Please, avoid at all costs. Here's my story:
My girlfriend and I saw an apartment we liked and so we called the realtor that was representing the property - an agent from Exit on the Hudson Realty. The first meeting with their Representative was horrible from all accounts of my partner - the agent was disinterested, and was even caught bad-mouthing the current tenants of the apartment we were checking out. Not the biggest deal - we can all gossip. Plus I wasn't there. Maybe my partner misunderstood something.
NOPE! I came to view the apartment with my girlfriend this time and I could see what my girlfriend was saying. The realtor just stood in the kitchen, didn't tell us what was in the apartment and didn't even show the apartment for us. And not only that, she smelled like alcohol.
The apartment looked nice to me that day. In retrospect, since the tenants still had their belongings and furniture in the apartment, I should have been a little more cautious. Admittedly, I was a little believing that a realty company that I was paying with MY money was going to look out for my interests. HUGE MISTAKE. They were looking out more for the interests of the landlord then anybody else - and I was paying for it!
Ignorantly, we told the realtor we wanted to move on the apartment, but wanted to get a 2 year lease. She said the landlord will do this. Days later she comes with a 1 year lease. Another red flag. I reiterated again that I wanted a 2 year lease and she threatened to start showing the apartment to other people. I told her to have a nice day and to show it. Seemed like she was an extension of the landlord.
Later on, my partner and her talked, she apologized for the "miscommunication" and we were back on for the apartment with the landlord agreeing to a 2 year lease. We were scheduled to move on the 15th. As we draw closer to the 15 and we already signed the lease, we come to find out that the folks living there were moving out on the 14th and the apartment had not even been inspected- even after having asked the realtor this multiple times. We come later to find out that the previous tenants were in OUR apartment on the 15th.
The day before we were supposed to move in, we checked out the apartment and it was crusty and dirty. There were holes in practically every wall, a window held together with Duct tape, as well as peeling paint everywhere.
We told the realtor to relay our concerns to the landlord that we did not wish to take the apartment like that and these realtors(and their broker Annette ) told us that this is normal wear and tear. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I stopped dealing with them and decided to take this up with the landlord (whom was saying EXACTLY what the realtors were saying). I asked him if I can get in writing a timeline for the window to be fixed and he didn't want to sign anything. And you know what he and Annette has the gall to say? They tell us we should be more understanding that people moved out the day before. I told them the truth - we paid for that day and we paid for a safe apartment and this is business. The landlord is voiding his part of the agreement. If I didn't pay my rent I would be out on the street and rightfully so. Well, the landlord needs to have the window fixed as well as the walls repaired! To even hand an apartment over to someone in that condition is grossly unprofessional. The realtors parroted EXACTLY what the landlord was saying. In my head it was proof that they didn't give two cents about me, they only cared about the landlord whom probably lets them exclusively show apartments in the building. A win-win for everybody but the tenants.
Thereafter, their broker called my work-phone (after I explicitly told her I was working and could not talk) telling me she has never had a problem with their realtor before(YEAH RIGHT) and telling us that this apartment is normal wear-and-tear. Yeah, because a window held together by duct tape is normal wear and tear. It culminated with us, the realtors, and the landlord, agreeing to terminate the agreement. Good riddance. He agreed to refund and so did these people from this "real estate agency".
Worst moving experience I have ever had.
We called another broker that was absolutely amazing and professional. She showed us apartments, looking out for both the landlord AND our interests. A true professional. It now all makes sense that when we were signing the lease this agency also made us sign some document saying that their agency looked out for the interests of both the tenant and the landlord. They have probably had this problem before.
To give us our refund, they also made us sign some documents saying we didn't give landlord enough time and "admit" it was our fault. If I had the energy, I would sue them. Lucky them. I'm just glad they are axed from my life. read more
