Realtor contracts and fees
The Realtors charge a fee based on the rent of the place they provide you. They will not have a part in the rent itself. There are three types of agents: seller's agents (hired and paid by the landlord), tenant's agents (hired and paid by the tenant), and dual agents: sort of intermediaries. The legal role and liability will differ for each type.
The tenant's agent will usually ask a small fee to
register ($ 25), but they will assist you with your contract and price
negotiations as well. In case a contract is signed, they get one month or 10%
of the year rent. In my case I found the advice of my 'tenants broker' very
helpful: he gave a good estimate of the price he expected the landlord would
agree on and provided a list of additional things that needed to be done to
the house, thereby saving the company several hundred dollars a month.
The seller's agents are paid by the landlord, but of course their goal is to
maximize the profit for the landlord. It is vital that you close your contract
quickly.
After signing the contract, both parties have 72 hours
to go back on their decision without penalties. My advice if you would like
to have the house: sign first, then send it to the expat office for checking.
There is no need to have everything nicely typed up, so don't waste your time
on that. Written additions are just as good as typed ones, and cost much less
time. You probably have to put a security deposit and the payment to the rental
agent on the table when you sign the contract. If you really want the place:
better secure the deal immediately in place of waiting for a company advance
payment. There is no such thing as a gentleman's agreement or a verbal contract
in New Jersey. If the house stays in the listings until you have finally come
up with the "diplomatic clause" and the security payment, somebody
else may have seen it as well and immediately arranged for the contract to be
signed. Americans do not have to wait for advance payments, so they can react
much faster than you.
This event happened to me: it took a total of 7 days to go through the contract
procedure. One reason for this was the inability to contact the home expat office
due to a 2-day holiday in the Netherlands. The second reason was the addition
of the diplomatic clause: a small section of text that states the option for
the tenant to break the lease if so required for company purposes, with a maximum
liability of three months rent.
Third reason was the two day process to get an advance payment from the US expat
office. During that period, another person saw the house and immediately decided
to take it, with better conditions than mine. To our great luck, my landlord
had the morals to turn down this second offer, preferring a verbal agreement
over a direct offer. There will not be many landlords that can resist a second
offer that is better than yours, so speed is important. Your rental agent may
sign the agreement, but also the landlord has to sign. Make sure that he/she
signs quickly as well. A friend of ours found a lovely place, got approval from
the company and agent, and started looking for furniture to fit the place, etc.
He found out several days later that the landlord changed his mind and decided
to sell the house after all. So avoid frustration and act swiftly. Some newspapers
in New Jersey that have listings: The Star Ledger (daily), Suburban News (weekly,
usually Wednesdays, plus Saturday shopping edition) and the Asbury Park Press.
Also the New York Times has a listing for New Jersey.