I currently live in a crappy apartment here in the city, mainly because I went to a company which advertises itself as no fee (not only are the buildings run down, but I've realized their monthly rent is at least a couple hundred bux a month more than the general area) and I'm wanting to move to a better place. My lease is up at the end of May, and I'll be moving with two friends, hopefully somewhere on the Upper East Side (we're looking for space, and better surroundings, but we're not married to the UES.)
My question is, does anyone have any real idea how to get a decent apartment without using a broker? It would save us about 5000 dollars, because we're planning to spend around 2000-2400 for a 2 bedroom place, and having to pay a broker fee on top of the first, last and security deposit would be a huge amount of money to give someone at once, and one I'd like to avoid, and spend on furniture.
So I've been told that rent-direct.com is a good site, with a 190 dollar fee. it sounds good, but I'm wondering if there are other avenues we can pursue in case rent-direct doesn't have what we're looking for. So, if you live in the city, and you have some methods of finding decent places other than the Times and the Voice (which I'm told are all brokers and scams, is this true?) please respond. We'd like to focus on the Upper east side, and the Upper west side, because the apartments are larger and nicer, but honestly we're open to anything if we can get out of a hefty broker fee..
Thanks in advance