4/28/2017
Thinking of renting an apartment? These days, you have a lot of tools at your disposal to help you find your dream home. Real estate-specific Web sites such as Street Easy, Zillow, and Trulia get you in touch with real estate agents and landlords so you can make four or five appointments with four or five agents/landlords to see four or five different apartments on the day you’re out looking. Such a scattershot approach may work for you, or it may not.
Having meetings set up with lots of different people can cause a time crunch for you that could compromise your search. It can take just one late train, one clogged roadway to back up your whole afternoon, cause you to run ragged from late appointment to late appointment, cutting down on the time you get to see each apartment or perhaps missing out on a showing because the next agent has another appointment and you’ve been held up so long she can’t take you out.
Also, you should be aware that most of the major Web sites allow only exclusive listings to be posted. Many landlords refuse to give a listing to one agent exclusively, giving out what’s referred to as an open listing to a number of brokers. This means that there are many great apartments perfect for you that you won’t see listed on the real estate rental sites.
The best way to find an apartment is to find an agent you trust that you will work with exclusively. Most people, probably including you, are more comfortable working with someone they feel is interested in them and is working in their interest. That’s a relationship that is easier to establish if you’re working with one agent showing you many apartments versus many agents showing you one apartment each, often one that doesn’t come close to suiting your needs. And agents working with different agencies should be willing to open their listings to you and your agent, so there’s no need to worry that you might get shut out of seeing a given apartment.
An agent who has been in apartments with you knows what you like and don’t like, knows what you consider to be an adequate-size bedroom, knows what features and amenities are important to you, and can preview lots of apartments, winnowing availabilities down to those she’ll know you’ll appreciate seeing. Touring a neighborhood and seeing four or five apartments with a single agent, with no time constraints, is a much more relaxed way to look at apartments than rushing from appointment to appointment. In addition, after the first day you’ll know that the apartments the agent has lined up for you to see will be of a size, layout, and fit and finish that you will be happy to consider.
Scattershot, by definition, is broad, even wild, and unfocused. It’s no way to search for anything, but especially not for a home for you and your family. Focus on finding a good real estate agent, one who will focus on you and your needs and who will guide you purposefully to an apartment you’ll love to live in.
Brownstone Real Estate LLC. is committed to the Fair Housing Act under the New York State Human Rights Law. To learn more about it, please click here.
