The temperature soared to almost 90 yesterday
/The temperature soared to almost 90 in New York City yesterday and while I was tempted to take a couple of hours off and head to Central Park I was on the phone fielding requests for my AptStar Program.
I spoke with a man who has rented 8 times before. So he's not new to the rental scene in the city. Except that he still doesn't understand how landlords and management companies select a prospective new tenant. "I've paid my rent on time and I work freelance, so I don't have a typical 9 to 5 job and I've been rejected twice," he lamented.
For over one month he has chased brokers and while some have shown him apartments that he likes he isn't any closer to signing a lease or even getting the green light from a landlord.
And this is why I don't like brokers. They work the numbers. So the more people they show a specific apartment to and the more money they can collect in application fees, the more money they make. Someone is going to get accepted. They don't care if that someone isn't you. And more to the point of this particular situation no one sat this man down and told him specifically what he had to do to get approved.
I felt like I had to rescue him from chasing his tail and getting nothing accomplished.
His initial goal was to rent an apartment and move in by June 1st -- which is now really out of the question. The good apartments are usually gone 30 days before the move-in date. And then they dwindle away as the month moves on.
He did what more and more people who come to me late do: he told me he will extend his lease for another month and will do a July 1st move-in because he needed a reliable and trusted source.
That's a terrific compliment and I get it all the time, but why oh why didn't he reach out to me last month? I don't think anyone knows that finding the right space means you have to present yourself on paper in a way the people who work the front lines at the landlord or the management office can understand. If it's too difficult, they will move on to another application, to another applicant, and you're left standing there, like someone standing alone at a party, trying to figure out why no one's asked you to dance.
So while the sun beaconed to me and the park is only a couple of steps away, I was busy helping the clients I already have, trying to figure out who to accept into my AptStar Program, and who to politely turn down.
One woman asked me for a one bedroom apartment in the West Village priced no higher than $2,500. "That doesn't exist, I told her. A studio, yes, a one bedroom, no."
"But I've seen ads online at this price!" she insisted.
And that is when I had to tell her that most online ads aren't real. She didn't seem to believe me and so I wished her luck and just said no. That was an easy pass for me. I can't work with wishful thinking.
What I do is highly personal. I become friends with the people I work with. And I want my experience with my clients to be good throughout the process. So weeding out the potentially difficult clients from the people, like the man who simply just doesn't know how to present himself on paper, is the most important step from my perspective.
Today is going to be another sunny, almost 90-degree day, and it's Friday!
Enjoy the day people -- and if you're apartment hunting, please please please know the market and be kind to yourself.
Love,
Kirby