Looking for an apartment in New York City can be so frustrating, especially when trying to avoid the enormous brokerage fee charged by the brokers.

Let's start by saying that the best way to find an apartment in New York City is by moving to an apartment that is made available by a friend. But, how lucky do you have to be in order to have a friend terminating a lease exactly when you are looking to move in. So the next best option is to approach the landlords directly.

When I started to look for an apartment in NYC, I knew I was not going to pay brokerage fees. I decided to take the role of a broker and do the research myself. I was looking for Management Companies in NYC. What I realized is that there are tons of tons of apartments out there that can be rented without involving a broker. You can rent an apartment directly from the Management Company and many of them do not even care if you use a broker or not. All they want is a good tenant that pays on time. A "good" tenant is a tenant who has a good credit history, reliable source of income that will be able to pay the rent. As a general rule your annual salary should be 40 times the rent.

I finally found an apartment that fits my needs by approaching a Management Company. I saw the apartment, liked it, filled up an application, paid $50 application fees (what can I do… some things you cannot really avoid. I guess it was for credit check), showed them my last pay stabs, and bam! I got it.

I decided to make others life easier, so I composed a list of Management Companies for you to rent from. As far as I know, these management companies do not charge brokers fees.

Good luck with your search!