Easiest Way to Tell The Best Rental Websites
While there are probably a hundred NYC rental websites out there, only a few are worth your time. In fact, there is one criteria in particular which will help you locate the best rental websites in NYC: Show the exact address for every apartment! (By the way, here is a list of the top 6 rental websites if you’re curious)
All Rental Websites Should Display the Exact Address for all Properties
This criteria is the requirement that all apartments listed on the website publicly display the exact address. Some rental websites included in our “top 6” don’t even have this as a basic requirement, which is a shame really.
NOTE: To search for NYC apartments go to frele.com (free service). Or, click for more rental tips
A few of these websites which do NOT display the exact address claim that “privacy” is the reason why they won’t show the complete address. But this is usually not true.
If you look at the top brokerage firms in NYC – such as Brown Harris Stevens, Compass Real Estate, Corcoran Group, and Douglas Elliman – you will notice that they all have the exact address on full display. If anything, brokers have strong incentives to protect the privacy of their clients, but yet they have no problem displaying the exact address. The reason is because “privacy” is usually not a real concern.
So what’s the deal?
Why some rental websites don’t show the exact address
The main reason why most rental websites won’t show you the exact address is because of many of these apartments are “open listings“. Unlike an “exclusive listing” which are advertised by just one broker, an “open listing” means that there could be dozens (even hundreds) of brokers advertising the same property.
The reason agents would want to advertise an open listing is so that they can get you as the “lead”. Hopefully the thinking goes, they will show you a bunch of other apartments. In other words, agents mostly advertise open listings because they want you to reach out to them so they can show you other properties. This is why so many of these properties you see listed are no longer available by the time you contact the broker.
Even worse, sometimes these properties were never available to begin with. Believe it or not, some brokers still employ the old “bait and switch” tactic so they can show you other (usually more expensive) apartments.
You should spend most of your time searching on rental websites that require the exact address to be publicly displayed for every property. Of course, on Frele (and our sister site Leasebreak) we require the exact property to be displayed for every single apartment. No exceptions.
For more NYC rental tips, please go to frele.com/learn.
This article was written by:
Phil Horigan, NYC Real Estate Veteran
Founder, Frēlē, the free and honest NYC rental marketplace
Producer, Phil’s NYC Rental Tips [YouTube Channel]
Blogger: flowfreely.com
Instagram: @philiphorigan
Phil has been a licensed NYC real estate agent since 2004 working for some of the top real estate brokerage firms in the industry. He founded Leasebreak.com in 2013, and Frēlē in 2017. Frēlē and Leasebreak are free and transparent rental marketplaces to search for or post apartments for rent in NYC
Go to frele.com to search for NYC apartments (free service).