paying a brokers fee (in a coop building)- poll

Ask him to pay the broker make a good case for what a great tenant you will be. You must not really be in love with the apartment, so then just walk or make the broker an offer?

renting you mean? see this link for discussion:
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/6063-renting-in-a-condo

i like the place, but I'm not desperate. I'm willing to bet he'll have to wait even longer for someone to come along.
i figure why not...screw the stupid brokers...i hate them

By the way, it isn't the broker who is the issue here, it is the owner. First of all, in a co-op, you have to be approved by the board so the owner is looking for someone qualified. So by that alone, you should have strength to negotiate if you are a qualified tenant. You are correct that the broker is doing the owner a service, not you, so effectively the owner is asking for the rent plus the broker fee (by the way, never have a conversation with a broker over a fee for more than 1 month's rent). In any case, in this market, single owner apartments are sitting on the market an extended period of time when not priced and marketed aggressively ... use that to your advantage.

I would offer a slightly different perspective. I presume all your care about is your all-in cost. You could offer a "menu" - i.e. say the owner wants $5K, you offer either $4700 and owner pays broker fee, or $4350, and you pay a one-month broker fee, or something like that.

One apartment we looked at had an owner that, for whatever reason, refused to pay the broker fee. But they were more than willing to lower the price to more than make up for it. It was probably the best deal we saw, even factoring in the broker fee.