Super sleuthing as a skill when searching for an apartment. Or how to save $6,500

“I really liked an apartment I saw but I’m not ready to shell out $6,500 for the broker fee,” the voice on the phone said in an exasperated tone.

I perked up. Not every agreement a real estate broker has with a landlord is exclusive. There are some “open listings” meaning that if the landlord rents it directly to someone the broker gets nothing. And for smaller landlords sometimes this is the norm.

I accepted the man with the exasperated tone as an AptStar client (one of the renters’ services I offer) and then instead of trying to find him a duplicate apartment – I put on my super sleuth hat.

Rent is a four-letter word and this is New York – meaning there is a lot of competition, good apartments scarce and if you want a good deal sometimes rolling up your sleeves and working outside of the nice box is a requirement.

After searching diligently through New York property files and stalking a couple of social media accounts I discovered the owner of the apartment in question was the owner of a coffee shop. One located across the street from the highly coveted apartment.

I couldn’t have my client just call the landlord directly but came up with a better, albeit a tad devious plan. By this time, I knew the owner worked behind the counter of the coffee shop and so I instructed him to go, sit at the counter, order breakfast, call a friend and complain about the difficulties of finding an apartment. Loudly.

As expected, this caught the attention of the landlord. (I said this was devious) who approached him and told him he had an apartment for rent and could show it to him immediately. He added that he had an agent who had yet to bring him any interested parties and he had just fired him. What he probably didn’t realize what that the hefty $6,500 broker fee was in fact preventing people from snapping up his perfect offering.

My client feigned surprise and followed the man to the apartment of his dreams. Based on the fact that I primed him and instructed him to have all his financial documents on hand to make this plan go 100% in his favor – he handed his paperwork to the owner on the spot and within 10 minutes they were shaking hands.

This sleuthing doesn’t always work – but in many cases it does. It’s part of what I believe every apartment hunter should have in their tool kit. It’s New York, after all – where only the strong or those who sleuth well survive.