
Surprise for New York Renters: No More Broker Fees - tempsy
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/nyregion/nyc-landlord-rental-broker-fees.html
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dublinben
This is much needed disruption in an inefficient market. Brokers have long
gouged renters for the "service" they offer. This also provides an opportunity
for new businesses to spring up that can undercut the traditional brokers and
assist "small building owners" who are apparently incapable of "showing
apartments and finding tenants" themselves.

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acjohnson55
Wow! The time-honored tradition of fleecing newcomers to the city has been
ended.

Broker fees are particularly awful to new arrivals, who probably are probably
going to have short tenure at their first couple apartments. A fee is more
forgivable if you can amortize it over several years.

There are some risks of how it may distort the market if fees are internalized
into market rents, but I think it's worth the risk for eliminating the huge
barrier to tenancy created by the lump sum broker payment to get a place, on
top of first month rent and security.

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8bitsrule
Breaking the endless price-gouging can only help the (largely invisible) poor
... and those who are headed that way.

Something similar is well-deserved by firms charging exorbitant interest rates
for pay-day loans:

[http://pitchforkeconomics.com/episode/the-hidden-costs-of-
ba...](http://pitchforkeconomics.com/episode/the-hidden-costs-of-banking-
while-poor-with-mehrsa-baradaran-and-cate-blackford/)

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deegles
Very happy about this. I used a broker (and paid a fee) to find an apartment
in NYC and I naively thought they would show me apartments only they had
access to. Imagine my surprise when I found out my apartment was in a no-fee
building the day I moved in...

