Far lol

Never had to pay a broker in the New Bedford area.

I've lived near the subway but outside Boston city limits all my life, never paid a broker fee

Worcester

It's easy enough to get a place in Boston with no broker fee in my experience. I've never paid one before. Just look on Craigslist for no fee listings

You know I always hear you no broker fee folks mention Craigslist. I use Zillow etc as a landlord and tried Craigslist in the past. I’ll never use it again. It’s full of scams and the leads generated have been nothing but crap. My recommendation to you and anyone who reads this is to look at the other more common sites as well. You don’t need to be a broker to post there.

Craigslist isn't even full of fee-free listings if you can get past all the scams. Plenty of listings on there still have brokers fees--in fact most of the legitimate listings for a whole apartment do, at least for places in the city proper and Cambridge/Somerville. The no fee options that arent scams are mostly people renting out single rooms in shared apartments. Since some other sites don't allow that type of listing, it can seem like Craigslist has more no fee options, but that's not the case if you're looking at only whole apartments.

I've found great places on Craigslist and I think it's a fine site to use, but it's absolutely not the fee-free haven I see some people on here make it out to be. If you know the area and the market imo it's pretty easy to weed out the scams, but then what you're left with still have brokers fees as much as any other site.

No broker fees with condos. Condos are much better value in Chelsea beyond . I currently have a condo $2300 665sq ft with parking and amenities. 10min drive to seaport. I’ll be moving to the vero and no fees to move in there just security first last .

Didn’t have to pay a rental broker fee in Melrose, right on OL for a super easy commute/ 20 min drive in

What do you mean by condo? Everywhere I’ve lived in triple-deckers or multi-unit buildings are technically condos.

Lynn Lynn the city of sin, there's no need for brokers 'cause noone wants in.

Four apartments in Brighton, one in Allston, and two in Cambridge and I never paid a brokers fee. It takes extra work hunting but it's not like they're required. The landlord is supposed to pay it but they try to pass it off on you and you can say no. The landlord can then say no to you but they don't always. My general rule is too try to get at least one viewing a day (average, I'll do like four in one day and then none for a few days) knowing some of those will fall through and start four months before my intended move in date. I'll usually start looking before that but much more relaxed about it. If I get to crunch time (the month before the month of my intended move in date) without signing anything I start looking for three or four hours a day. Sometimes I'll be in the process to sign four or five apartments (I'm obviously not going to follow through on that many) and still be looking. If you're gonna be broke you gotta put in the work. Being lazy is for rich folk.

Europe

I think it depends. There are communities right in Boston that rent to people they know and skip the brokers.

Out of state

You can walk yourself into any full service building, Copley owned, or Hamilton owned property in the city and not pay a broker. You can also search the by owner page on Craigslist.