Hi,
I'm a college student in NY and this is my first time looking for an apartment. I found a studio on Craigslist, contacted the poster, viewed the apartment, and although I was dubious about some aspects of it, it was in a great location and I was eager to get a new apartment ASAP. The person who showed me the apartment told me immediately there would be a $300 dollar deposit/fee to take it off the market, so I obliged and followed him to the real estate office.
I sat down with another dude, whom the agency belongs to, and he started giving me all of these numbers and figures and at the end of it I didn't even know what to think, let alone what to ask. It turned out to be a 600 dollar fee ($100 for the application, $500 deposit) to take it off the market. I was sketched out but agreed anyway, and after throwing more numbers at me, he had me sign a piece of paper titled "Financial Breakdown," listing all of those numbers and at the bottom saying verbatim,
"I, (name), agree to pay (real estate agency) the agreed upon commission of 3000 for (address) unless the landlord rejects my application. I understand that the application fee is unrefundable. My deposit is refundable should my application be rejected."
I signed it and I didn't think anything of it, and I left the office after he said he would let me know once my application had been accepted. I immediately regretted it, to be honest, but the next day he called to inform me that my application had been accepted, and that I should go in to pay the deposit ASAP. But at that point I no longer wanted to live in that apartment, so I called and said that I would be backing out. He said I still had to pay the 3000 dollar broker's fee because "legally, he fulfilled his job as a broker which is to get me an apartment," even though I haven't signed the lease or decided to move in. He did not tell me that I would be losing any money if I decided to back out when I met with him initially.
I know a lot of it was my fault, I shouldn't have signed anything without knowing all of the terms of the agreement upfront, but I did feel like he tried to take advantage of me being young and alone. The slip of paper I signed was weird and it did feel rather open in terms of interpretation. He also assumed that since I was Asian and my dad lived in another country that my dad couldn't speak English. On about three occasions during our initial conversation he mentioned to me about how since I'm an international student, it's easy for me to "flee" to another country without paying rent??? (But I'm not, I'm a U.S citizen...)
I told my dad about this and he told me to just refuse his phone calls and ignore him, that he's just trying to take advantage of me. But I'm kind of scared because I feel like I'm in the wrong, although I really don't see why I should be paying a broker's fee for an apartment I'm not moving into especially since they still have my 500 dollar deposit.
He keeps calling and the last time I answered his phone call, he told me to bring the check in ASAP and that he would help me find another apartment free of charge? Which I felt was sketchy because it feels as if the fee is arbitrary and he's just saying that I HAVE to pay it so that I go into the office and he can try to sell me another place and actually earn the fee. Does that make sense?
I was just wondering what to do in this situation, what my rights are, if I have to pay, what will happen if I don't pay.
Sorry about my rambling, I just figured it would be easier to get advice from someone of every detail of my situation was outlined. Thanks for your time and your help!