Rapid Realty offering No Fee apartments

capt. planet

sarahsays wrote: I used Rapid to rent out a unit in my building, and the last month rent situation isn't a scam - the reason they use the "first, last, and security" method is so that the landlord doesn't have to pay a fee upfront, the tenant doesn't have to pay a FEE to the company (it actually is their last month's rent, which they do NOT pay again), and I do not go months with an empty apartment waiting for tenants to pay a fee that they don't want to pay. Everybody wins, for the most part. It's not rocket science, people. It's actually a pretty clever way to play the game, if you ask me.

I guess I'm not a rocket scientist. Let me understand if I understand.
IF the broker's fee actually is the last month's paid by the tenant, and the tenant doesn't pay the last month's rent again, who pays the last month's rent? The landlord? So the landlord pays the broker's fee at the end of the tenant's lease by not collecting any rent for the last month? Apparently some landlords aren't rocket scientists either, as noted by the previous poster. 'Cause if you tell the tenant that he's paying the last month's rent when in fact he's paying the broker's fee, I can see how it might be a little confusing. Oh hell, it's just plain dishonest!!!

queenalijean

Subject: Am I going to get screwed?

I also rented from rapid realty, paid first last and security.....and my lease was up at the end of january. i have yet to sign another lease, but i want to stay in my apartment. the landlord dropped off the lease, but i just havent signed it again cause it has some things i need changed. anyone know what i should do so i dont loose my last months rent i paid?

capt. planet

Subject: Re: Am I going to get screwed?

queenalijean wrote: I also rented from rapid realty, paid first last and security.....and my lease was up at the end of january. i have yet to sign another lease, but i want to stay in my apartment. the landlord dropped off the lease, but i just havent signed it again cause it has some things i need changed. anyone know what i should do so i dont loose my last months rent i paid?

What! It's not "rocket science". Sorry, I couldn't resist quoting a previous poster.

queenalijean

great

anonymous

queenalijean wrote:
I also rented from rapid realty, paid first last and security.....and my lease was up at the end of january. i have yet to sign another lease, but i want to stay in my apartment. the landlord dropped off the lease, but i just havent signed it again cause it has some things i need changed. anyone know what i should do so i dont loose my last months rent i paid?


i did the no-fee thing through rapid realty in 2003 (i think?), and i just moved out of my apt. this year. i moved out of my apartment at the end of january, and did not have to pay rent for the month of january (the landlord paid it, which i guess made it "no fee" for me)... actually, i paid $185 bucks for january, since my rent had gone from $1000 to $1185 in the years that I'd lived in the apartment (obviously, the 'last month' that i paid several years ago applied, in full, only to that first year of my lease, which is understandable). so he paid for my last month of rent, and i got my security deposit back in full. i looked for another no-fee place with rapid this time around, but ended up finding a place i liked better with a broker fee.
:roll: oh well!

anyway, queenalijean, what i'm saying is that, even if you are in your apt. for years, the last-month thing should still apply (you just might have to pay the difference if your rent goes up)

alex

Post reviews of your old apartments at aptdb.org

anonymous

The only way an apartment can be a NO FEE is if the landlord/management agrees to pay the Fee. It's as simple as that.

I learned this the hard way. Rapid Realty advertised our apt. as a NO FEE. As a result they brought us significantly more prospective tenants than other legitimate brokers, and we chose one of their prospects. The tenant gave them 2 months rent and 1 month security (we only asked for one month rent and one month security). Rapid kept the additional month...we found out when their lease was up.

