market, you should be able to negotiate the terms some, but do not expect to get a 20k rental for 10k.

reprinted from a prior thread-

AVOID BROKERS AND THEIR FEES - GO DIRECTLY TO THE SOURCE OF YOUR RENTAL NEEDS. BROKERS TEND TO TAKE YOU TO SEE THESE NO-FEE APARTMENTS FIRST AS THEY EARN 100% OF YOUR 15% BROKER'S FEE. HUSH...HUSH... THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU IT'S A NO-FEE RENTAL PROPERTY :( NOR WILL THEY REPRESENT THAT PRIOR TO SEEING THE APARTMENT. SO IF YOU NEED TO RENT, CHECK OUT THE RENTAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT WEBSITES AND CALL THEM FOR UPDATED LISTINGS. SAVE YOURSELF THAT 15% TO BUY YOURSELF NEW FURNITURE OR HAVE A MOVE-IN WELCOME PARTY FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

Excellent “BIG-TIME” Manhattan Rental Property Management:

Rose (www rosenyc com)
Related Rentals (www relatedrentals com)
Equity Residental (www eqr com)
Rockrose Management (www rockrosenyc com) [mostly chelsea, village, financial district, downtown condos]
Sky Management (www skymanagement com)
Glenwood Managment (www glenwoodnyc com)
BLDG Management Co. 115 E 92nd St New York, NY 10128 (212) 722-4931
Brodsky Management, Inc (www brodskyorg com)
Maclowe Management (www macklowe com) [condos below 60th street]
Urban Associates – 400 W 59th St # 3, New York, NY (212) 245-1870

Above average property management (mostly prewar lowrise to a few postwar)
ATA Enterprise (www ataenterprises com)

lol...these companys are 50/50 - 50 I would rent from them,,,,50% rats are submitting applications on them...hurry before a rat beats you to the punch line..

Def. BLDG, ROSE ROCKROSE and GLEENWOOD!

Sky Management - Great for a young crowd or foreign renter without a social security number..$10,000. apartment - I have yet to see them have one.

Brodsky - Large, but mostly walk-ups mainly in the UWS....

Sky Management, you mean the Shalom family? Google it.

No one ever paid 15 percent unless they were a rube and didn't bother to ask for a lower amount. 10-12 percent after asking was standard even from 2004-2008. I'm sure you can do better now.

Um... if you can afford to blow $13K per month on rent, do you really even care about a trivial broker fee? It's just pocket change to you.

Two totally different issues. 1) Broker's fee if it's their listing (mostly in condos, but some rental buildings only go through brokers. 2) Hiring a broker to help you look, and paying them a fee.

The answer to (1) is that everything is negotiable, and you're very likely to be able to either pay 1 month or less, or get the owner to pay for it.

The answer to (2) depends on you. It's my consistent experience that brokers who help you look add no value, waste your time, and add another mouth to feed. However, if you're physically not in NY until you move, and have a very good broker whom you really trust, it may be worth considering.

In some respects I'd rather pay a broker fee on a non-rental building because I think there's more flexibility by the owners of those if you have good credit, normal person, etc. A couple reasons including the fact that so many of these rental buildings, take Echelon Chelsea, are SO expensive in the market and arrogant about it, and second because you can pretty much negotiate the broker fee down to 7.5%. There's a bit more to weigh, and you definitely DO NOT want to hire a broker to take you to a rental company.

"The 'rack rate' is 15%," I like that.

At the high end we are seeing a compression of both rents and fees. For example, if you want to be in Trump World Tower (low floor) I can get you a three-bedroom for $10,500 even though list is $12K.

Similarly, everyone's shaving fees, so what you will pay really depends on the level of service you want. Hiring a broker to run around with you to look at apartments will give you the best knowledge of the city and probably the widest range of choices, but it is going to be more expensive than just going to a luxury rental developer (such as Glenwood or Rockrose) and negotiating for 13 months for the price of 12 with no fee at all.

If you want to know more about how NYC luxury rentals are priced, there's a chapter on them in my book here: http://tinyurl.com/2ag28z

and if you want to ask more questions (you do know you'll have to fill out an extensive application for these kinds of apartments, right?) you can email me at work: ali [at] dgneary [dot] com.

ali r.
[downtown broker}

I sold in the Trump World Tower...59C.. for $3.725M