SkipBrokers.com announces change in business model.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
(New York) March 13, 2008 –On average, an apartment broker in Manhattan charges 15% of the annual rent, well over the national average. As in many other states, Craigslist quickly became the main vehicle for apartment hunters in New York. Unfortunately for renters, it wasn’t long before brokers in New York adapted to this trend. Craigslist ultimately resulted in many brokers placing misleading postings in order to generate more traffic to their brokerage firms.
In early 2005, www.SkipBrokers.com immediately made an impact in New York’s residential rental market by helping apartment hunters avoid expensive brokers. SkipBrokers.com initially provided a list of various landlords around Manhattan who did not charge a broker’s fee. These landlords owned the exact same apartments brokers were charging thousands for. Rather than paying a broker thousands of dollars, NYC apartment hunters were paying SkipBrokers.com a one-time fee of $30 and contacting landlords directly. The buzz around SkipBrokers.com’s service quickly spread sparking the birth of many other websites claiming to offer similar services. However, many of these other no-fee websites could not sustain a place in what is now a highly competitive “no-fee apartment listing” market.
While many of the “fly-by-night” websites continued to replace one another, Skipbrokers.com continued to make improvements. On July 20, 2007 the original no-fee landlord guide was replaced by a web-based platform allowing users to search for thousands of no-fee apartments in real-time. However, due to the website’s functionality improvements, increased staff and other overhead, prospective tenants quickly saw SkipBrokers.com’s price tag increase from $30 to upwards of $120. That is until today’s recent price change.
SkipBrokers.com announced today that on March 24th they will be providing access to their database of thousands of no broker fee apartments for no charge. SkipBrokers.com will be a free online community that will continue to allow prospective tenants find no fee apartments in real time through their web-based application.
“It is important we stay true to our original vision of helping prospective renters save as much money as possible by skipping apartment brokers. Paying any service close to $100 is not a good way for anyone to start what is already an expensive process”, said Skipbrokers.com CEO, Paul Chino Salamanca. While other websites claiming to provide similar services charge a one-time fee upwards of $265 for 60 days subscription, Mr. Salamanca is confident that many more no-fee apartments that are truly on the market can be found on Skipbrokers.com at no cost to the apartment hunter.
Website Link: http://skipbrokers.com | 
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