It is still standard to ask for one month rent and one month security. Beware if you're aked for more. It's possible, especially in owner occupied homes, but generally not.

pitu

Capt. Planet wrote: [quote=Anonymous]I actually just ran into a problem with my landlord (backstory: I worked with Rapid Realty to get my place four years ago), who said Rapid Realty didn't disclose the "no fee" thing. Guess who was wrong? My landlord. Rapid provided signed statements by my landlord, saying that he would not receive last month's rent, and that Rapid Realty would keep this as commission. My landlord's response? "oh yeah". So it might not always be the broker that's shady - sometimes it's the landlord. Ugh, I hate my landlord. So glad to be moving again. :shock:

Damn! I knew it. Rapid Realty planned to keep the "last month's rent" all along as their fee. Why do they call if "last month's rent" if it is in fact their fee? How can they call this a "no fee" apartment? This all sounds mad shifty to me.
Just by way of full disclosure, I am a broker with The Corcoran Group. Believe me, in my four years with Corcoran, I've never heard of a Corcoran broker doing the "last month's rent" is the "broker's fee" dance.
Caveat emptor!

Is there not a lease? That's the only legally binding thing - not what people say or play. If it memorializes on your lease that you paid the first and last months rent, you've paid first and last months rent and someone can't tell you after the fact that they are taking that $ as a fee.

anonymous

Subject: Rapid Realty

I tried Rapid Realty which showed me horribly, shitty apartments and tried to convince me they were amazing and in great areas and I had to be like, Uhm I am from New York I know a shitter when I see one!

Then they aggressively tried to get me to leave a deposit immediately as if this dump would "go fast!!"

They were way too aggressive. I couldn't deal.

I ended up finding an apt. by way of Craig's List and went through a lovely, laidback independent broker who had a relationship with my former management company--this all was fine. I ended up leaving Prospect Heights in August, but I am looking to move back.

That is, if anyone knows of any lovely 2 bedrooms in Prospect/Crown heights for August 1st 8)

anonymous

Take it froma landlord, rapid is a shitty company.

anonymous

I;m a landlord and some rapid realty broker tried to sell me that no fee thing. I kept pointing out that he was asking me to pay the fee. aGAIN, he explains the 3 months he collects and how I GET 2 months rent out of it, Like I am getting a great deal. But, I am paying the fee, I said.
I gave them a chance, they were lousy, i.e. forgot to tell 2 stewardesses with suitcases to lug that it was a 4th floor walk-up, didnt show up for appointments or showed up hours late. Ugg!!!!! Never again.
I advertise on craigs list, and use a reputable broker Geez its not that hard to get a good tenant.

anonymous

Subject: Landlord Satisfied with Rapid

I'm a landlord and have worked with Rapid Realty for a few years now, I have always been satisfied with the service they provide. I resisted their "no fee" (meaning I pay the fee) for a while, but, when one of my units sat empty for MONTHS, I decided to give it a shot. As a broker fee apartment, nobody was interested. When I went "no fee," I got a tenant in THREE DAYS. It's amazing how making a place no fee increases interest. I guess this method isn't for everyone, but it's actually been really successful for me.

alex

If you are the landlord who are you paying the fee to?

armchair_warrior

i don't like rr, they are a great time waster for me on the ll side. they would not show up for appointments and bring people that doesn't fit what they wanted in apartments. They never really bother to tell them the layouts or how the apartments are.

they would also bring the same people who saw my apartment through craigs list. I'm like hmm don't they tell you guys where the building is at. They are just a huge time waster for me.

I don't know if rr ever tells their clients that i charge a first and last and security and my own background checks.

so i don't know how they are going to make money but scam the potential tenants out of their money.

armchair_warrior

Carnivore wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]am I missing something? I'm reasonably certain that, unless the lease expressly states it (and most don't given the form driven culture we live in), first AND last month PLUS security is not kosher.

read your lease. don't agree to first and last month. in this state, at least, first month plus security and one month to the broker should get you through the average transaction. if you're paying any more than that, you're getting ripped off.

