Dealing with a broker when you can't find an apartment

[szycag]

This is pretty much the only forum I frequent, and it seems weird asking OMG REAL LIFE questions on a video game forum, but I'm desperate so here goes.

My fiancee got a job at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, but we're having an impossible time finding a place to rent out there through the usual methods online. It's a tiny college town surrounded by a bunch of little rural townships, state parks and game lands. Most of the Craigslist entries and local paper listings are put up by people who either aren't too savvy about uploading pictures to their listings and emails, or don't really want to show their cards, or I guess a mixture of the two. Sites like rent.com and Hotpads bring up barely anything.

Anyways she thinks I should talk to a broker since it's been so tough, and I don't know if we're that desperate yet, but I don't really know what the hell I'm doing. The person would find a place for us, make sure it's legit, but then we'd have to pay 15-20% of what the rent is to them each month, something like that? Is it worth it? I mean I'm finally starting to see some results, but dealing through just classifieds is risky. What makes all this worse is the terms of the probation for her bullshit DUI means that she has to provide a permanent address of where she'll be moving, before she can move. I don't know how we're supposed to do that unless we make two 2000 mile trips there and back so we can actually see the place first, otherwise we'll just have to blindly put down the deposit on a place based on pictures. So is the broker thing the best option considering all that? I feel like there should be some other option with the probation thing too. I even opened up a PO Box for us there but that wasn't acceptable. Is there any legal leeway? Her job starts at the end of August and we don't have a lot of time, which I think will make it even tougher on broker fees.

[incognoscente]

If you don't have any friends in the area, have your fiancée ask her future boss/HR/coworkers for suggestions. Might have to play some phone tag and get redirected a bit, but someone's bound to have some advice. You'll make someone feel useful, get a cogent suggestion, and avoid broker fees (though you may owe someone a nice lunch).

And if you're gonna tell me that she's already tried that, then she must be lacking in social graces or something. So what you're gonna do is put on your best pair of silk boxer shorts, drink a single of scotch, keep your voice rounded and smooth, and charm the pants off those people in Bloomsburg. You'll find what you're looking for. I can feel it.

[CMoon]

Zillow.com

Although I have had friends find nice houses to rent through an agent, so I suppose that could work.

[szycag]

I went ahead and called the number for the broker that my fiancee gave me. He said they have absolutely nothing out there right now. Even in surrounding areas. It's so fucked.

I talked to a lady for 20 minutes that is renting a ranch house that's like 30 minutes away. It would be $825 a month, utilities covered... doable, but kind of a stretch. For one it's the country life, I'd have to mow the lawn on a riding mower... I've never had a lawn. At least they said they'd throw that in . Also there's a coal stoker furnace in the basement. No fuckin idea man. It's also kind of expensive and I can't tell what that drive would be like. Didn't think I'd be going from a highrise to country life.

[greg]

We moved across town earlier this year, and my wife and I used an apartment locator. We told her the area we wanted and the price we could afford, and she picked a decent place. It's pretty quiet, so I'm not complaining. We didn't pay her anything; the apartment paid her a locating bonus. It works a little like a travel agent in that respect.

[GaijinPunch]

Holy shit... incognoscente is alive!

I've always found it's best to just go and use a locator. They can usually find you a place quickly. Standard leases in the US are 6 months, so if the place sucks, just move 6 months later. Can't be that bad.

[Vexorg]

I went ahead and called the number for the broker that my fiancee gave me. He said they have absolutely nothing out there right now. Even in surrounding areas. It's so fucked.

I talked to a lady for 20 minutes that is renting a ranch house that's like 30 minutes away. It would be $825 a month, utilities covered... doable, but kind of a stretch. For one it's the country life, I'd have to mow the lawn on a riding mower... I've never had a lawn. At least they said they'd throw that in . Also there's a coal stoker furnace in the basement. No fuckin idea man. It's also kind of expensive and I can't tell what that drive would be like. Didn't think I'd be going from a highrise to country life.

Man, thats freakin' cheap compared to what yu can find around here. I'm paying nearly twice that for a 1 bedroom apartment, but it's an 8th floor place with a cool view, nice amenities and a 10 minute walk to work every day. If it was me I would probably want to find something closer, but I could probably get used to that kind of place if th circumstances warranted it. besides, riding lawnmowers can be kind of fun...

[xbl0x180]

I went ahead and called the number for the broker that my fiancee gave me. He said they have absolutely nothing out there right now. Even in surrounding areas. It's so fucked.

I talked to a lady for 20 minutes that is renting a ranch house that's like 30 minutes away. It would be $825 a month, utilities covered... doable, but kind of a stretch. For one it's the country life, I'd have to mow the lawn on a riding mower... I've never had a lawn. At least they said they'd throw that in . Also there's a coal stoker furnace in the basement. No fuckin idea man. It's also kind of expensive and I can't tell what that drive would be like. Didn't think I'd be going from a highrise to country life.

