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Apartment Search Frequently Asked Questions The most frequently asked questions about our NY Apartment and New Jersey Apartment rental service taken from a poll of 400 customers.
USING RDNY.COM...
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| 1. How does RDNY.com work? |
Answer: It's very simple. We give you all of the tools and resources you need to go out and
find a terrific apartment without having to pay the huge broker's fees. When you subscribe to RDNY.com, a custom search profile is created for you, indicating the areas you would like to live in,
the maximum price you would consider paying for an apartment, and the apartment size you want. When you log in to the website, you will be able to view detailed information about all the apartments
available to you that match your search criteria.
When you find apartments that are of interest to you, you'll call the number on the listing to make an appointment to see the apartment. If you like it, you will have all of the information you need
on the listing to make an application for the apartment.
Naturally, while you are searching for the right apartment, you might decide to change some of your preferences. You might want to change the neighborhoods you are look in, you might want to change the
maximum rent that you would consider paying, or you might decide that you want a different size apartment. RDNY.com let's you customize your own search profile.
Think how efficient this method is for finding an apartment! You can search at any time, or in your spare time, by browsing the listings. You can make appointments to view as many or as few apartments as
you want. Then, you can schedule the appointments at a mutually convenient time to view them.
But that's not all! The best part is that we keep adding new listings to the database every day (except Sunday) and you will continue to receive new listings alerts as the apartments come in.
Unlike a broker who will only show you a few apartments and then pressure you to go for one of them, we keep giving you new leads to follow up on until the end of your service period or until you find a new apartment, whichever comes first.
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| 2. How long is the subscribership and I ONLY need it for a month. Can I pay for only for a month? |
Answer: The subscribership is for 60 days or until you find an apartment, whichever comes first. You may also put your subscription on hold for up to four months.
Keep in mind, most people find their apartment within three weeks of starting to look. So we give you plenty of time to educate yourself about the marketplace, explore various neighborhood possibilities, prepare yourself for the landlord approval process,
and still have time to find an apartment!
Unfortunately, our time periods are not changeable, even if you only need the service for one month.
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| 3. What do I get for my money? |
Answer: You get a tremendous value.
You get access to all of our listings information that matches the search profile you set up. With our full time listings staff, every listing is guaranteed authentic and verified.
You get instant and automatic email alerts on new apartments that come in and match your profile.
Our website brings you not only the apartment details, but also the landlord's approval requirements, and valuable "Insider" tips.
On every listing, you get dynamic Google maps, with driving directions and pinpoints on the map for all kinds of neighborhood services. Now, you will be able to see restaurants, hardware stores, cleaners, doctors, medical facilities, and so much more in relation to every listing.
Every listing comes with comprehensive neighborhood information. We have our own, proprietary free guide books, "The Smart Guide for Desperate Renters" that describe every neighborhood we cover. We have neighborhood links on every listing to other, third party websites that you will find fun, interesting, informative, and packed with local information about the neighborhood.
You get live, email, or phone customer support to help you answer any questions you might have about the rental process.
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| 4. Why are you better for me than a Broker? |
Answer: There are so many ways that RDNY.com provides better service to you than a Broker, so we've created a whole page that
details how we compare to a Broker: (http://www.RDNY.com/comparison_NYC_apartments.html)
Just consider this one point: Brokers will charge you a fee that is equal to almost 2 month's rent when you sign a lease, while RDNY.com will never ask you for any additional fee beyond the one-time service charge.
Here are some other reasons we are better than a broker; you will be networking directly with owners, rather than being filtered by a broker. Brokers are often, let's just say, not fully trusted by landlords.
They all have horror stories of brokers doing dishonest or unethical things to get one of their clients approved. Owners often prefer to deal with directly with their tenant-to-be.
Also, owners know that the broker's fee is an arm and a leg - anywhere from one month's rent to 15% of the first year's rent. Like we pointed out just above, that's almost two month's of rent! Many owners don't work with brokers,
because even they think broker's fees are outrageous. And besides, when an owner knows you came through RDNY.com, and you didn't have to pay the huge broker's fee, they also know you probably have a little more money let over that
you might use to either improve their apartment or pay the full asking rent. That puts you at an advantage over brokers!
