One of the most important things that poker players worldwide need when they travel or relocate is accommodations. Short term, long term, houses, apartments, condos, roommates – this is the foundation of being able to travel and live abroad.
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We have helped nearly 500 poker players with this to-date. In the years pre-Black Friday, we helped thousands of Americans, Europeans and other citizens rent or purchase property in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico etc.
The main inquiry we receive on email is “Can you show me some rental properties?” The answer is that we can, but we charge a fee for this because we are a consulting and relocation company – not a real estate company. It’s a completely different approach and different service. Instead of having a website full of properties passively sitting online, we go out and do a proactive, customized search for each player. The next question we receive is “Why should I pay Poker Refugees when a realtor will work for free?” Here is the answer:
1. Representation & Conflict of Interest: The structure of the real estate and rental industry is completely flawed we think you’d agree. Realtors, rental agents, etc all work on commission and the owners pay commission. That means they work for the owners. It’s completely illogical that these agents should also represent the person looking for a property. So the buyer/renter/tenant hires a realtor “for free” to find him a property that meets his needs. The only problem is, you get what you pay for (in this case, nothing). The realtor will only show a client properties that s/he can earn money on and direct commission on. This limits the inventory that the renter/buyer will see. For the renter to get a comprehensive view of the market, he would have to go to 10, 20, 100 realtors and also pore over classifieds and countless other online sources to get an accurate picture of what is realistically available. The current model is backwards and results in tenants always getting a limited selection of properties to choose from and puts upward pressure on prices. The more realtors involved, the higher the commission because they all want a piece. This is the only industry we can think of that is set up this way. It’s utter insanity.
Have you ever told a rental agent your budget then they showed you a ton of properties that were above it? Maybe they even said there was nothing available in your price range? That’s because they want to make more money. The more expensive the property, the better, although that’s not in your best interest; it’s in theirs.
How is Poker Refugees different? We don’t represent owners. We don’t rely on commission. We work for our clients like a Renter Agent. We represent one side of the deal. We charge our clients a fee to cover our time searching. We are able to find lower-priced properties without any commission added on top most of the time. We find good deals and fairly priced rental options that are not intentionally inflated.
2. No Licensing Requirements in Developing Countries: Anyone can decide to be a realtor or rental agent in places like Costa Rica, Mexico and pretty much any developing country. There are no restrictions or licensing requirements. Is it really safe to fork your hard earned money over to an unknown local or foreign agent and hope for the best? This is a major problem that results in:
- Unqualified, untrained people posing as realtors and rental agents
- Firms that don’t have any known reputation or track records in most cases
- Rampant unethical behavior by agents and brokers (short-term mindset)
- Unlicensed brokers, many managing international franchise chains
- High turnover (people disappear – a lot)
- Foreigners who decide to make extra money on the side from commissions
- Foreigners who are partaking in this industry for the wrong reasons and have shady pasts
- Scam artists and “comisionistas” who put up websites with fake properties
- Zero accountability if something goes wrong
- No accountable ethics bureau or licensing board to report complaints to
- Little to no legal recourse whatsoever
- We have a database of thousands of owners, property managers, rental agencies and other sources, all of whom we have either already worked with before and vetted or have a history and accountability with. We can reach hundreds of sources in one day, something that would take people months or years of time to accomplish. For each client we reach out en masse to our entire list for the corresponding destination. We are your direct contact, one source portal to reach a huge number of sources on your behalf.
- We know market prices and comps and we know when agents are lying
- We don’t care what your budget is because we don’t rely on commissions – it can be $250/month or $5,000/month. Meanwhile, agents want your budget to be higher so they make more money on the rental.
- We have a lot of experience at this. We are efficient and effective. This level of expertise is not attainable overnight.
- We are neutral to the property our players rent. We don’t care if a property is commissionable or not: We will not limit the search based on commissions. We search everywhere from online classifieds to vacation rental sites to Airbnb and beyond to find the perfect property for our clients. That’s why so many hire us repeatedly for their property needs.
- Be informed about local laws. Know how much your landlord is allowed to charge as a security deposit. It may be less than you think.
- Be proactive. Discuss the terms for retaining and paying back the deposit before you move in. Agents will jump as high as you need and bend over backwards for you (before you pay any money) to make sure you will rent their property over others. Once they are paid, you’re probably on your own, but make them work for it in advance.
- Have an independent party or your own lawyer review the rental agreement. Specifically check for language regarding the security deposit and make sure you’re in agreement with the terms.
- Make sure you know who is responsible for the bills and what the timeline is to return your deposit upon check-out and the method in which it is being returned (should be returned in the same way you paid it: cash for cash, transfer for transfer, same currency, etc)
- Do an inspection of the property upon check-in and take photos of anything that is broken, dirty or damaged.
- Fill out an inventory upon check-in and keep this for the first few days while you adjust to the house, then email a copy of this and any photos to the rep and landlord with all pre-existing damages documented. Make sure the rep or owner also signs and acknowledges this!
- Abide by all the clauses in the contract, especially notifying if you are extending or when you are moving out accordingly (usually there is a 30- or 60-day clause about this). Make sure that the owner and rep know when you are moving out and that they are there for check out and to facilitate return of your deposit.
- Make sure all bills are paid and up to date (if you are responsible for them) so these won’t be deducted from the deposit and provide receipts to avoid delays in returning your deposit.
- Return the property in the same condition it was provided to you in – hopefully clean. Don’t give them an obvious reason to charge you for any damage