Man, thats freakin' cheap compared to what yu can find around here. I'm paying nearly twice that for a 1 bedroom apartment, but it's an 8th floor place with a cool view, nice amenities and a 10 minute walk to work every day. If it was me I would probably want to find something closer, but I could probably get used to that kind of place if th circumstances warranted it. besides, riding lawnmowers can be kind of fun...

Hahaha. 825 is the rent for a room in a townhouse or condo around here - and that's considered cheap!

Personally, I'd take a week off and fly over there to look for places by computer, through newspapers, through local recycler magazines, apartment magazines, driving around the neighborhood, etc. It works for me because I'd become familiar with different parts of town and it'd force me to familiarise myself with the whole place. At the end of the week, I'd have a signed lease or, preferrably, a month-to-month agreement. I would never go through a broker.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I went ahead and called the number for the broker that my fiancee gave me. He said they have absolutely nothing out there right now. Even in surrounding areas. It's so fucked.

I talked to a lady for 20 minutes that is renting a ranch house that's like 30 minutes away. It would be $825 a month, utilities covered... doable, but kind of a stretch. For one it's the country life, I'd have to mow the lawn on a riding mower... I've never had a lawn. At least they said they'd throw that in . Also there's a coal stoker furnace in the basement. No fuckin idea man. It's also kind of expensive and I can't tell what that drive would be like. Didn't think I'd be going from a highrise to country life.

Man, thats freakin' cheap compared to what yu can find around here. I'm paying nearly twice that for a 1 bedroom apartment, but it's an 8th floor place with a cool view, nice amenities and a 10 minute walk to work every day. If it was me I would probably want to find something closer, but I could probably get used to that kind of place if th circumstances warranted it. besides, riding lawnmowers can be kind of fun...

Hahaha. 825 is the rent for a room in a townhouse or condo around here - and that's considered cheap!

Personally, I'd take a week off and fly over there to look for places by computer, through newspapers, through local recycler magazines, apartment magazines, driving around the neighborhood, etc. It works for me because I'd become familiar with different parts of town and it'd force me to familiarise myself with the whole place. At the end of the week, I'd have a signed lease or, preferrably, a month-to-month agreement. I would never go through a broker.

So that's the el-cheapo rates for down there in Southern Cali? You should see the going rates in the Bay Area or the Central Valley areas.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Vexorg]

Here's a Blog that documents some of the more ridiculous excesses of the Bay area housing market
http://www.burbed.com/

Here's a particular pre housing crash example: $419,900 for a <1000 square foot place that that looks straight out of a warzone:
http://www.burbed.com/2007/03/26/afford ... you-decide

I've been told before that for what I'm paying in rent for my 1-bedroom place near Seattle I could rent a 5 bedroom, 2000+ square foot place in any one of a number of Midwestern cities though.

[xbl0x180]

Hahaha. 825 is the rent for a room in a townhouse or condo around here - and that's considered cheap!

Personally, I'd take a week off and fly over there to look for places by computer, through newspapers, through local recycler magazines, apartment magazines, driving around the neighborhood, etc. It works for me because I'd become familiar with different parts of town and it'd force me to familiarise myself with the whole place. At the end of the week, I'd have a signed lease or, preferrably, a month-to-month agreement. I would never go through a broker.

So that's the el-cheapo rates for down there in Southern Cali? You should see the going rates in the Bay Area or the Central Valley areas.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Yeah, but you get an awersome Bay Area lifestyle with single people and all kinds of s**t to do every day. Here in South OC, it is a suburban wasteland where everything closes at 9 or 10 p.m. at the latest. I often quip that I live in a sort of modern-day Wuthering Heights, away from people and civilisation. The silence here is deafening

Here's a Blog that documents some of the more ridiculous excesses of the Bay area housing market
http://www.burbed.com/

Here's a particular pre housing crash example: $419,900 for a <1000 square foot place that that looks straight out of a warzone:
http://www.burbed.com/2007/03/26/afford ... you-decide

I've been told before that for what I'm paying in rent for my 1-bedroom place near Seattle I could rent a 5 bedroom, 2000+ square foot place in any one of a number of Midwestern cities though.

Does this 5 bdr., 2K sq. ft. place also come with a job that pays the same as one would in Seattle? Wages greatly differ from city to city, county to county, and state to state. What good would it do find such a large house in some podunk town that has no jobs or jobs that pay slave wages?

It's weird, but builders complain about the slowdown in construction. However, whenever they do build something it's some garish, large mcmansion, built with the cheapest of materials in the smallest of plots, and priced as if there was nothing wrong with the economy. Seriously, I was looking at a r/e magazine a few weeks ago and there's a set of houses for sale in Corona, Riverside that are going for half a mill. HaAHahAhAHAHhaa What the f*** would anyone be paying such crazy prices in one of the worst r/e markets in the nation (not to mention a high unemployment rate)? These dolts are living in an alternate reality.

http://www.mlslistingpoint.com/realtor/ ... num_list=4