Sadly, first month, last month and security in addition to broker's fee is becoming quite common.

i used to not charge last month. but learn from two tenants moving out. that they had damage the apartment and well use security as last month. so after these two times i just charge last month too just to be safe. i didn't recoup any of the money. no point in small claims court etc.. waste of time.

alex

that sucks, what kind of damage?

armchair_warrior

your typical holes through walls, damage molding and skip out on previous months rent etc...

from my lack of experience i buy stories about hard on luck with bad credit scores etc..

anonymous

Alex wrote: If you are the landlord who are you paying the fee to?

sorry, months later...

in response to your question, when the tenants don't pay the fee, I (landlord) pay the fee to Rapid. I guess a lot of Landlords are probably opposed to this method, but I find that when they advertise the apartments as "no fee" I get tenants 20X faster than when they have to pay a broker fee. And its more favorable to me to not receive last month's rent (since the tenants pay first, last, and security, and then I give Rapid Realty that last month as their fee), and have good tenants for the year (and hopefully beyond the first year), than sit with my apartment open and waiting for people who will pay a fee.

taram

This company employs unprofessional, overly pushy realtors that make promises and do things behind your back. If you want a pleasant experience avoid them. It is not worth the misery.

On April 27, my husband and I looked at an apartment in Park Slope and did not like the older kitchen and bathroom. We left and Garrison called and said another couple was coming in 10 minutes & they’d surely take it. I told him our concerns and he said that the landlord would re-do the bathroom and replace the oven and floors, all reasonable requests, he called them. We came back to look and he said that the couple was inside looking and we went in and nobody was there. He lied to our faces. We should have known then to walk away.

We made a list of 11 things to change and were instructed to give a deposit and wait until the landlord agreed to our requests to submit the app and do the credit check. I was forced to fill out an application online at the office and put in my social security number. I refused because I didn’t want my credit checked. Garrison said I had to in order to submit the online app but assured me he’d wait to run my credit until we heard from the landlord. Another guy took my deposit and credit check fee and again I said I didn’t want my credit checked and Garrison said not to worry, he’d take care of it.

That night a man named Anthony called me and said he would talk to the landlord for me and asked me for my list which I'd purposely made copies of. I gave Anthony my list and he texted me the next day that the landlord would paint. I called and said he wasn’t going to do enough so we wanted to let the apartment go. Anthony said he had my deposit and credit in case we found something else. I was shocked that he ran my credit without asking me! Garrison hadn’t told him anything he’d promised. Anthony said the landlord wouldn’t have discussed a thing without my full application and credit (which Garrison never told me) and said our requests were unreasonable (the opposite of what garrison had said). Neither took responsibility for this horrible situation and both argued and yelled at me for no reason because they have nothing to do with returning deposits anyway.

I told my story to Sarah and Todd on May 10 when I picked up my deposit, minus the credit check fee, who were very apologetic. She was shocked that they’d promised not to run my credit and did it behind my back. She and Todd said that the realtor I dealt with was not representative of the company. She said she’d call me back that afternoon after talking to the broker, Val. She didn’t give me a number to call and never called me. I called May 12 and she started to say that the broker wasn’t on my side but the call was dropped and she hasn’t called me back and is not answering my calls.

boygabriel

Wow, seems like a pretty terrible company.

capt. planet

This reminds me of a horrific story I read about RR. One of the local television stations caught them in a clear lie, moving somebody into an apartment that was not habitable in any sense of the word. The owner of RR appeared on the TV, abjectly apologetic about the mistake and repaid all of the rent and fees to the tenant. He said he had no idea how such a thing could happen at RR.

I think we do.

But hey, I'm a real estate broker myself so what do I know.

whynot_31

Wait.

Don't all Members of a profession have identical opinions and business practices?

(sarcasm)

althea

This is EXACTLY how I was scammed by Rapid Realty.

I rented an apartment from them and paid 1st last and security. As the end of my stay I was unable to get my security back. The landlord (Mr. Martin on Franklin Ave) claimed that I had not paid my "last month" even though it was clearly written out in the lease that I had.

I took him to small claims court and he did not show up, currently there is a claim against him for my security deposit (which he kept in lieu of last months rent) and I've been told I would probably never see it.

Apparently if he ever tries to sell the business it may come up.

Oh, and I lived on franklin, between lincoln and st johns. Rapid Realty told me it was Prospect Heights when I moved in. In 2008.

