One of my correspondents, a veteran renter, has been sending me periodic updates on his experiences in searching for his next apartment. Here’s the first of his reports, from a few weeks ago. Stay tuned for more.
A couple of interesting notes —
What’s the difference between The Shoreham, The Tides, and Aqua? Virtually nothing. Aqua has larger closets and a basketball court. Shoreham / Tides have bigger balconies. Other than that, they’re nearly identical in function, finish, and yes — price!
I had a broker hang up on me yesterday. He claimed I’d have to pay $300 over the price listed in the MLS + $700 in move-in fees because he has someone else who’s been interested in it for weeks. I asked him why, if he has someone already willing to pay that price for so long, didn’t he just give it to them? Suddenly he says, “I have another call” and *click* he hung up on me. Never got a call back.
A broker I contacted a couple of weeks ago about finding a condo to rent in Chicago MAILED me an MLS printout, which arrived the other day. She’s so behind the times that she couldn’t even fax it, let alone email it. And the only thing she mailed was the same print-out I could do from her company’s web site. Lame.
A broker I contacted a couple of weeks ago sent me an angry email yesterday because in my searches I ended up contacting another broker and she found out about it. Suddenly the studio she called me about Wednesday at 1:00 pm no longer exists and she doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
It feels like the brokers are no better than the rental services; they just have a different set of flaws.
The word from my correspondent today:
As for that one with the broker who wanted me to get into a bogus bidding war with a fictional other interested party, I just checked, and the apartment is still listed for rent on the MLS at the original price. Guess my hunch was right about there not being another person to bid against.