The choice between a no fee rental apartment in Manhattan and a rental apartment with a broker's fee in Manhattan looks like a pretty simple one. Who, after all, wants to pay extra fees on a rental apartment? But the more you look at the no fee rental apartment issue, the less complicated the question actually gets. No fee rentals are still the exception rather than the rule in the Manhattan real estate listings, with more than 90 percent of the apartments for rent in New York City charging renters some sort of fee. But it's more than just scarcity that makes a no fee rental apartment in Manhattan one of the most sought-after prizes in New York real estate.

The real appeal of no fee rental apartments is, naturally, that they offer big savings for renters. Because landlords, rather than renters, pay the broker fee on no fee rentals, no fee rental apartments cost renters significantly less than rental apartments with fees. Broker fees can run up to 15 percent of an apartment's annual rent, which means that finding a no fee rental apartment will save you nearly the cost of two months' rent, an amount which will almost certainly be in the thousands of dollars. It's seldom the case in real estate or anything else, but no fee rental apartments are a rare instance of something that's just as good as it sounds.