Rapid Realty offering No Fee apartments

capt. planet · January 2008

Today I saw a billboard on Vanderbilt Ave touting Rapid Realty's "no fee" rentals units. Upon calling the number on the sign, I discovered that while the agency was not charging a fee, it was requiring "first and last month's rent" plus a month's security deposit. I'm wondering if the "last month's rent" ends up going to the broker as a fee and not to the landlord as rent.

The last step in this dance is when the landlord keeps your entire security deposit to recapture the "last month's rent" he never got.

Have others encountered this "first month, last month" rent situation? Did the landlord give you back any of your security when you left the apartment?

Just curious.

sweet tea · January 2008

i've paid first/last/security for a number of apartments, and i've always gotten my security deposit back.

the "no fee" scam at my current place consisted of the broker advertising it as no fee, but then telling us that there WAS a one month fee, but that since the rental agent was offering first month free, it was the same as no fee + first/last/security. yeah. but we like the apartment.

pitu · January 2008

I don't know anything about that company or that billboard but I think it's a pretty normal set-up.
It would be spelled out on the lease, so you're protected. The LL might be paying them directly to rent the places, or they might just want the traffic.

FWIW, I've always got my deposit back when I had a signed lease.
I did get ripped off assuming an apt from a roommate who used my deposit to him in a way you're talking about, but then I didn't have any paperwork and he was long gone.
I think now the slick method from the LL's point of view is 1st month's rent and two months security deposit, so that you don't use the deposit as last months rent.

abs276 · January 2008

i used them for my apartment in boro park, and they SUCKED. i did end up in the place, but they lied to me and they lied to the landlord, which meant that our relationship was sour the entire time i lived there. they are sleezy and i wouldn't recommend doing business with them.

abs276 · January 2008

oh, but the fee was not part of the problem. they charge the landlord, not the tenant, so it is really no-fee. they just suck for a multitude of other reasons.

anonymous · January 2008

Subject: Rapid Realty's No Fee System

First Month, Last Month, and a Security Deposit are collected in this method. The First and Last Month's Rent go directly towards your rent, while the security deposit is just like any other. As long as you do not break the terms, you will receive your security deposit back upon completion of the lease.

this method is common and used throughout NYC by many brokers and property managers. :shock:

capt. planet · January 2008

sweet tea wrote: i've paid first/last/security for a number of apartments, and i've always gotten my security deposit back.

the "no fee" scam at my current place consisted of the broker advertising it as no fee, but then telling us that there WAS a one month fee, but that since the rental agent was offering first month free, it was the same as no fee + first/last/security. yeah. but we like the apartment.

I believe this "free" first month's rent is what Alma Realty at Interfaith/Jewish uses to offer "no fee" apartments. Of course this puts the tenant in a real bind, because logically he/she would be tempted to just forget about the broker and go to Alma directly, thereby avoiding paying a broker's fee and getting a free month's rent.

All of this slickness to create the appearance of avoiding a broker's fee is just unprofessional in my opinion. It's why so many folks liken brokers to used car salesmen (or Richard Nixon, take your pick.)

gardengirl · January 2008

Rapid Realty is, without a doubt, the sleaziest operation I've ever dealt with--stay FAR away. They took my deposit for an apartment, then did not return my calls about keys etc. for three weeks...until the actual day I was supposed to move in, when they finally admitted that they had rented the apartment to someone else! I had of course not been looking for other places in the interim, so they completely screwed me--I had to pay for a moving truck and storage and crash on friends couches for a month, start the apartment hunt all over again, then pay for yet another moving truck. To cap things off, they claimed I had to talk to someone else in their office about getting my security deposit back, and that person didn't return my calls for another nine days, then claimed to have sent the check to me in the mail. It never came. Finally, finally (and I admit I was stupid for not doing this earlier) I took time off of work to go to their office and demand my money back in person--only then did I get it. For your own sakes, learn from my misery and avoid Rapid Realty at all costs!

abs276 · January 2008

if you need any more convincing that rapid realty should be avoided at all costs, this might be a cross-post for the park slope board. their offices are on 4th ave and more slopers may have utilized their "services."

capt. planet · January 2008

gardengirl wrote: Rapid Realty is, without a doubt, the sleaziest operation I've ever dealt with--stay FAR away. They took my deposit for an apartment, then did not return my calls about keys etc. for three weeks...until the actual day I was supposed to move in, when they finally admitted that they had rented the apartment to someone else! I had of course not been looking for other places in the interim, so they completely screwed me--I had to pay for a moving truck and storage and crash on friends couches for a month, start the apartment hunt all over again, then pay for yet another moving truck. To cap things off, they claimed I had to talk to someone else in their office about getting my security deposit back, and that person didn't return my calls for another nine days, then claimed to have sent the check to me in the mail. It never came. Finally, finally (and I admit I was stupid for not doing this earlier) I took time off of work to go to their office and demand my money back in person--only then did I get it. For your own sakes, learn from my misery and avoid Rapid Realty at all costs!

This story should be forwarded to the Secretary of State who licenses real estate brokers. Such agencies should be put out of business! Then maybe other agents would think twice before they treat customers like road kill.

sje · February 2008

I would echo the sentiment to stay far away from Rapid Realty! When my apt. building got sold and I had to move in a hurry a few years ago, I rented an apt from them that turned out to be a miserable dump, and had to pay a fee of $1800. It was so disgusting, dozens of waterbugs crawling everywhere, a broken sewage pipe in the basement with sewage scent wafting up through heating grates, a non-working stove for 3 months, , scary characters visiting my landlady downstairs and threatening my chihuahua, etc, that I moved out after only 7 months. Rapid was no help whatsoever during any part of that frightmare. Scam artists.

filmlover44 · February 2008