Rachel Realty no fee scam

i used to live in an eberhardt building. they were very good landlords FWIW and all of their listing scan be had for no fee through them directly.

iceman1996 blds owners use agents because a lot of people don't know to go through the management company. The agents probably charge more for rent because the LLs allow it. I almost rented an apartment from them but no elevators.

That is exactly my point. If their listings can be had for no fee, why are they allowing Rachel
Realty to list the their apartment at a higher price? Only someone not smart enough to do their homework would fall for such a scam. I guess Rachel Realty is banking on people's laziness or ignorance. Still seems wrong to me.

I don't know these parties. That said, I can imagine the LL says, "we'll offer the apartment with minimal advertising. If a broker wants to expend his or her time advertising it, getting people to see it, bringing people to us, we're happy to encourage that by paying the broker a "fee" out of the higher rent one of her people is willing to pay."

That isn't a scam. It's a business decision. People pay higher fees all the time for things that can be had for less money because of the convenience or for no reason at all. Gracious Home offers a particular light fixture for $925. The identical light can be found at Lighting By Gregory for $750. Is Gracious Home a "scam"? No. But some people just like shopping there more or don't care enough to comparison shop. I don't see why the situation you describe is any different.

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/rooting-out-fake-ads

Kylewest- I think your analogy would make more sense if Gracious home were selling the same fixture for 2 different prices, ie. one price to the trade and one price to the general public.

If I were Eberhart, I wouldn't want to have a tenant feel like they were screwed after they moved in and found out that they could have paid less. The broker will be long gone at that point, but the tenant's trust in the landlord will always be in question.

The whole arrangement is based on deception. I for one have called a few "no fee ads" from streeteasy, and the brokers wanted to meet me on street corners, etc because they wouldn't tell me the address of the building. The whole thing is seems very shady. In an over-regulated city like new york, I am surprised this is allowed to happen. I guess if you are in NYC real estate there is a chance you belong to the same temple as the person writing the laws, and the entitles you to alot of leniency.

I'm not sure I understand the "temple" comment, but no, I have nothing to do with NYC RE. I agree there is a whole class of bottom feeding "brokers" (I don't even think they qualify to be called that) out there--like Ardor and this place you cite. But I find they are readily identifiable by their ridiculous street corner meeting b.s. etc. I don't see how anyone but the most naive people would deal with such brokers. And the law just can't protect every person from every bad decision they are capable of making. This economy will purge most of these bottom feeders soon enough though--a sort of business world Darwinism.

As much as I cant stand the practice of using brokers for "no fee" apartments, it happens all the time and there is nothing wrong with it. In the majority of cases (such as described here) the person looking to rent is too lazy, too stupid, or just from out of town and doesnt know the way things work here. As shocking as it sounds, there actually ARE some people who are of the mindet that when its time to rent an apartment, one MUST contact a broker. To answer the OP's original question, some management companies dont advertise at all beyond their own website. A broker comes in, brings a renter to the table, and should be able to charge whatever the customer will pay! This is business afterall, and something (anything at all) is worth the exact amount of money the cusomter is willing to fork over. If the management company of a building is listed an apartment at $3k, yet some broker is able to rent it at $5k good for them.

I have no sympathy for people that dont do their homework before making a purhase/rent of any kind. Even more so when sites like SE exist, or even things like (gasp!) the NYTimes real estate section. Caveat emptor!

So, basically no one has a problem with the following scenario. Apt 3B in building X has 3 showings scheduled for today, 1 by the management company, one by broker A and one by broker B. The first tenant/mark, a white, professional who is internet savvy is quoted 1950 by the management company. The next tenant/mark an african american factory worker who saw an ad in the post is told 2250 by broker A and the third tenant/mark is a hispanic man from out of town (NJ) and he is quoted 2300. All three are considering renting the same apartment but ended up seeing it through different channels.

Is everyone OK with the black man paying more than the white man?

how do we know that the second guy is black? maybe the first guy is black and the second guy is white? or maybe the first guy is hispanic and the second guy is white and the third guy is black? maybe they're all black or all white? are you serious?

Iceman 1996 - Why are you so incredibly bitter?

uh....did iceman1996 imply that only whites are "internet savvy'?....

Shouldn't Iceman1996 also have given an example with a handicapped person, paying, say 3800$ per month.

Iceman are you kidding?? Dont attempt to put some racial slant on this, its a business transaction and you know it. To answer your question however, NO THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH BROKERS CHARGING MORE THAN THE MANAGEMENT COMPANY. The scenario you mentioned is 100% valid, and if someone pays more they are a sucker.

