New Yorkers Learn How To Skip APT. Brokers

New York, NY, March 23, 2006—As the peak season approaches for the Manhattan residential rental market, many apartment brokers and brokerage firms are eagerly anticipating another spike in commissions and revenue. The majority of future tenants start searching for their New York apartment from May through August, limiting apartment vacancies even more and increasing brokerage fees up to 20% of the apartment's annual rent. Many New Yorkers are frustrated, both emotionally and financially, with their prior experiences and are finding effective ways to avoid apartment brokers. In the past many New York apartment hunters would initially head straight for Craigslist.org with the hopes of finding their "no fee" apartment. Through time, New Yorkers are realizing that "no broker fee" listed apartments on Craigslist are leading them straight to the broker's front door.

"Craigslist is a New York apartment broker's heaven. It's not Craig's fault that New York brokers have found a way to manipulate his site and use it to their advantage." said Paul Salamanca, 25, who recently co-founded Skipbrokers.com, a site that aggregates apartment-vacancy information for thousands of no fee apartments.Today, more experienced New Yorkers are visiting sites such as Skipbrokers.com and without hesitation are subscribing for a small fee, such as $29.99 charged by Skipbrokers, instead of potentially being mislead into paying a broker thousands through Craigslist, a free site for apartment hunters.

"New Yorkers are getting smarter through experience and are willing to pay a small fee to deal directly with landlords. They know it's well worth it to insure a broker will never be in the picture.", said Mark Konarski, 25, a private equity firm Associate and entrepreneur who also started Skipbrokers.com.

This residential New York rental market, once dominantly controlled by apartment brokers, is starting to show signs of balance and equality as New Yorkers are learning how to find apartments on their own thanks to the increasing number of sites such as Skipbrokers.com. For apartment hunters looking for their new home, the competition can only be an advantage. This will start to lower brokerage fees and should be interesting to see the amount of success this year's peak season will provide apartment brokers.