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To relief of craiglist devotees, NYC real estate fiends, and people who believe in the social contract, the police have arrested a pair of people scamming unwitting, hopeful Manahttan renters out of thousands of dollars. Fredrick Forino and his girlfriend posed as brokers for apartments in the West Village, advertising the alleged spaces on craiglist, and then took cash and checks from people who thought that they had landed their dream apartments. Some of the apartments were available for rent, but not by Forino. The police told the NY Times "one victim met Mr. Forino in a Starbucks and handed him $1,900" in cash. Now, Curbed notes one person (who lives in one of buildings that Forino claimed he had listing for) as saying, "Who does that? Who cuts a check unless you have your contract in hand? That's elementary," but to Gothamist, it seems that it just further shows how crazy that NYC real estate market is. People do desperate things for the perfect place, like not blink an eye at brokers' fees or willing to put down a year's rent. That said, we're glad that Craig Newmark spends time looking for scams on his sites, but it's true - it's all about caveat emptor. And knowing someone else who knows someone who might be leaving their apartment.
What are your NYC real estate nightmares? Other nutty NYC real estate stories and the city on rental guidelines.
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My real estate nightmare? Paying $1800 for a small walkup studio more than three blocks from a subway stop.
Of course, that nightmare is the world we all live in.
It's nice to dream, though, about renting an entire house with a 6 acre backyard and a duck pond for $800 a month.
1800?! Maybe you should live in a area other then manhattan. And if you dont live in Manhattan and your paying 1800, then I see no hope for you my friend.
Yes, real estate prices here are insane, but we're guilty. If buyers/renters continue to pay these amounts (like we have any choice) then sellers will continue to charge them. Simple economics of supply and demand. The complaint should be that this is a sweet city to live in; we all know we could go live in the suburbs or other crap metropolitan areas for less. Montreal however seems very affordable and is a cool place.
NYT Takes The Gloves Off?
There may just be more to this article than meets the eye.
I blogged a month or so ago about how the New York Times did not exactly appear to be afraid of Craigslist taking its classified business away, perhaps I was a tad premature on that point.
The New York Times did report increased ad revenue last month.
However, it just may be that the Times wised up and realized that maybe Craigslist IS a threat. With monster/hotjobs/careerbuilder/net-temps et al taking away the job posting business from the Times, I'm guessing the New York Times is not eager to lose any real estate classified business to Craigslist or anyone else.
And, it seems fairly clear that Craigslist does in fact plan to morph into a for-a-fee real estate listing service.
After a series of "fluff pieces", this NYT article about apartment seekers being scammed by a Craigslist Poster is the first article by the Times to present Craigslist in a somewhat unfavorable light. Are there more to come?
Peter Everhard
"I Am The Anti Craig"
http://www.tempcity.com/dramanyc/index.php?showtopic=3142
Rent isn't as bad as the brokers's fees, which killed me the last time I bought a place. You walked me around for an hour and I'm paying you how much in addition to rent and security deposit?
Agreed - brokers get overpaid for the value they claim to offer...
I actually am grateful for the broker who found me my current apartment; it really is a steal. But before I found him, I paid too much money to one of those online apartment listings services. It's a waste of money and turns out that most of those services just take your money and post listings from places that post the same listings free, like the newspaper or craisglist.
Here's my nightmare, also the results of a felonious Craigslister. Though, I am not entirely blameless, alas:
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8788
You should try Berlin, it's a metropolis too, and you can rent an entire floor for 300-400 euros.
My nightmare ... negotiating a NYC broker to 12% (typical for an affliate of Columbia U.) and signed the form as such. Key to this scam is that once accepted by owner, and notified verbally or written, you will lose your deposit if you pull out. So, after rental was accepted by owner and broker gave verbal confirmation, the broker called an hour later and made up some story about how the listing was exclusive to another broker in the firm and that she insists on 15% and he did not have the authority to give me 12%. I quickly met him in his office and after an hour face to face with this jackass, I folded at 14% (just to be done with whole thing). When asked to meet with the "exclusive" broker too - she was not available. Note to self: after signing the application papers, find a lawyer to bring with me, after I get notified that owner accepts, for the lease signing or anything else ... you never know when you could use one.