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| 5. Are you brokers and do you charge a broker fee? |
Answer: No. We are not brokers and we NEVER charge a broker's fee for any of our listings.
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| 6. Why would a landlord use your service vs a broker? |
Answer: Landlords love us! Just compare the quality of the information that we give our subscribers with what brokers give you.
No comparison! RDNY.com renters come prepared and knowledgeable about the approval process. Landlord's love that. Just look here to see what some landlords say about us:
http://www.rent-direct.com/landlords_New_York_City.html
In the internet age, most neighborhood brokers are just not able to promote a landlord's apartments as effectively as RDNY.com. Our website is one of the most active marketplaces for renters and landlords in New York. Landlords know that they will get a good cross-section of renters inquiring about their apartments by listing with RDNY.com. Our audience is far larger than most brokers could ever possibly be. Landlords want to be where the renters are and renters want to be where the apartment listings are.
Another reason why landlords use RDNY.com vs. a broker is that apartment rental brokers are often, let's just say, not fully trusted by landlords. Most landlords have horror stories of brokers doing dishonest or unethical things to get one of their clients approved. Owners often prefer to deal with directly with their tenant-to-be.
Owners also know that the broker's fee is an arm and a leg - anywhere from one month's rent to 15% of the first year's rent. That's almost two month's of rent! Many owner don't work with brokers, because even they think broker's fees are outrageous. And besides, when an owner knows you came through RDNY.com, and you didn't have to pay the huge broker's fee, they also know you probably have a little more money let over that you might use to either improve their apartment or pay the full asking rent. That makes a win-win situation for both you and the landlord.
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| 7. If your service is 'no fee', why do I have to pay you? |
Answer: A better way to refer to us is as a no-broker-fee apartment service, because we never charge a broker's fee. There is a very modest service charge to subscribe to our information because we couldn't deliver all of the listings and information that makes us so successful if we didn't pay our staff. The old saying is true, "you get what you pay for". And what you get with RDNY.com is a tremendous value.
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| 8. There are lots of "no fee" apartment websites. I think I can find an apartment on my own. Why should I pay a service charge to RDNY.com? |
Answer: Yes, we've seen those other "no fee" sites. We have been in the New York apartment rental business for over 28 years, and we know many of the people who own those other sites. We know that some are run by brokers who list apartments that are too good to be true so you'll call and they can con you into paying a broker's fee. (Resubscriber: anything that's too good to be true can't be trusted.) Some of those sites are run by people who never update their vacancies or who never verify the information they get from public sources. And some of those sites only list vacancies from landlords who will pay an agent or Broker specialty landlords.
At RDNY.com, we have business relationships going back 28 years with small, special landlords as well as with the big landlords. We have a full-time Listings Department who call over 2000 landlords and owners every week to update vacancies and who verify the accuracy of the apartment information. These landlords own over 5000 apartments in 120 neighborhoods in the city, Westchester, and the Gold Coast of New Jersey. RDNY.com prides ourselves in having the most current, reliable, and valuable listings of any NYC rental business.
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| 9. Why do you charge more than the other "no fee" websites? |
Answer: We charge more than other "no fee" sites because we're worth it. We provide much more than any on-line "no fee" apartment rental website:
- 24/7 access on the RDNY.com website so you can always see the changing list of apartment vacancies that fit your search needs
- Expert RDNY Advisors who can help tailor your search so you can focus on just the apartments that will suit you and your budget
- Customer Support Department who will answer your questions and help you modify your search at any time
- Constant e-mails to let you know instantly when we have a new vacancy that fits your search needs
- Maps, subway information, photographs of buildings and neighborhoods on most of the apartment listings
At RDNY.com, we have business relationships going back 28 years with small, special landlords as well as with the big landlords. We have a full-time Listings Department who call over 2000 landlords who own over 5000 apartments in 120 neighborhoods every week to update vacancies and who will verify the accuracy of the apartment information. We pride ourselves in having the most current, reliable, and valuable listings of any NYC rental business.
