If anyone doesn't believe me that it is a tight and fast rental market out there, check out the Prudential Douglas Elliman Rental Report that came out yesterday.

If you don't want to deal with all the numbers, allow me to paraphrase: rental prices are stabilizing, if they're not a little lower than normal, but vacancy is shrinking.

Also: concessions are disappearing. For instance, I have a client right now who would like a no fee one bedroom in Murray Hill, and there are none to be had. There are barely any decent one bedrooms, and none that are no fee.

That said: see a place you like, hop on it, and pay the fee with a smile. Unless you find a building with an on site agent, there's not much way to get around it.