I consider them absolute scum of the earth.

edit: Just had to add that when I moved in I had no running water, no flushing toilet no heat and no functioning stove. It took 24 hours to have a flushing toilet, a week for the shower, 4 month for the stove and during my entire year there I never had functional heat.

Makes me so mad to this day just thinking about it.

boygabriel

jeez that's terrible.

pragmaticguy

Althea said:

This is EXACTLY how I was scammed by Rapid Realty.

I rented an apartment from them and paid 1st last and security. As the end of my stay I was unable to get my security back. The landlord (Mr. Martin on Franklin Ave) claimed that I had not paid my "last month" even though it was clearly written out in the lease that I had.

I took him to small claims court and he did not show up, currently there is a claim against him for my security deposit (which he kept in lieu of last months rent) and I've been told I would probably never see it.

Apparently if he ever tries to sell the business it may come up.

Oh, and I lived on franklin, between lincoln and st johns. Rapid Realty told me it was Prospect Heights when I moved in. In 2008.

I consider them absolute scum of the earth.

edit: Just had to add that when I moved in I had no running water, no flushing toilet no heat and no functioning stove. It took 24 hours to have a flushing toilet, a week for the shower, 4 month for the stove and during my entire year there I never had functional heat.

Makes me so mad to this day just thinking about it.

And yet you still paid your rent? Seems pretty silly to continue to do that. The only way to get anything done is to hit the landlord in the pocketbook. If he took you to court you'd surely win and no judge would make you pay the rent.

Oh...in all these posts no one seems to mention that it's New York City law that your security deposit MUST be put in a separate, interest bearing account and that interest must be sent to you yearly. They can deduct an administrative fee but that must be shown in a breakdown.

cool the kid

Althea said:

edit: Just had to add that when I moved in I had no running water, no flushing toilet no heat and no functioning stove. It took 24 hours to have a flushing toilet, a week for the shower, 4 month for the stove and during my entire year there I never had functional heat.

Makes me so mad to this day just thinking about it.

Caveat emptor of course, I'm certain this was your first NYC apt. But for any newbies reading the thread... if you check out an apt and it doesn't have water or gas... don't walk away, RUN. If a landlord is so lazy they won't even get the basics together to rent the apt, what makes you think they will take care of a paying tenant?

Apt hunting in NYC is fucking hell. Especially if you don't know every granule of the neighborhoods you're moving into (or the neighborhoods in general). It really sucks. And because neighborhoods change so quickly it's hard to even give advice, unless you're in the mix.

thelambchop

and you might consider googling your potential landlord first! for example, a search on elcorno martin, aka mr. martin on franklin ave, would today reveal this:

http://brooklynian.com/forum/prospect-heights/elcorno-martin

buyer beware, indeed!

althea

It was my first apartment, and I had no idea what 311 was or that I had the option to not pay my rent. When the guy from Rapid Realty walked me through the place he promised me that the shower and toilet would be "renovated" and working great when I moved in the following week. I was down to the wire on time and I needed to be close to a train.

I had no earthly clue what it would be like to live above a chinese takeout AND a jerk chicken place. Let's just say that that I was not in short supply of wildlife.

I will say this. In the year I lived there I learned a tremendous amount about Brooklyn, about NYC and about actual locations. Now, when any of my friends are looking to rent they come to me asking about neighborhoods etc.

I wouldn't wish what I went through on anyone, but I can say it was a sort of rite of passage for me. I will never ever live in a shithole again.

And yes, Rapid Realty is the scum of the earth.

jr5597

Hmm, we found our apt through RR. The first deal we had with them was shady, since they said we could place a deposit to "hold" a unit in a building and then we found out through the mgmt company of that building that we never had a unit reserved and that the unit wouldn't be available for months. However, the agent did find us a place that day - they had worked with the landlord before and we saw the building before anyone else and took it. I'm starting to worry if we'll ever get our deposit back...but we do have it all in writing on the lease, so legally we're in the right, I'd imagine?

boygabriel

If it's all in writing then at least you have the law on your side. Won't prevent the landlord from being a jerk, but...