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| 10. I used a different no fee site already. What if I don't find a place? |
Answer: We don't know which other no fee site(s) you used, but we don't think ANY of them compare to RDNY.com, not even craigslist. By now, it's commonly known that craigslist is rife with scams and broker 'bait and switch' ads. You also know that nobody updates or corrects any information in craigslist. Rented apartments? They are still displayed on craigslist. Broker pretending to be a landlord? Still displayed on craigslist. We slave over our information, doing everything we can to get you the latest, most accurate, most comprehensive information we can get you.
We're not perfect, but we are better than any of our competitors!
We've put togther some information comparing us to craigslist and to brokers. Take at look at:
http://www.rent-direct.com/comparison_NYC_apartments.html
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| 11. What guarantees are there that I will find an apartment? |
Answer: None. We don't know you. We don't know what kind of a job you have, what your income is, or how good your credit is. What we CAN guarantee are the following:
1. If you follow the strategies for finding an apartment in our free ebook "The Smart Guide For Desperate Renters - Renting Without Brokers", you will dramatically enhance your chances of getting the apartment you want.
2. We guarantee 100% that you will not pay a broker's fee on ANY listing that we carry. No other listing service guarantees that.
3. And we further guarantee that if you do rent an apartment from a broker and pay a broker's fee while you are an RDNY.com subscriber, we will refund $100 to you, just for having tried us.
We think this all adds up to a win-win for everybody.
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| 12. How are you different, compared to Craigslist? |
Answer: With RDNY.com, you get a terrific value.
You get access to all of our listings information that matches the search profile you set up. With our full time listings staff, every listing is guaranteed authentic and verified.
You get instant and automatic email alerts on new apartments that come in and match your profile.
Our website brings you not only the apartment details, but also the landlord's approval requirements, and valuable "Insider" tips.
On every listing, you get dynamic Google maps, with driving directions and pinpoints on the map for all kinds of neighborhood services. Now, you will be able to see restaurants, hardware stores,
cleaners, doctors, medical facilities, and so much more in relation to every listing.
Every listing comes with comprehensive neighborhood information. We have our own, proprietary free guide books,
"The Smart Guide for Desperate Renters" that describe every neighborhood we cover. We have neighborhood links on every listing to other, third party websites that you will find fun, interesting, informative, and packed with local information about the neighborhood.
You get live, email, or phone customer support to help you answer any questions you might have about the rental process.
By now, it's common knowledge that craigslist is rife with scams and broker 'bait and switch' ads. You also know that nobody updates or corrects any information in craigslist. Rented apartments? They are still displayed on craigslist. Broker pretending to be a landlord?
Still displayed on craigslist. We slave over our information, doing everything we can to get you the latest, most accurate, most comprehensive information we can get you. We're not perfect, but we are better than any of our competitors!
We've put together some information comparing us to craigslist and to brokers. Take at look at:
http://www.RDNY.com/comparison_NYC_apartments.html
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| 13. Can I pay after I find a place? |
Answer: Sorry, but there is no practical way that we could give you our service and information with the promise that you'll pay us when you find your apartment.
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| 14. How many apartment listings do you have? |
Answer: At RDNY.com, we have business relationships going back 28 years with small, specialty landlords as well as with the big landlords.
We have a full-time Listings Department who call over 2000 landlords every week to update vacancies and who verify the accuracy of the apartment information.
These landlords own over 5000 apartments in 120 neighborhoods in the city, Westchester, and North New Jersey. RDNY.com prides ourselves in having the most current, reliable, and valuable listings of any NYC rental business.
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| 15. Have your seen these apartments yourself? |
Answer: No. That would be impossible. At any given moment, we have about 3,000 active apartments in our inventory. Every day, we remove about 200 rented apartments and add another 200 new apartments to the inventory.
You can understand that we couldn't possibly see them.
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| 16. Will you show me the apartments? |
Answer: No. You don't need us to say, "This is the kitchen, and this is the bath." We trust that you will be able to figure that out on your own.
