R New York — Local services in New York

Never work with this company. All their agents I dealt with were incredibly unprofessional. Per my lease, I was required to allow entry to the owner and owner’s brokers for apartment showings at reasonable hours and given reasonable notice. Per my landlord’s management office, we were required a minimum of 24-hours notice. To be flexible, I asked for at least 12-hours notice.

During this process, R New York’s agents showed blatant disregard for me and my roommate, our pets, and our schedule. They gave little to no notice before bringing clients to my apartment. Several times their clients would show up to my appointment and ring my doorbell and/or knock on my door while R New York’s agents were running late or didn’t show up at all. This carried on for an entire week.

My worst experience was with Maya Hayon. Initially, she agreed to give reasonable notice before showing my apartment. Then she proceeded to schedule showings with 1-hour notice. When I told her no, she responded, “Okay I’ll let [your landlord’s] management know then.” When I reminded her of the reasonable notice requirement, she said, “Unfortunately I really wish I can give you more notice but it’s rentals and there is a lot of demand now and the owners want us to rent there units but it’s hard to do so with tenant that hardly give access.” This was the first time, after 5 days of constant, last minute showings, that I didn’t permit access.

Despite saying I would not permit access, her client shows up to my apartment anyway. After Maya finally came to her appointment, I verbalized my frustration about the situation. She brushed me off and asked her client if she’d like to see more apartments.

I walked back to my apartment and a few minutes later knocked on my neighbors door. As I was speaking with my neighbor in the hallway, Maya walked out of my neighbor’s apartment (didn’t realize she was showing my neighbors apartment). I said nothing.

Maya confronted me, said I should be careful because they will take my security deposit and that she’s going to talk to my landlord for giving her a “hard time”. In front of her client.

Randall Smith showed up within 10 minutes to smooth things over. He said he, “had a long talk with her” and assured me my apartment had been rented so I shouldn’t expect people to ring my doorbell or knock on my door multiple times a day. Unfortunately, he lied, and R New York’s clients rang and knocked on my door all weekend because they kept my apartment listing up on StreetEasy. Even though my apartment was supposedly rented and off the market, because R New York are bait-and-switch experts.

Also, R New York doesn’t report the correct monthly rent on StreetEasy. I was paying $2700, but R New York’s listing on StreetEasy said it was rented for $3300 during the duration of my lease. There was no net/gross rent situation. After my apartment was taken off the market, they said it was rented for $3500, when in reality, it was rented for $3000. Avoid this slimy,...

Broker Andarz aka Andy Abedini is the dudebro of NYC real estate. He showed up to a property I wanted to see drunk and aggressive. I could smell alcohol on him. He opened doors by slamming them against the wall. Every time I tried to ask a question about the apartment, he cut me off and spoke over me. He demanded I send him his email address, which I half-heartedly did because I liked the property. He responded in his typical unprofessional manner, with heaps of disrespect and condescension, and saying the property was "totally rented" (is it possible for an apt to be less than "totally" rented?). Less than 12 hours later...on a Sunday morning. I called up the management myself that morning and the woman speaking on behalf of Carol, the manager, said the property had not been rented. Numerous phone calls and emails were sent to Charles Rutenberg to complain of Andybro's behavior, and when I finally got someone on the phone, I was not confident the issue of his behavior would be resolved.

Maybe there are other brokers at CR that account for their good reviews. I wouldn't automatically presume the reviews here are fake. However, I don't believe for a second this guy could possibly inspire any 5 star reviews you may find on the internet. Caveat emptor and don't enable this guy by giving these guys...

Ignore the top reviews: these guys are Bait and Switch specialists who get away with it because the market is hot.

Randall Smith specifically is the piece of trash that set up an appointment for the next day. I commute into the city to see the place, only to be told the apartment was rented a week ago. The only other apartments available were $300 more per month. Oh by the way, as of 3 days later, that post is still up.

Oh by the way, they basically fake the photos they post. They claim that it's just smart photography, but they specifically will edit in furniture that definitely wouldn't fit into the room, and in my last viewing, they even showed pictures that had windows on either side of the apartment, which weren't there when I showed up (I saw several of the more expensive units in the building, they all had the same floor plan and none were like the photos).

If you see their posting on Streeteasy, assume that the apartment will be about 3x smaller than how it looks. Also assume they'll pull a bait and switch and show you something much more...