Article updated: April 5, 2021
Elena GrushinaRealtor with a legal education. Work experience - 12 years
A modern person, when looking for an apartment, first of all turns to the Internet and enters the words “I’ll rent an apartment without intermediaries” into the search bar. But the role of housing landlords is usually played by agents who rent out other people’s housing to strangers, receiving a certain commission and, most often, do not bear any responsibility at all.
Therefore, there are only two options: contact them directly and reduce commission payments to the maximum possible level, or really try to do without them.
We rent housing without intermediaries: advantages
The main advantage of renting an apartment without intermediaries in Moscow on Avito is the absence of a real estate commission , which includes payment for services for searching and selecting real estate, fees for consultation and transaction support for concluding an agreement. That is, when searching for an apartment on your own, you practically do not incur any expenses other than paying the rental price to the owner of the property. In addition, when communicating directly with the owner of the apartment, you have the opportunity to bargain or agree on a more convenient payment method. When communicating with a realtor, you lose this opportunity. Indeed, often the size of their commission is similar to the cost of one month’s rent. And it is extremely unprofitable for realtors to reduce it.
Another equally important advantage is the ability to independently choose the most suitable option for yourself. After all, it’s no secret that realtors often offer far from the most suitable options both in terms of location and square footage. meters. In addition, by talking with the owner of the property in person, you will be able to discuss any nuances with him and assess the adequacy of the owner. This is especially true when it comes to long-term rentals.
Where to start looking for an apartment?
First of all, you need to decide what kind of housing you need and how much you can realistically pay for it. Points to pay attention to:
- Area. You need to look for housing in a convenient location - it’s unlikely that anyone would want to commute two hours to work. True, in residential areas apartments will be 1.5-2 times cheaper than in the center. You should immediately study the connection of the potential place of residence to the metro and other transport: “5 minutes to the bus” may mean that the bus interval is ─ 2 hours, and “walking distance” suggests that you need to walk about an hour to the stop. Using maps on the Internet you can really estimate the new daily route.
- Apartment size. The more rooms and the size of the living space, the more expensive it is, so you need to soberly assess the required size of your living space. In a huge three-room apartment, one person is uncomfortable, and five people in one room are cramped.
- Repair. It’s not bad if the apartment has been renovated - this means getting rid of a wobbly toilet and running taps, torn wallpaper and non-working sockets. And it’s more pleasant to live in a normal apartment.
- Furniture and household appliances. Typically, rental housing is already equipped with everything necessary. This is convenient for those who have not yet acquired their own sofa and refrigerator, otherwise they will have to resolve the issue of the master’s furniture. Moving into an empty apartment with a backpack is also costly - to make it cozy and habitable, you will have to fork out more.
We rent housing without intermediaries: disadvantages
The disadvantages include the following: to independently search for an apartment in Moscow on Avito, you will need a lot of free time , since in this case you will have to search, call the owner, go to inspect the apartment, and so on. Moreover, meetings are often not always scheduled at a time convenient for you. By contacting a real estate agency, all the hassle falls on the shoulders of realtors. All you have to do is go and view the apartment. In addition, property owners often hand over the keys to their apartments to realtors. This means that you can view the apartment at any time convenient for you.
You may also be interested in: What does a vest apartment mean?
When looking for housing to rent in Moscow on Avito, there is a high probability of running into scammers. Now in the real estate market there are a huge number of different methods of fraud, and the main share is related to real estate rental . Realtors, before concluding an agreement with the owner of an apartment, check not only the apartment, but also the owner. In addition, the agency, when concluding an agreement with you, assumes all obligations to protect your interests. This means that the risk of running into a scammer and ending up on the street without money is minimized.
This is interesting: Hotel-type apartment: a hotel - what is it like?
Well, and perhaps the most important drawback can be considered the fact that most of the advertisements on Avito and other bulletin boards are published not by apartment owners, but by private realtors who masquerade as the owner.
Deception No. 3 “Ghosts of Fortune”
Throwing bait at agents, I was simultaneously actively searching for an apartment on my own. In a series of tiring offers, a grain of hope suddenly appeared in the form of an attractive apartment. I'm calling the agent. And then the play was played out according to several scenarios.
Scenario 1: the agent reports that the apartment will be shown only in a week, two, three... And asks to call back. I call back on the agreed day and time, and the agent replies that the apartment has been rented out for a long time.
Scenario 2: I arrange a meeting at the apartment. We arrive and are surprised to find, instead of a neat and attractive apartment, broken furniture, a dirty bathroom, etc., etc. It turns out that the photographs posted were taken five, ten, fifteen... years ago, right after the renovation.
Scenario 3: we arrive at the meeting at the appointed time, wait at the entrance (the exact address is announced at the very end, and the apartment number can only be found out by approaching it), but the agent is still not there. We're calling back to find out where he is. In response we hear blatant lies. For example, an apartment has just been rented out. Or the owner has just changed his mind about renting out the apartment.
