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Moving anywhere in New York City is expensive—movers, first and last month’s rent, security and a broker’s fee add up—so any chance to save a buck is major.
If you don’t know, a broker’s fee is a commission the broker earns getting you in an apartment. Usually renters pay it when they hire a broker to help them find a spot, but sometimes renters have to pay a broker fee when the landlord hires the broker. Frustratingly, landlords are not required to pay the fee and can just pass that cost onto the renter.
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If you want to avoid that, there are certain neighborhoods in NYC where you’re more likely to find a no-fee apartment, meaning you can forego the broker’s fee, which can range anywhere from one month’s rent to 15% of the annual rent, according to StreetEasy.
The top five places to find no-fee apartments can be found across the boroughs in the Mott Haven in the Bronx, Downtown Brooklyn, Hudson Yards and the Financial District in Manhattan and Jamaica, Queens. These spots have the biggest share of rentals without that broker’s fee.
While these neighborhoods have drastically different median asking rents, they largely don’t have apartment listings that require broker fees. Other neighborhoods like this include Brooklyn neighborhoods like Flatbush, Ocean Hill, Bushwick, Clinton Hill and Stuyvesant Heights.
That being said, the amount of no-fee listings changes depending on the time of the year, according to StreetEasy. Usually renters have less luck finding no-fee apartments in June and July, but come December and January, about 60% of the site’s listings are no-fee.
Take a look at the graphs below to see no-fee apartments broken down by average median rent.
