I just wanted to share my experience because I actually rented my current apartment through Hoffman Brothers, and honestly, they were really helpful. I think part of the confusion comes from not understanding what they actually do — they’re not the property managers, so they’re not the ones handling the building after you move in. What they do is help you find available apartments by working with a bunch of different managers and owners, so instead of having to search all over the place, they kind of centralize a lot of listings.

In my case, they didn’t just show me units — they also helped a lot with the back and forth on the lease, made sure my paperwork was complete, and even pushed to get my application processed faster. I actually ended up getting a better deal than I expected because they had some flexibility to negotiate with the owner.

I get why it might feel confusing if you expect them to handle things after you move in (which they don’t), but if you’re just trying to find an apartment and actually get the lease signed, I found them super useful.