How much does an apartment broker cost?

New Yorkers often believe they are receiving a lot of valuable services from apartment brokers, and because of that, they conclude broker fees are both legitimate and well-deserved.  At RentHop, we agree that apartment brokers have been vital to the Manhattan rental market for decades, but in recent years the services have become increasingly more expensive and unnecessary.  To see why, let us enumerate all the services an excellent Manhattan broker traditionally provides:

1.)  Advice on desirable neighborhoods, telling you where you should live

2.)  Mathematical assistance, calculating what you can afford given your resources

3.)  Listings data, including building addresses and landlord contact information

4.)  Apartment filtering, showing only the units that meet your criteria

5.)  Hunting companion, holding your hand through the viewing and showing process

In exchange for these services, a typical broker will charge 15% of the gross contracted rent.  For a $2,000 studio, that amounts to $3,600 on a one-year lease, or $300 a month.  That means your effective rent has actually gone up from $2,000 to $2,300.  Of course, if you renew the lease directly with your landlord, then you won’t need to pay the broker fee in future years… but only if you really decide to stay there.  In our experience, job changes, roommate considerations, and landlord rent hikes cause many New Yorkers to change apartments much more frequently than they expect.

As we’ve mentioned on our resources section, RentHop provides information on NYC apartments and neighborhoods, affordability calculations and formulas to determine appropriate price ranges, a large list of over 1000 no-fee Manhattan apartments complete with addresses and landlord contact information, and detailed feature and amenity descriptions for each unit.  We also assist you in scheduling appointments with management companies to view apartments with our Landlord Contact feature.

Imagine paying $3,600 in broker fees every year or two for the rest of your Manhattan life, or feeling stuck in your current apartment because the broker fee for moving is too expensive!  Fortunately, we provide a completely free alternative, enabling you to avoid broker fees and happily hop between new apartments with ease.