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| 17. How do I know that you have the good apartments that I want? |
Answer: We let you see our listings before you pay the service charge so you'll know what you'll get! Just go to the home page and fill out your search details,
and we'll show you every apartment vacancy we have in our database that matches your needs. The only thing we don't show is the address of the vacancy until you join our service, but if you like what you see, you'll get all the addresses in a click of the mouse when you sign up.
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| 18. Are you listings updated regularly? |
Answer: Absolutely! Six days per week we have one of the largest listings staff of any real estate company in New York dialing hundreds of landlords over the course of the day. We are constantly seeking new listings
and updating the status of existing listings in our inventory.
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| 19. Why use RDNY.com when I can use free management companies sites? |
Answer: RDNY.com works with over 3,000 landlords, about 600 of which are management companies. Most don't have websites. Of the maybe 80 to 100 that do have websites, how long would it take you to look each one of them up,
find their listings, find their apartment descriptions, figure out how to get access to each unit, and then figure out where their buildings are located? What's your time and energy worth to you?
RDNY.com has done all the leg-work for you. We've put it all together, deliver the information in a consistent manner, building by building, sorted by neighborhood and price. Add to this the HUGE number of apartments where the owners have no website, and it's a no-brainer. We recommend that you get out there and find an apartment of your own - not invent the wheel on your own.
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| 20. How do I know you will really help me after I pay the service charge? |
Answer: Word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat customers are our best source of business, so we want to keep you happy. We want you to tell your friends, family, and co-workers that they don't have to pay a Broker's fee to find an apartment in the New York City metro area, and that RDNY.com is the best
service available to help you with your search. Our good reputation is too important to us to harm it by giving you poor service.
When you become a subscriber, you'll be assigned to an expert RDNY Advisor who you can call and ask any rental question. We also have a Customer Support Hotline (1-888-278-7111) you can call 7 days a week. You can also email RDNY.com directly from our website with any question, and it will be answered within 2 hours during business hours; please give us a little more time if you e-mail at midnight! And finally, our Apartment Search Cafe is open 7 days a week at 101 Fifth Ave (between 17th and 18th streets) where you can use our computers, phones, printers, and fax machines with on-site Customer Support staff who will help you with any questions.
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| 21. I have been burned sometimes when I call about an apartment on craigslist and find that's it was rented weeks ago. How can I be sure that your vacancy listings are real? |
Answer: At RDNY.com, we have business relationships going back 25 years with small, special landlords as well as with the big landlords. We have a full-time Listings Department who call over 2000 landlords every week to update vacancies and who verify the accuracy of the apartment information.
These landlords own over 5000 apartments in 120 neighborhoods in the city, Westchester, and North New Jersey.
The apartment vacancies on craigslist are never updated once they are listed, and no one at craigslist verifies the information on the listing. In fact, many of the apartments are listed by Brokers who want you to call them so they can pull a "bait-and-switch" and get you to sign a Broker's agreement to pay a fee. This dishonesty has become so widespread that Craig Newmark, who runs craigslist, will soon be charging a fee for New York City apartments as a way to cut down on the Brokers who cheat.
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| 22. Do I have to check the website to get the latest updates, like I have to with craigslist? |
Answer: You can check the website all day if you want to but you don't have to. We know you're busy and your time is valuable, so RDNY.com will e-mail you immediately when our Listings Department adds a new vacant apartment that matches what you're looking for. When you become a subscriber, you give us an e-mail address that we use to send our Instant Alert e-mails with direct links to all the apartment details: the address, landlord contact, photos, maps, etc.
You choose the Instant Alert format that best suits your needs;
- You can receive one e-mail a day that has a summary of the new apartments added to the database that match your needs.
- You can receive a separate e-mail all through the day for each new apartment that matches your needs as it is added to the database.
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| 23. If I'm looking for an apartment with a roommate, can we both receive the alert e-mails? |
Answer: Sure. Just call your RDNY Advisor or the Customer Support Hotline (1-888-278-7111) to add a second or a third e-mail address to your subscriber record.
