From the March issue: As New York City home-seekers well know, vacancy is low and rents are rapidly rising from their financial-crisis depths, while many landlords are no longer offering the generous concessions of the past few years. Ironically, this is actually bad news for rental brokers, some industry insiders say.
Today’s rapidly improving rental market has caused some customers to balk at higher rents and disappearing OPs, or “owner paid” broker commissions, sources said, although not all renters fall into this category, particularly at the higher end. As apartment hunters look to save money, fewer of them are enlisting rental brokers to help find them homes. [more]