What I originally proposed was entirely based on what I've read about the agents, just turned around and played back to them, no worse, no better than how they appear to treat some of the other expats on this forum. Maybe it was a little tongue-in-cheek too.
I have done exactly the same thing in London, where appropriate. E.g. one agent hid their fees until the last minute (they wanted one weeks rent), so when they told me that, I went to another agent with the same flat but the other agent was only charging a fixed fee of 100 GBP (more than 66% discount against the less transparent agent)
The bottom line is this: 10 years ago, one month's rent was not so much as it is now and charging 1 month's rent was probably fair in relation to the effort made by the agent.
The rents have gone up a lot, but the living costs and operating costs for the agent haven't gone up - yet they are still charging 1 month's rent, rather than the same nominal amount for their time.
Today they demand a fee of $4000 for the same flat that earned them $1000 a decade ago. Has any other industry (e.g. school teachers or nurses) seen such a dramatic rise in their income while doing the same work?
The landlord situation is completely different: landlords do have higher mortgages, higher construction and acquisition costs than 10 years ago. But the agents have none of those costs, they have simply continued this `charge one months rent' mantra long after rents went through the roof. They won't change that themselves, only market pressure will force them back down to a reasonable margin over their actual cost of operating.