Each e-mail address will get the same Instant Alert to help you communicate better with your roommates. (See FAQ #23 for a description of the RDNY.com Instant Alert.)
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| 24. Can you make the appointment for me? |
Answer: No, and you wouldn't want me to. Imagine for a moment that you want to schedule three different appointments for apartments. Can you imagine how many times I would have to go back and forth between you and three landlords to find mutually convenient times? But when you call directly for an appointment, you are the authority of your schedule.
You can be as flexible or rigid as you want with your time. You are in the best position to make your own appointments.
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| 25. I've never rented an apartment in New York before. Can you help me get organized? |
Answer: When you join RDNY.com, we give you several tools that will make your apartment search as easy as possible:
- The 7-volume eBook "The Smart Guide for Desperate Renters" has tips about how to talk to a landlord, what to look for in an apartment inspection, sample forms to prepared ahead of time so you'll be ready to make a rental application, a glossary of all the rental words you'll run into in your search, and descriptions of every neighborhood RDNY.com covers so you can get to know the area.
- Your expert RDNY Advisors can help tailor your search so you can focus on just the apartments that will suit you and your budget and is available to explain anything that you don't understand about New York landlords.
- We have a full-time Customer Support Department who will answer your questions and e-mails to help you modify your search at any time.
- You'll have access to the online "Guide for Renting an Apartment?" filled with tips to help you be successful.
- Our Apartment Search Caf? is open 7 days a week at 101 Fifth Ave (between 17th & 18th streets) where you can use our computers, phones, printers, and fax machines with on-site Customer Support staff who will help you get started.
- Each vacancy listing includes photos, subway maps, and stuff that will help you decide which apartments are the most convenient and/or suitable for you.
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| 26. When I did the free search on your homepage, I didn't have many choices about the neighborhoods where I could look at your listings. I want an apartment in Rego Park but all I could look at was "All Queens." This isn't so great. Why is this? |
Answer: As a Guest subscriber, you can narrow your search to just the neighborhoods you want by calling directly to a RDNY Advisor who will be happy to change your search criteria or you can modify your search profile on your own. Just click the "Change My Search Profile" button.
When you become a subscriber, you can select as many neighborhoods as you want from the list of the 120 neighborhoods we service.
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| 27. I'm not sure what I'm looking for - - I'd love my own studio apartment in Gramercy Park but I might need to also look for a loft in Red Hook that I can share. Can I do that with your service? |
Answer: Yes. We know that many of our subscribers need to be flexible when they do their apartment search. You can set up two different apartment search criteria by calling directly to the Customer Support Hotline (1-888-278-7111) and you can look for two kinds of apartment in different neighborhoods, all at the same time.
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| 28. What happens if I don't find an apartment with you? |
Answer: Do you mean, "What happens if I find an apartment using another source?" If it is was with a broker, you may be entitled to some of your service fee back as long as it wasn't one of the apartments in our inventory. If you found your apartment through another, non-broker source such as through a friend or family member,
we wish you the very best of luck, but there is no further obligation between us.
If you mean, "What happens if I don't find an apartment with you or through any other source?", then we seriously suggest that you are probably going about your search incorrectly. There are things that you should organize in advance, and your attitude should be a positive one. If your read our free ebook, "The Smart Guide For Desperate Renters - Renting Without Brokers", you will probably not fall into this group.
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| 29. Can you guarantee that I will find an apartment using your service? |
Answer: No. We do everything possible to give you all of the tools and resources to find and rent an apartment on your own and most subscribers who find an apartment with us, do so usually within three weeks of joining.
However, we don't know your income, or credit history, or whether you will even look diligently and in a business-like manner for an apartment. We offer a partial money back guarantee if you wind up using a broker to get an apartment, and we give a 100% guarantee that you will never pay a broker's fee on any of the listings you find through our service.
Your success is totally up to you. RDNY.com doesn't own any of the apartments we list so we do not control a landlord's decision about your application to rent an apartment. No one, not even a Broker, can guarantee that you will be able to find the apartment of your dreams.
