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258 points JumpCrisscross | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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beisner ◴[] No.42131018[source]
This is a win for price competition - the "broker fee" paid by the renter is a classic example of principal agent problems / information asymmetry.

First, the service is being provided to the landlord (listing, tours, etc.), not the client, for all listings these days (I don't know any young person who has ever used a renter's agent, except maybe if it's provided in a relocation package). The renter has no choice in which broker to use to find/transact w/ the property, so there's very little price pressure for these broker fees.

Second the information asymmetry - the terms of the fee are completely opaque in the listings, and are not disclosed basically until signing unless you press brokers earlier. So there's basically no competitive pressure pushing these fees down, since it's basically a "junk fee" from a user experience perspective tacked on at the very end (and not listed on listings), and the landlord - who IS in a position to negotiate on price - doesn't care.

I don't buy the argument that there will be some long-term price hike in rents as a result of this decision - people who rent for 1-5 years already are paying a MASSIVE "net effective" premium for having an additional month's rent tacked on up front - but also it strongly incentivizes tenant retention (e.g. by being more responsive, keeping prices lower, etc.), because the landlord does not want to have to eat a broker's fee next listing.

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remram ◴[] No.42132652[source]
It looks like this measure only applies to "real estate agents who exclusively represent the landlord’s interests". "The bill requires landlords who hire real estate agents to pay the agents’ fees themselves".

My read is that as long as a broker works with multiple landlords, you the tenant will still pay them a fee. And it might remain difficult to find available lodging without going through brokers.

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1. paulgb ◴[] No.42132858[source]
Hopefully the actual bill wording doesn’t leave this ambiguous, but I think the intent of “exclusively” here is meaning that they don’t also represent the buyer’s interest (dual agency), not that they have an exclusive deal with the landlord.