WARNING: long analysis!
It's interesting to see that I was introduced to Yelp by Zuz Realty (David specially) and a tool that could have potentially helped their business grow in many ways, is now hindering them in others.
Here's my experience with them:
Moved back to Brooklyn the first week in January 2012, found a Broker and moved into my apt. in March for a one year lease. Rental rate was $1050. Simple process fantastic price, and it only took 2months; how awesome, right!? WRONG!!! That could not be the furthest from the truth! The other reviews about Zuz are spot on but let me clarify some things, from my experience/perspective:
Are they scam artists? I wouldn't go that far but what makes them appear "shady" is their horrendous communication, greedy behavior, poor follow up, limited partnering with properties and disorganization. So let's run down the list:
Horrendous Communication: you will initially have some sort of lack luster chat (which feels very rushed) about the details of the kind of apt. your looking for, the date you need to move and then, things go downhill from there! After being clear on what you wanted, they will still present you with whatever they have without considering anything you discussed; which leads to my next point...
Greedy Behavior: like any business or broker, their about the bottom line, "how much can I make from this deal"?! Nothing is wrong with that if you want to be successful making quick money and lose long term clients that can use you again or refer you to others. They will hike the rental price up because many times, building owners are working with multiple brokers and the brokers will try to get a higher paying renter so it's a better deal for them- i.e the owner is getting more then expected and broker is securing a better relationship with owner in hopes that the owner will begin to use said brokers pool of applicants over other brokers. So what happened to the renter's needs? Smh, your not considered! hence, my next point...
Poor Follow-up: if making money off of you becomes complicated with the renter's budget, desired neighborhood, apt. features, credit etc., forget it! There is no daily or weekly follow up on the status of your application or apt. or leads. They will typically make you feel like they are doing YOU a favor so prepare to take many days off work running behind them because the onus is on YOU to STALK them with emails, calls and text on a daily basis and they will respond whenever they can or if they have something for you (i.e. potential money for them; otherwise, it's on to the next chase/renter)....
They don't have a diverse pool of relationships with building owners and there is no structure on how they do anything in that office. Seems like all their partnerships with building owners are made while chit chatting over tzimmes and sufganiyah; a complete joke.
Although I liked the wood floors and large windows in my place, it had many many issues and was broken into later. Guess I got what I paid for right?!
Smh, moral of the story is, just say NO to these people. There are professional Brokers out there that will treat you like a client and not a check. read more