avoiding brokers in Carroll Gardens

anonymous · August 2007

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to move to Carroll Gardens (or Cobble Hill, but it seems more expensive), and I was wondering for some general advice.

Has anybody had any luck avoiding brokers through a source that wasn't as competitive as craigslist? I mean I can check the no-brokers area of that website but there are only so many listings...

I ask this because I've read a lot about how you might do this creatively in more popular areas of manhattan -- calling up rental management companies, looking out for rental signs, rent-direct.com, making friends with doormen...

what can I do in Carroll Gardens? Would a lanlord ever post a rental signs outside of an apartment???

I was hoping I might even find some inspiring success stories here! or is it even possible to avoid brokers in the neighborhood?

iluvbrooklyn · August 2007

good luck. it'll take you months and months to wait to find something this way. i've lived here for years and i'm moving Saturday within Carroll gardens and I tried not using a broker for 4 months and caved because I couldn't wait any longer.

hercules q. einstein · August 2007

I wish I had good news for you, but it's not an easy thing to do in Brooklyn. Any landlord who isn't using a broker is going to post ads through Craigslist. I never see rental signs outside of apartments. Unfortunately, there's no incentive for a landlord not to use a broker since there the renter is the one absorbing the fee.

There is a lot of competition for the apartments for rent by owner/landlord. If you can afford it and have great credit, you can always offer to pay a few months rent up front in cash. At least that cash would be going toward rent instead of a broker's fee.

good luck!

anonymous · August 2007

thanks for the info! I thought that might be the case, that brokers tough to avoid, but I just thought I'd check in case there was something neighborhood specific I could look into.

back to brokers and craigslist...

anonymous · September 2007

look on craigslist. - there are a lot of things on it. look every day.and expect doing several trips. with your checkbook in one hand and your credit check in the other. it is a lot of work but there are owners out there who are not willing to have their future tenants pay an outrageous amount of money for a 5 min viewing. you can find something with time and perseverance. we found something - it was work- but we did. so if we could you can !good luck

anonymous · September 2007

Subject: don't use this broker

do not use alan gerovitz...just don't...you can think about it...but really - just spare yourself.

anonymous · September 2007

Destination on Court pulls the Bait & Switch quite a bit.
I was very pleased with Brownstone RE

anonymous · September 2007

Subject: Re: don't use this broker

hesacreep wrote: do not use alan gerovitz...just don't...you can think about it...but really - just spare yourself.

I have to disagree. Yes, he is quite a handful, but he found excellent apartments for me and several friends.

anonymous · September 2007

Subject: respectfully agree to disagree

he was extraordinarily disrespectful of me and my boyfriend. we were nothing if not patient and polite while he took calls and ignored us. we answered all of his questions. he essentially told my boyfriend to shut up at one point (raising his hand in front of my boyfriends face) 'because she is obviously the decision maker'. he wanted to send us to apts in red hook and on huntington st. when we distinctly specified cobble hill quite clearly with street parameters precisely described. oh, and no time limit. he took more than 3 calls while we patiently sat with him over 15 minutes - granted one of them was about an apt. - on huntington street - hello BQE! - not quite the center of cobble hill, is that? he told us there just weren't ANY apts in cobble hill to show 'people like us' (aka not wealthy wall streeters) - and likely wouldn't be. which is just soo funny...now...we found a beautiful one in a brownstone on a quiet street smack dab in the middle of cobble hill, in our price range, with a lovely deck. how 'bout that!? go figure.

i've met other couples who were similarly dismissed by alan and treated quite rudely. i was told 'he's completely nuts, but he's the best'. so i went to him first figuring how nuts could he be? and if he's good, i'll deal with it. and would have happily paid him the nearly $3500 broker fee. i guess he's too wealthy to be concerned with customer service or even with basic manners. go across the street to cobble heights, they gave us absolutely no attitude and were very helpful and encouraging even when i was so disheartened by alan's bad behavior that i considered not looking any longer.

i guess you and your friends were in his favor...good on ya...i still say stay away from him unless you have a very tough exterior.

anonymous · September 2007

Subject: Re: don't use this broker

creepybutgood wrote: [quote=hesacreep]do not use alan gerovitz...just don't...you can think about it...but really - just spare yourself.

I have to disagree. Yes, he is quite a handful, but he found excellent apartments for me and several friends.

He refused our business, saying "we weren't motivated enough". Reason being, we on a corporate relocation and couldn't look every day.

He's a total douche.

avoiding brokers in Carroll Gardens

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