Bob

Just straight up ask.

They won't be insulted.

They aren't your friend.

They are just in it for the money and they would have seen and heard it all before.

md95065

Absolutely - and ask before you sign anything.

Brat1

We are now in our 2nd year of renting and have used a Realtor since we started looking for a place, back in 2009. She did all the groundwork over here for us as we were still in the UK. We never payed her a penny, and I know the landlord has to pay his own realtor every time he puts the place up for rent. Just from our personal experience, we had to sign the contact to say that we were with Raveis for 6 months, which was fine, and had to provide a credit check from the UK, a letter from my husbands employer here in the States, 2 months security deposit and 1 month upfront for rent. We never had any problem and now have a great relationship with our Realtor. She has been brilliant, and I will be using her over the next couple of months again as our lease is up here in February and we won't be renewing it - long story............

Good luck, check and double check the small print and as Bob said, just ask. you'll find most people very helpful, well, that's been my experience anyway. I hope your move goes smoothly and good luck with everything. It really is worthy all the stress and worry - oh - hold on, did I say that while noticing another grey hair only kidding - enjoy!!!!!

laety

[QUOTE

Good luck, check and double check the small print and as Bob said, just ask. you'll find most people very helpful, well, that's been my experience anyway. I hope your move goes smoothly and good luck with everything. It really is worthy all the stress and worry - oh - hold on, did I say that while noticing another grey hair only kidding - enjoy!!!!! [/QUOTE]

lol thank you!!! and good luck to you too by the sound of it

Bob

The one thing that pisses me off though, realtors who don't get back to you when you call, or even worse, the muppets who fail to turn up to show you a place, even when you've confirmed...multiple times, or fail to tell you the place is gone.

I hate looking for a place. We went to see a place that wanted each person to pay $50 for a credit check and also provide bank details, down to the routing number in case of late payment. Got an email the morning after we looked at the place to say they had accepted someone else's application, so why bother show it except to scam extra credit check money, when it usually costs $20-30 a shot.

Landlords are turning out to be the biggest pain in my arse, along with crap realtors those janky landlords use.

Oh and someone please while I'm on a rant, explain to me why they feel the need to have their ugly mug on their business card and on the listings, when the photo is usually a good 20 years out of date? Just makes you wonder what other dodgy stuff they are misrepresenting to you on

If we ourselves don't find a place quickly, I will be forced to punch a realtor in the face...actually many...

Phew...that felt good

laety

lol.. well good luck Bob!

scrubbedexpat097

Michael

You didn't say whether you are planning to lease a house, condo, or an apartment. There is a difference.

Houses and Condos are normally leased through a real estate agent but larger apartment complexes usually have their own on site leasing office and/or caretaker/salesman as well an advertising budget and usually will pay very little to a real estate agent if the agent refers someone to that complex. Therefore real estate agents tend to not show complexes that have their own sales force.

Houses and condo are usually leased through real estate agents and the two agents involved (could possibly only be one) generally have an agreement to split commissions which are normally paid by the ower.

I've never used a real estate agent when trying to find a place because I was always looking for an apartment. The only time I used a real estate agent was when I left the country and wanted to lease our home during that time.

There are exceptions to that rule such as New York city where it is difficult to find an apartment without an agent. In that case, you will also likely pay the agent a finders fee (not common in most other areas).

MsElui

when we used a realtor to find a rental we didnt pay him either time. We then used him to negotiate the contract on our house build and again we didnt pay him - his fees came from the seller (or in our case the builder).

write specific questions down and email them to her. so she can answer. and ask more questions to clarify if her answers dont give you what you need. They have a different way of doing things over here and may find it difficult to pitch the answers at the UK level of knowledge. (ie they assume we undertand the way its done here).

ie.
In what circumstance will you have to pay her a fee.
If its not you who pays her.
how will the fee be determined.
what cant you do under the agreement.

etc

AdobePinon

I've never used an agent to find a rental, but I'm sure that if the landlord pays the fees, he's paying it from your future rent. Just a thought.

Oregon4now

This is just from my own personal experience as a Home owner who currently uses PMC in two states( NV & CA) I pay approx 10% of what I charge for monthly rent to the Property Management Company to manage my property on a monthly basis, this entails screening all applicants, collecting rent & making sure the landscapers are doing their jobs and the properties are kept in good condition and also making arrangements for any repairs needing to be done. Also every 4 months the agent goes and inspects the integrity of my property by doing a walk through the home. I have used a PMC many, many times myself when moving to another State and I have never heard of a Potential renter paying for any services other then the Standard $35.00 credit check fee when using a PMC, but this is only my own personal experience for the past 23 years here on the West Coast.
When the property is vacant I pay $0 to the agent until the vacancy is filled.
I wish you much luck OP, as you can probably see things do vary from State to State and coast to coast... Just go with the flow and always ask as many questions as possible. Enjoy your new move

ScousePete

It depends on the market. As Bob mentioned, in Boston it is a landlord's market and as such the realtor fee is paid by the tenant. There are many more potential renters than their are apartments. It sucks because it inflates prices. The realtor fee here is usually one month's rent. It is not a deposit, you don't get it back.

I was fortunate to have found my apartment listed by the owner so there was no realtor fee, but I am in the minority.

Michael

The same was true for my son and his wife in Brooklyn, NY which would normally require them to pay a finders fee to have an agent find an apartment since it is a landlords market and the landlord will not pay the fee to the agent. They were lucky to find their first apartment on their own and because a friend lived about two blocks away, the apartment had two bedrooms instead of one, and the neighborhood was slightly nicer (real 100 year old brownstones), my son and his wife got that apartment when their friend moved out.

All you need to do is to watch the Seinfeld episode where a nice apartment becomes available to determine what happens in New York city.

Bob

Yes, it's a bugger because you have to pay the first, the last, the deposit and any fee's up front at lease signing and that's a huge wedge of cash up front

laety

so just to conclude on this.. hubby found a really nice flat and he has now signed the lease!
in the end, they agreed (our agent and landlord agent) to take our british credit reports rather than running a US one which will come back empty. we of course also had to produce a letter to show his employment and salary
we are not paying a penny to the agent as she is paid by the landlord. Landlords seem to be very nice, they only asked for 1.5 month deposit and 1 month rent which I beleive is pretty standard. we are now looking at a way to pay the landlord the rent doing a transfer from our UK bank account so any recommendations are welcome!
Also, if anyone is moving to Newport beach area and looking for an estate agent let me know, our agent was really fantastic!
thanks again to all for your help