Iceman, what you are driving towards is "is this discrimination" which its not. Because of the fact that each person saw the apartment through different channels then nothing untoward went on.

While we are on the subject of Rachel Realty, my wife and I had a past dealing with these slimeballs. We were working with one of their agents to find a rental. We were new to the city and just ran across one of their teaser adds and ended up working with them. We made an offer on an apartment listed at 6500/mth. We offered 5500 and after numerous phone calls to try and find out where the deal stood, our agent said the owner turned it down. Fine. The VERY NEXT DAY we checked the same apartment on Streeteasy and it had just been lowered to 5500!!! We called our "agent" at 6AM to give her a piece of our mind. Her stuttering response was incoherent, as was the response from someone higher up in the agency, so we called the listing agent. As you might suspect, he was never presented the offer. What the hell?! We did the deal because we loved the apartment and RR ended up with a token commission. We have been living here for 6 months now and a few weeks ago photos of OUR apartment appeared on Streeteasy. Address given was not even close. I swear I don't know how these people stay in business. Deception may work once but it will burn you a thousand times over.

Here is my experience with Rachel Reality: I looked for a rental and worked with one of their brokers. She wanted to show me two places I already saw before. She said she will be looking for other apartments for me. The following week she called me and told me that I should give her a call if I find an apartment I would like to see, so she could accompany me. Even she had to laugh when I told her that she should be the one to call me with apartments to see. Needless to say, I never heard from her again.

For those of you who have seen RR listings, please tell me that the places show better than the photos. Please.....

ice and cc: I'm ok with the black guy paying more than the white guy, I'm also ok with the white guy paying more than the black. What I'm NOT ok with is that ice thinks the hispanic can't afford it and that cc simply ignores the hispanic. not nice

Good point uwsmom. Just take a look at the polished listings on their website. If there is an agent at RR who can match a photo to a floorplan and make the write-up bear a passing resemblance to the english language, I have yet to see it. Its really pathetic. I can't believe we actually used these idiots.

all of you are missing the point...brokers suck.
and RR is miserable...they lie in their pictures, and do nothing good for you.
and i believe they have ukranians working for them...so lets bash them for a second.
then we'll get back to bashing the rest.

i hate brokers

To all the idiots that missed the point of my analogy. It doesn't matter who pays more, or who is internet savvy. The point is why do we have laws in the first place. If it is up to me to lookout for myself, then why can't I go to a corner store and buy weed or coke. Because there are laws to protect the general population, thats why.

I can't believe you people are even allowed to use a computer. My initial point was that brokers are allowed to do whatever they want, probably for reasons that most people don't have the balls to admit.

did you hear the one about the three guys who come into the bar?

Ok. Now I think iceman is just retarded. Why do we have laws against drugs and not agents? Are you for real? For the sake of argument, the public policies enacted through the legislature addressing drugs take into account the impact on youth that drugs have, their corrosive effect on neighborhoods, the violence that some drugs induce, the physical harm some drugs cause...Whatever. The legislatures around the country think they're bad for our society. Iceman, you think a stupid RE broker is like a crack dealer? Are you on crack? You want government to be your mommy and daddy to prevent you from spending your money in dumb ways? SO DON"T USE THESE AGENTS! Who cares. This thread is dead.

i think there a multiple deceptive practices going on in the rental brokerage world. when i moved back to the city over a year ago, i spent an inordinate time on nytimes and other sites looking at rental listings. what you see over and over is that multiple brokers list the no fee apartments. many brokers are using the same photos for different listings in different locations at different prices. certainly there is bait and switch going on, in addition, to false and deceptive ads. aren't they simply trying to lure in renting clients without posting actual listings they have, either because they don't have any actual listings, or could they be trying to make sure they rep both sides and get the full commission? i think craigslist and other sites could someday make rental brokers unnecessary, like they are everywhere else in the country.

Good news about RR - many of their "rental building" listing on streeteasy (not on their website) show up with the actual building address. Other brokers show the same listings but without the address. You can google the address, find the name of the management company and call them directly. I did that once - did not end up taking the apartment, but it was fun to game the system!

again, metaphors are lost on this crowd. I'm not saying brokers are as bad as crack dealers,

forget it, some people are just too stupid

iceman, I can help you explain your position to everyone here: brokers are better than crack dealers, but they're not as good as pot dealers.

You just have to explain it clearly, that's all.

alanhart: ok, that's Hilarious
got a good laugh at that one.

crack dealers at least may give you the first hit free...you gotta pay after that though
sing it with me: PUUUUUUSHER MAN!

iceman--perhaps a little defrosting is in order?