etiquette w/ broker

Please note that this is for a rental in the Financial District.

Is the broker representing you or the apartment? If the latter, another broker isn't going to do much for you other than show you apartments they are trying to puch. If the former, switch brokers. If you really like the place and are willing to pay the ask, assuming it hasn't already rented, reach back out to the broker and tell them you want the place at the current ask. Plenty to choose from in FiDi right now though, and if you did comp analysis, go to one of the comps.

The broker is representing the apartment owner. I have been offered the exact apartment by 2 different brokers through my search that is focused on the same building.

So see what the second broker who is still talking to you can swing. If you really love the building, you may end up paying the ask. Not quite as easy to negotiate as some on here would have you think. That said, if you found comps that are 20% below, then why not rent one of those?

Keep in mind that if you bring an additional broker into the mix you may have to pony up more in brokers' fees.

This broker is not acting in a professional manner. Sure, your offer may be far lower than the owner is willing to take, but these days any offer is worth considering. He should have the courtesy to call you back even if they've gone with another offer. Unfortunately, you are stuck with this broker if he's the owner's rep.

Don't let this standoff push you to offer full ask, though. No reason to have to pay ask in this climate.

I probably will look into the 2nd broker option to see if he is responsive to any negotiation off the list price. Some of the comps that i'm using as benchmarks are properties that have been rented, but I probably will go with one that is available. However, as you know, it is not always a 100% exact apples-to-apples to comparison*, but I balanced out the pros/cons. It's just that I prefer the particular pros/cons of the apartment in question.

*The apple-to-apple comparison I have made is based on streeteasy "listings in contract". What is the accuracy of this data?

The listings-in-contract data won't necessarily show the final price.

Not really sure how a second broker would help. He'll still have to go through that seller's broker.

Thanks for the feedback - i've initiated closing talks on a different property now. I guess it is not completely clear to me if an owner has a singular broker or if there is a listing of properties that many parties have access to. Seems to be lots of variance of middleman involvement from case to case.

20 Pine?

gleeclub - bingo

jason: Give me a call me, I love doing detective work on listings!

Jason, most of these brokers all just tap into the same common listings. Very few have anything exclusive or special. They try to perpetuate these lies that they are special because deceiving you is how they stay in business. There are probably more than 2 brokers who can show you that same apartment. It doesn't matter what rental broker you speak with and you certainly don't have to give your loyalty to any of these people. If one of them doesn't respond for one day, then go to somebody else. It's an incredibly sleazy business. Protect yourself and don't worry about the brokers.

Next time, bring that monkey that ate the woman's face in Connecticut. Tell the broker that if she doesn't get on the stick, you'll feed HER to the monkey.

Before some of you get all upset at that last comment, let me state the obvious: It's all a big bluff (no self-respecting monkey would eat a real estate broker).

I asked another broker if they could receive an offer from me. They said to go back to the original broker. I probably won't - i'm willing to accept that there are just some properties that are caught up in a broker system that i'm not willing to work with (and vice versa).

By the way, the 2nd broker lists the property at exactly 100 sq. ft. less than the original broker. This was apparent to me from the floor plan (it listed the dimensions of the two biggest rooms).

Jason, I just moved into a 20 Pine rental and I dealt with a very good Elliman broker who has quite a few of the listings in the building plus he's dealing with some of the developer's units. There are deals here and they are considerably better than what's listed on Streeteasy. My deal was quite a bit lower than 20% off the current ask and I wasn't shy about offering it and the broker figured out a way to make it work, eventually. I gave him my bottom line offer and he worked it with the owner for about 1 month before the owner accepted. Many owners and the developer are bleeding cash and eventually they'll figure out taking 20% less now is better than keeping the unit vacant for months on end in a declining market. And there are still many vacant units here. Don't rely on Streeteasy listing data for 20 Pine, it's dated.

I can point you to this broker (I told him upfront to forget about broker fees from me, it wasn't an issue) plus give you all the information you want on pricing for 2 and 3 BRs, I looked at about 15 of them. ssgoldman at gmail dot com.

I'm sure glad we got off the monkey joke - that's all people talk about on this site anymore -- monkeys, monkeys, monkeys...

Thanks for the feedback. The "takeaway" that I got from this thread is that brokers probably do not deserve any loyalty. :)

Out of curiosity, what do you think of the broker behavior described in Goldie's post above? Broker helps renter find a deal for over 20% off asking price after a month of negotiations. Costs renter nothing. I find it interesting that after this depiction of an actual done deal, jason420's "takeaway" is that brokers do not deserve any loyalty.

I would say Goldie's broker did exactly what this board has been clamoring for. Should we feed this broker to the monkey?

"Should we feed this broker to the monkey?"

YES! YES! FEED HER TO THE MONKEY! FEED HER TO THE MONKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!

welll???

oh for christ sakes! just feed her to the fcuking monkey already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's a him, Dwayne Goodall

Who CARES what gender the broker is, just as long as we get to see the monkey eat him!!

Bump!

Look, I'm not letting this thread fade away until i get to see someone FEED THE REALT-WHORE TO THE MONKEY!!!

This monkey:

http://gawker.com/5155341/attention-humans-chimps-are-vicious-nose+eating-beasts

FINALLY, here is a picture of a chimp giving a realtor what's coming to him (not for the faint-hearted)

http://tinyurl.com/aaqrts

Thats hilarious

jason420: "is it completely ethical to work with another broker at this point?"

Are you serious? It is absolutely, 100% ethical to work with another broker. I cannot think of any other industry where it is permissible to ignore a client for over a week.

Seriously, don't even think twice about it. Within a few months, this broker and thousands like him will be begging for work.

"Within a few months, this broker and thousands like him will be begging for work."

They are already doing that. They ping-pong back and forth between whatever is hot, whatever will allow them to not have to show up 9AM and have to listen to other people, like 99% of the rest of the world has to. 10 years ago they were day-traders. Then dot-commers. Then Realt-whores. In between, when things were slow, the guys were car salesmen and the ladies were secretary's (the fugly ones) or escorts (the attractive ones).

Realtors are a disgraceful lot, on the whole.

Nobody liked my "Dwayne Goodall" line???

Loved loved loved it, Jason!

can we please have more about the monkey?

wanderer - i'd rather keep it t(r)opical to the site - let's discuss mortgage prime(r)ates

wanderer said "can we please have more about the monkey?"

YES, indeed we can! Here's a little story about the real estate monkey:

Once upon a time, real estate in New York, and globally, was booming. A giant even monkey, named Realt-whore, stalked the city. Realt-whore did whatever he wanted, pooped all over everything, showed up at closings unprepared, you name it. Here is a picture of what realt-whore looked like:

http://tinyurl.com/3757kd

But then, a funny thing happened. Raalt-whore screwed so many of his customers that eventually the economy collapsed. Then, realtor had much less food to eat and he shrunk in size. Instead of beating his chest and saying "BUY NOW OR BE FOREVER PRICED OUT!" and "PAY ME SIX PERCENT NOW!", realt-whore meekly squeeked "Will suck dikc for lunch money".

He is a picture of realt-whore after the crash: http://tinyurl.com/dyh8ud

Moral of the story: Just because HE is a baboon, don't let your realtor make a monkey out of YOU!

Third para, first sentence should say giant EVIL monkey. Not "even" monkey.

I will not see, hear, or speak on this thread.

the monkey doesn't like it when you patronize him...