I'm from CA and moved to the East Coast and can tell you the rental process here is insanely bad regardless of what people from here will tell you. CA has inherently less tenant protections in leases than a lot of places here, that's a fact. your security deposit is probably less safe there. as a normal renter that has a mostly stable life and keeps a nice living area though, it's completely useless. in fact, I prefer it.

here, both NY and MA, brokers here are not outlawed and not culturally taboo here. listen to this as a Californian and tell me how this isn't completely criminal: in NY and MA, you usually need to find a broker. pay them ONE MONTH RENT and all they do is forward you the documents to sign and send emails to the landlord. in California, a lot of these rental practices are just non existent if not illegal. people here will tell you that brokers are great because they can just find a place for you with less work. which is just entitlement. also when you move out, you MUST let brokers show your place. that means they CHANGE YOUR LOCKS and EVERY broker will have a key and free reign to show your apartment whenever theyd like. I'd give all my tenants protections just to not deal with that.