I generally dislike dealing with brokers, but in searching for apartments in Astoria it makes sense as a lot of the landlords I met while looking were Greeks and spoke limited English. I can see how going through a broker (most of the brokers we dealt with could speak Greek too) would be easier for them, even though it makes getting an apartment twice as expensive for the renter.
Also, yes, they will ask many questions in the beginning. Any responsible landlord or broker is going to want to know your salary, budget, and living situation before they start dealing with you. Astoria is a nice neighborhood and the landlords care about their properties and who they rent to, since they typically will be your neighbors, also. So you need to show up ready with proof of income/employment and all that jazz if you want to snag a good place.
But anyway, by the time we showed up at Zikos we were desperate, since all the other brokers we'd dealt with had either just not had the units they'd advertised or the units were ridiculously bad.
We spoke with Mike after responding to an ad on Craigslist I found on my phone in a last ditch effort to have our day of apt hunting not be a total waste. He met us a few minutes later at the apartment, which was being renovated but was the perfect size, location, and price. We were sold immediately, and even though everything was very quick and we had to part with $1000 cash to hold the apartment (yeah, we handed $1000 cash to a guy we'd just met over Craigslist - NYC real estate makes you do crazy things) everything turned out okay. These guys are a lot more professional than a number of brokers I've dealt with.
The apartment was being renovated, like I said, but Mike assured us it would be done in time for our move-in and even sent us photos of the progress! Very thoughtful.
Then, the week before we were to sign our lease and move in, I found through the bed bug registry that the building had had bedbugs in the past (years ago, but still.) I franctically texted Mike about it, and he assured me it wouldn't be a problem. I was extremely upset, thinking we'd been had, since it was too late and expensive to walk away at that point. But then, Mike showed up to our lease signing with a carbon copy of an inspection summary from a pest control company showing that they'd had them out there that week, just for us, to get official proof that the building was clear. It wasn't something he had to do, but he said he wanted us to know we were dealing with good people. He made a copy of it for us to keep. It was wonderful of him.
Sure enough, we've been living in the apartment for 4 months now and haven't had any problems. The landlord is great, it's a family-owned building, and they were honest with us and there are absolutely no bedbugs (BELIEVE me - I check all the time because I do that anyway wherever I am).
Also, Mike stayed in touch throughout the whole process, made sure everything worked out with getting our keys, introduced us to the super and the landlord, bascially made himself available even after we signed, which is rare with brokers.
So, in the end, these guys are good to work with and I would recommend them to friends. Yes, having to go through a broker is frustratingly expensive, but we felt like Mike did his best to earn his fee, which is a lot more than I can say about people I've dealt with in the past! read more