Stop me if you heard this one “I need an apartment in a nice area, no crime, reasonable rent, you know no rowdy people, etc.” “Oh and I don’t want to be in (names of neighborhoods).” As an agent and now a broker I have never had a customer say, “I want the worse neighborhood you know of. It has to be overpriced with gang members lurking about.”
Forgive me but this is without a doubt the single most useless thing you can say to a real estate person.
Apartment In A Nice Area
First, a nice area is subjective. One person’s nice neighborhood is another person’s, “No freakin way am I living there”. I have had customers turn down neighborhoods for all kinds of reasons. The least of which was crime. Some reasons were downright prejudicial.
Fair Housing
Broker/agents know of one neighborhood. That is the ones that fit your legal criteria. You can suggest neighborhoods. We will look into those areas. It is your right to reject any neighborhood we show you. But Fair Housing laws say that we show you everything. See: The Agent Must Do As I instructed…
In case you’re thinking what difference does it make. How would the state find out? The answer is “testers”
Testing Real Estate Companies
State testers–either randomly or because of a complaint–are sent to real estate companies to see if fair housing laws are being violated. Think of testers as undercover cops, who identity you will never know.
Breaking the Fair Housing laws on discrimination is not hard to do. The intent is all that is needed to be accused of violating the law. You don’t have to actually perform a prejudicial act, just behave in a prejudicial manner.
Example of a question given to become an agent
Two couples enter a real estate office. They are greeted by the agent; one couple is greeted with a handshake the other is not. One is offered coffee the other is not. Has the agent violated Fair Housing laws?
Yes, by treating one couple differently than the other the intent or “feel” of prejudice has been committed.
So, don’t ask us to break the law, instead, exercise your right to reject what we show you.
Reasonable Rent
New York is the undisputed, most expensive, city in the country. Reasonable in your neck of the country is not reasonable here. We have people here where their “reasonable rent” is more than what some make for an entire month. Telling an agent you want something with a “reasonable rent” might as well be background noise.
Reasonable is not a number. Have you ever bought something for the cost of “reasonable?” Searching for a rental or house requires a monetary range. You need to supply the min and max of what you are willing to spend.
Hint: If you don’t know how much this is, you are not ready to search for a rental or purchase a property.
Crime
When it comes to low or no crime areas they are full because everyone is living there. Seriously as a broker/agent we cannot tell you whether an area is high crime or not. We can tell you that you can look up the crime stats.
Again, Fair Housing laws do not allow discriminating against an area or it’s inhabitants. Telling you an area is a high crime area violates the law. Not giving you listings in that area violates the law too.
Your word for today is due diligence. For the purposes of this particular article, it is your research and analysis of the area in question.
Do-Over
Let’s try this request again. Substitute the words that fit your request.
- I am looking for a rental/house, my price range is (set a range).
- It needs to be close to/away from mass transit. Taking a bus to the train is/is not okay.
- I need (specify amount of bedrooms and baths)
- It needs to be near schools or I do not want to be near schools.
- Close to shopping is/is not okay.
- The house should be (detached, semi-detached or attached)
- My take-home is (state monthly income after taxes)
- I have/do not have pets.
- There will be/will not be smoking in the apartment. (Notice I did not use the word smoker.)
- I would like the house/apartment to be in (name of borough, town, not a specific area).
Summary
These are not all the details you need to supply. If more information needed the agent will ask. Some information goes on the rental application. Some will not. See Required Rental Documents for details. Information such as detached or attached house does not go on a rental application. Items such as pets, bedrooms, etc are. Family size, marital status, etc are not. That is against the law.
Your answers to the agent’s questions show your preparedness to proceed with finding a rental apartment. It will either show that you are ready to move ahead or that you are not. As I said, this is just a start but it is much more concise than the original request. Congrats you are already ahead of the game and have taken the first step in truly working with your agent.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing stated here is legal advice. This article applies to the five boroughs of New York. All information deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Always check the real estate laws in your part of the country.
Comments, Questions, Suggestions?
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