Hiring an Apartment Locator

I've had some people ask me about our service and what an apartment locator does so I thought that I would spend some time explaining the business.

Apartment locators (aka apartment finders) much like buyer's brokers who represent buyers in the sale of a condo/house/multi-family building/etc, represent renters in the rental transaction. They are normally real estate agents or brokers and they have all of the same qualifications as your typical sales agent.

Their first duty is to help renters find an apartment that fit their needs. They should start this process by discussing with you what you are looking for and giving their input on realities of rental prices in their respective market. Once you find a place to live with them, they should help you negotiate any aspect of the deal. For instance, do you want to pay less in rent, have the landlord repair anything or maybe have them take care of the broker fee? Since the locator represents you, and only you, in your transaction they can do this from an unbias standpoint. If you were working with a traditional real estate agency in Boston they would normally be what we call listing brokers, and it's likely that someone in their office will have an agreement with the landlord that gives them the fiduciary duty to get them the best tenant and on the best possible terms for the landlord. If you can get a locator who is on your side without these fiduciary duties to landlords then this will be to your advantage in the negotiating process (if applicable).

What's even better is that locators normally don't charge anything for their services in addition to what you would pay if you went direct to a listing broker. They are generally paid by the listing broker, management company, or luxury building that you rent through, regardless of who pays the brokerage fee you or the landlord. This is important to note because the sole difference between a locator and a buyer's agent (besides the type of transactions) is the fact that occasionally the tenant will have to pay the commission, whereas in sales the seller always pays it. This doesn't mean you are paying extra for your locator that you've hired though, because even if you had gone direct you would have paid the same commission. With a locator they split that commission with the listing agent, and in the case of myCityApartment.com in Boston you will actually be paid up to $500, which you wouldn't have gotten otherwise! So to sum this up, you get someone in your corner to help you negotiate and search for apartments who is well versed in the process and the areas that you're looking in, and you don't have to pay for this service.

For those of you in markets other than Boston, rest assured we will reach your city soon with our service and amazing reward program.