Brownstone Real Estate — Local services in New York

After writing the bad review below I discovered I was not alone and Callie is no longer with the company. Also the owner reached out to ask what happened and provided his cell phone for me to call. I called and explained in details what happened. He listened and took full responsibility. Kudos for two reasons: one is: putting your face in front of an annoyed customer. Two: welcoming the feedback and take full responsibility. Mistakes happen and a company that has the courage to reach out and show that this is not how they do business is a great experience to have. And will definitely give them another chance.

First of all we are all relieved by the fact that these people are becoming obsolete and tech will finally put them out of business. I met very few real estate brokers in my 10+ years in NYC that could add value to the process of finding a home. Caroline (Callie) and Brownstone Real Estate, brought negative value to the process. And this is without considering 12% fee they charged. We were the first to see the place. We gave them the deposit to take the place off the market. Agreed to meet owner and bring documentation in a week. During that week we were harassed by Callie calling me and my girlfriend multiple times a day because her boss pressed her to get the broker fee. On top of that she wanted us to sign a lease that was not reflecting what we discussed. The document wasn’t even updated from a standard one to reflect our agreed requests. i needed to amend the contract and rewrite it myself. When we needed to bring the document I asked if I could send soft copies. She insisted in printed ones, and when I brought all the documents she scanned and emailed it to the owner! When she showed the apt we noticed dead roaches in the basement. She said all was taken care of, and they were in fact dead. When we moved in, we discovered the basement was infested and it took 3 weeks to get rid of them. The pictures she took of the apt were very bad (what else is your job as a RE agent?!). We barely took this place into consideration from them. When the old tenant moved out would have been the perfect moment to take new ones. Do you think they did? When she gave us the document to say she was also representing us (so all fee for herself!) she said: “I work for the owner but in reality I work for you”. The reality is: it’s a racket and they are there only to collect the fee. They don’t care about anything else. We had huge problems with the apt and after we moved in never heard a word from Brownstone Real Estate. They didn’t even inform the owner of all the issues that needed to be fixed and I spent almost a month after moving in, to fix all of this directly with the owner. My advice is: do not use them, they don’t care about their customers. If they are representing the other side make sure you have your own broker, to deal with them and bring some professional...

After reaching out to 4 separate individuals at brownstone listings via Office Phone, Individually listed cell numbers, work emails, Notes left with reception I finally gave up. Frank in particular had to be hunted down for several days only to tell me the listings I was interested were rented. totally understandable as frank is the slowest agent I have ever ATTEMPTED to work with. several of his co workers spent days trying to get him to respond to my messages. when he finally did he said he would look at other listings to show me and get back to me. Never heard from him. Never heard from 2 other coworkers 1 who never replied and the other who said he was customer care and wanted to check up on my experience with the agency. when I told him I was having extreme difficulties getting in contact with anyone he never replied. THIS PLACE IS A JOKE. I am aware of the ny market and came with all my paperwork and a deposit, its crazy no one was actually able to help in any way shape or form. would give this place ZERO...

Finding an apartment in NYC is the least fun part about living or wanting to live in NYC but three things about Brownstone Real Estate made this process a five star experience for me:

1. They've got beautiful listings that are accurately described and portrayed in their pictures which is crucial because most of the time places look an order magnitude better in their listings than they do in real life. On top of that my listing even had a 3D tour widget that allowed an immersive visit from my computer as well as a floor plan and the official square footage.

2. It was easy to set up a showing and the broker I dealt with, Michael DiMartino, was courteous, professional and super responsive.

3. The process from seeing the place to signing the lease was less than 24 hours, and yes granted I had all my documents ready but they also had it all together as well.

Very happy with the experience, would recommend to anyone looking to rent or buy...