Think of us like an online dating service. We can give you lots of choices of great looking people to look through and we can put you in touch with your "match". You have to make the chemistry work.
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| 30. Do you help us get approved or help with the application? |
Answer: We help prepare you properly for the application and approval process with the wealth of information we give you on every listing. Before you spend time running to look at a listing, review the
information we post on every listing; the landlord's financial requirements and the application requirements.
Our free ebook "The Smart Guide For Desperate Renters - Renting Without Brokers" is a distillation of almost 30 years of New York apartment rental experience. The Guide breaks down the process into a few easy steps. We say all the time, "If you read our Smart Guide, you'll get the apartment". It's true.
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| 31. Is it hard to reach the landlords? |
Answer: No. We give you all the contact information on every single listing. We recommend that when you call for an appointment, that you be courteous, speak clearly, be sure and give your phone number slowly and distinctly - and let the landlord know you got their listing information on RentDirectNewYork.com. And don't forget - check the "Insider Tips" on how
to prepare for the application process on each listing.
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| 32. Do you have interior photos? |
Answer: We do on many apartments, but not on all. We have over 33,000 images in our database. That's huge, but it still doesn't cover all apartments. We depend on landlords to furnish us with photos, and we have a ways to go still.
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| 33. Do you have the square footage information? |
Answer: No. Square footage information received from landlords is notoriously inaccurate. I think most landlords guess at their square footage - and they guess VERY optimistically on the high side, every time. Also keep in mind that square footage isn't the whole story. "Livability" is really more important. A well laid out apartment, or high ceilings, or sunny,
are more "livable" than a larger, awkward layout or a dark apartment.
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| 34. Do you have floor plans? |
Answer: We have some, but not many.
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| 35. How helpful are landlords with people moving from out of town? |
Answer: Most landlords will try to accommodate any special needs you have as it relates to your move. More importantly, if you are coming in from out of town, you should be asking yourself how you can
possibly manage to visit New York for a short period of time and get the maximum exposure to available apartments. You also should also be thinking about what you ought to prepare in advance of your visit to NY so that you will be able to sign a lease if you find the right apartment. If you are not properly prepared in advance, you may well find that your trip to New York is wasted, since without the right preparation, you will not be able to get a commitment from a landlord to send you a lease.
Fortunately, RDNY.com has you covered. Our Fifth Avenue office can be your "home away from home". We have a beautiful area for you to use our computers, our printers, our fax machine, and our phones. We're available to answer all your questions and perhaps give you some advice. Our free ebook, "The Smart Guide For Desperate Renters - Renting Without Brokers" fully discusses what you need to know in advance of your visit to New York. It has a list of what you should prepare in advance so that your trip will be fully productive.
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| 36. What is your success rate? |
Answer: High, but we never know the exact rate of success, because our clients are out looking at apartments on their own, without us. Some let us know when they found an apartment, and most don't. Sometime landlords let us know when they rented to one of our subscribers, and most times they don't. What we do know is that we get a constant stream of letters thanking us and offering a personal testimonial. When you sign up for our service, we'll hope to get a testimonial from you, too.
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| 37. So how do you guys make money, sounds too good to be true. |
Answer: Being that the New York City rental market is such an active marketplace, we are able to work with large numbers of landlords and renters at the same time. That's why our service charge is so reasonable for what we deliver. As long as New York is where tons of people want to be, we'll be able to make money while serving the needs of thousands of renters.
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| 38. I'm ready to start looking now. What's the first step? |
Answer: First, subscribe to RDNY.com either online or call your RDNY Adivsor at 212-807-1414. Enter your Advisor's extension or press "2".
Set up your search profile to begin seeing the listings that match your needs. Note the listings in the priority order that sound good to you. Then start calling the owners to visit their apartments or note any other viewing information on the listing. If you're ready to move, then we suggest that you assemble a Landlord Package before you make your first call.
That way, you'll be all prepared to apply for an apartment as soon as you see one you like. You need to be ready to take instant action. There are always more people right behind you ready to apply.
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