Rentopia a scam??
I recently applied for an apartment I originally found on Craigslist. Before doing anything, I verified the broker's information—I checked the brokerage, email, phone number, licensing, etc., and it's a legitimate, existing brokerage. That said, I've since realized that just because the company is real doesn't necessarily mean every business practice is above board.
I've been striking out on apartments all month, mostly because listings disappear before I even have a chance to apply, and I think I let my desperation get the best of me.
I found this apartment Friday night and immediately submitted an application and had my dad apply shortly after as my guarantor to really lock in the deal, as places have been slipping away so quickly like I mentioned before. Because it was a holiday weekend, I expected there would be some delays.
On Saturday, the broker asked if I could view the apartment on Monday. I replied yes, and that even if the viewing didn't work out for some reason, I was committed to seeing it upon a lease signing if approved and move forward with next steps.(I had seen the video tour he sent me that he was included in, the listing he sent me, and went back to view previous years listings which included video tours to make sure it didn't look entirely different in anything.) While I'd normally say this was stupid to do, the place looked like everything I've been wishing for and I didn't want to lose out on the opportunity by chance.
Then Monday morning, I was told the current tenant had a "work emergency," so the showing would need to be pushed to Tuesday during an open house. Around the same time, I was sent a request for a $1,000 "good faith" deposit. At first, I actually understood the reasoning. Since I hadn't seen the apartment in person, I figured they simply wanted reassurance that I was a serious applicant while still keeping backup options if I backed out. Honestly, if I were the landlord, I'd probably want the same thing.
It wasn't until the adrenaline of sending the deposit wore off that I started second-guessing everything. If I'd already made it clear I intended to move forward, why was there suddenly an open house? I understand they're under no obligation to stop showing the apartment, but combined with the deposit request, it started to feel off.
Paying a $1,000 "good faith" deposit is also something I normally never would have done. From what I've read, these types of deposits can be legally complicated in New York depending on how they're handled, which only added to my concerns.
I'm not asking whether the brokerage itself is legitimate as I know it is and has been in business for quite some time now. I'm wondering if anyone here has actually rented through them or gone through this exact process.
Did you get the apartment? If it fell through, did you actually get your $1,000 back? I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone with firsthand experience, since most of the older Reddit threads I found never included an update.