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what is a locator fee in an apartment?

Public Comments

1. Sometimes when you are looking through the advertisements in the paper for places to live, you may notice that many of the listings list the same phone number to call for information. The owner of the property has paid a company to find them good prospective renters. It can also work the other way, when a prospective renter pays a company to find them an apartment. Where the renter just puts in their budget, how many rooms they want, pets, etc and then the company delivers them prospects that match their needs.
2. It's a fee an agent or company will charge when you sign a lease, presumably because you wouldn't have found the apartment without them showing it to you. The fee ranges, but I'd say expect a fee equal to 1 month's rent. It's pretty common in high turnover areas where keeping up on the available apartments is tough to do on your own (big cities).