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I'm a property manager with many years of experience and can agree with the 'con' that a broker needs to make a living too. If a property management firm or apartment community does an excellent job of marketing on their own, and they are not interested in paying a broker to do their job, the broker will take your properties and/or communities off their lists. This is not a good way to find your new apartment. You need to shop all apartments, not just the ones brokers can make a commission.

Apartment rents are typically the most important monthly payment we make so you should invest your own time to make sure you get just what you want. If all you want it a good deal, or a free months rent, then be prepared to have neighbor issues or car prowls or kids running without supervision. However, if you want a nice place to live, invest your own time. Drive the neighborhood you're interested in. Go to the grocery store between 5pm and 6pm on a week day; the people shopping are stopping by on their way home and we all shop at the nearest grocery store because we don't want our ice cream to melt...ur maybe that's just me buying ice cream, so it's the eggs, milk or butter. The people shopping at this time usually live in that area. See for yourself who lives in the area. A broker will tell you just what you want to hear if the commission is right. See it for yourself.

We spend everyday in our apartments. We see management and maintenance crews all the time and we have them in our apartments to make repairs. If you really want to save money, find a place you don't have to move out of in 6 months because you hate it. Your tired of the broken down cars, people hanging late in the parking lot at night drinking, speeding vehicles, police car lights nightly...etc.

There are plenty of community managers that are moving specialists just like brokers. There's no need for you to pay a broker for something that is available for free. Just ask for help and you will find communities and people that are prepared for your moving questions. These are the places you want to move to.

I've directed a lot of properties and communities and trained many a manager and leasing agent. We always maintained a higher occupancy than our neighboring communities. You didn't see moving trucks every other day from the people leaving nearly as fast as they moved in like you would see down the street. If you just take a little of your OWN time using any source for information on apartments and using placing like apartment ratings you will find a great place to live.

Good luck, and maybe some day I'll see you and one of my communities.