Cases like this are annoying. It is clear that the person on the other end of the line is lying, but, alas, nothing can be done about it. All that remains is to go home. And the next day my phone was blowing up with countless calls from unknown agents to whom my number had simply been sold.
Rules for renting housing on Avito without an intermediary
- First of all, it is necessary to check the documents certifying the ownership of real estate. This can be a document of purchase and sale, deed of gift and other documents. Also check the documents of the apartment owner. If the owner refuses to provide documents, then it is advisable to refuse such a transaction.
- When concluding a lease agreement, be sure to write down all the points that interest you. This will help you get rid of many troubles and misunderstandings. You should especially indicate the date of conclusion of the contract, the amount of payment and the date of its payment, describe the property and be sure to check the functionality of household appliances.
- You should not rent an apartment from people who do not inspire trust. These could be people suffering from alcohol or drug addiction.
By the way, on our website you can find a convenient online calculator for calculating tax on the sale of real estate.
What does the Avito resource offer its users and what are its advantages:
- The widest selection of offers both in Moscow and in other cities.
- Convenient search.
- Although advertising is present, it is unobtrusive.
What is the secret of the popularity of the Avito website
Today, the Avito service is very popular, as it allows you to view advertisements and select the best option for yourself.
Which is especially important for visiting people and people who love to travel. This resource can be easily found in a search engine, as it is in the first positions in the TOP search results. However, if you decide to use this site, you should keep in mind that the site may contain unverified information about property owners.
Fake news on Avito: be careful!
Due to the fact that Avito is extremely popular, many people do not even think about the reality of the published offers. This means that here, just like on other bulletin boards, fakes or, in simple words, fake apartments, which gullible people often mistake for reality, are not excluded. In addition, you should take into account that the administration of the service does not bear any responsibility for the information presented on the site.
Read also: Blacklist of tenants.
How to rent an apartment without intermediaries on Avito in Moscow?
There are two proven methods for renting an apartment on the Avito free classifieds website:
- Place your own advertisement looking for housing.
- Search for a suitable offer among published advertisements.
Now let's look at each type in more detail.
Posting your own ads
- In order to place your ad on Avito, you first need to register on this resource. This is quite simple to do since the registration procedure is the same everywhere. Then click Submit an ad and select the desired category: Real Estate Apartments Rent Long term. Now we indicate the desired city, for example, Moscow, and set the necessary options and parameters, for example, the number of rooms, sq. m. meters and so on. And also the optimal payment for renting real estate.
- You also need to select a service package. Please note that initially the paid service package will be installed by default. Therefore, if you need to submit a free ad, select the Regular Sale package.
Read also: Commission for renting an apartment - what is it.
We are looking for suitable options
To do this, you need to select the region you need (Moscow) and configure the filter according to your requirements.
Read also: New Moscow - registration in Moscow or near Moscow?
The benefits of searching for rental properties yourself is that you won't have to pay a commission. After all, you will have to pay a decent amount of money for something that you can do yourself in just a couple of days, or even one.
Factors to search:
- First, you need to decide on your needs: area, living space (sq. meters, etc.). Remember that the simpler your requirements are, the faster you will choose the best option for yourself.
- What exactly will you consider: a specific area or the entire city.
- Ads monitoring. Ads need to be monitored quite often, almost every hour. After all, there are a lot of people who want it, and the apartment that is right for you may go to another tenant.
May be interesting: Living area of the apartment: what is included in it.
When looking through advertisements for renting an apartment, you should remember that among the huge number of offers from homeowners, there may also be advertisements from realtors . Therefore, you should not pay attention to advertisements with low prices and excellent photographs.
Checking photos for uniqueness
In addition to realtors, you can also stumble upon scammers on Avito.ru.
As a rule, they publish advertisements with quite reasonable prices and beautiful photographs of the apartment. At first glance, everything looks plausible. But in reality this apartment does not exist. Fraudsters download a photo of an apartment from the Internet, come up with a description for it, and publish an advertisement. But checking such ads is very easy. Download the photo published in the ad and check it for uniqueness . This can be done with the help of special resources. If the photo is unique, then this owner can be trusted. If a photo is presented on several resources and under different data or with different descriptions, then you should be wary. It is best to refuse this option. Even if the apartment is rented out on very favorable terms.
Deception No. 4 “Little Liars”
I was upset and offended by unfounded deceptions.
For example, the description indicates that the apartment is one-room. I call, clarify, arrange a meeting. And only upon entering the apartment, I discover that it is a two-room apartment with one locked room. For me, this is a compelling argument not to even look at the apartment, but I was not warned in advance, and I wasted my time.
Or again: we basically did not consider old panel houses. An agent calls and offers an apartment. I'm asking about the house. In response: “This is a modern 17-story building.” I check the address via the Internet. In the photo I see a decent high-rise building. Again I make an appointment, I go again. I'm waiting for the agent at the entrance of the house. The agent comes up and happily tells me that the address is different. It turns out that the apartment is located in a neighboring 12-story panel building, where the apartments have sitz baths.
And what do you want me to do?
