The Halo Long Island City — Local services in New York

I usually don’t write reviews but I think I want the owners of HALO and its future tenants to know what my experience has been with this building. A few months ago, my husband and I came across a listing on Streeteasy for a junior 2 bedroom/2 bath for $3,650 at the Halo. We made an appointment in April with their office and met with a broker the Halo works with from Fiddler Realty. The broker was extremely nice at first, gave us a proper tour of the building and worked with us on our application. We submitted our application with a requested move-in date for June 15, paid the security deposit and all application fees. The broker told us that the building was not fully open so by the time our application got approved, there was a possibility that the move-in date would change to either July 1/July 15/August 1 depending on an available move-in slot.

Over the next few weeks, we went back and forth on the application as they have very strict requirements. Finally on June 7th, the broker told us that our application was approved but we would have to pay a minimum of five months of advance rent in addition to the security deposit as one of us had a late payment in one of our accounts back in 2012. LOL! Since we really wanted that apartment, we asked the broker to give us a few more days as $20K was a pretty large amount to pay upfront. We also requested him to change our lease/move-in date to July 15 they notified us about our approved application only 10-12 days before our requested move in date. He said he would check with the management and let us know. A few days went by and then we texted him again to get the status and to let him know that we would way pay the 5 months of rent given that the lease date was moved to July 15. He wrote back to us on June 15 (our original move-in date request) and said that our lease had already started that day. We, of course, fell from the sky as there was no lease signed. The only thing we signed and submitted was our application form and we were told that the lease would be signed between the two parties once we agreed upon everything.

We immediately called him to understand the situation. His explanation was that he requested the Management to change the move-in date but the Management denied it. Not only did he fail to notify us that the Management denied our request to change our move-in date, he kept insisting that the lease had already started that day, even though we did not sign a lease. He was extremely rude and unprofessional and was even laughing about how it was our mistake. After sending him several screenshots of our past conversation, he finally admitted that he made a mistake in communicating. He then asked us to wait while he checked with the Management. After a week, WE messaged him AGAIN and he said that the Management would not change the lease (note: we NEVER signed anything the lease) and we would have to pay half of that month’s rent in order to keep the apartment. Even though the broker made the mistake, they said we would have to pay for that month even if we didn’t stay in that apartment. I requested him multiple to connect me to the Management directly, but he refused to do so.

Since they were so unprofessional and unethical, we finally decided to withdraw our...

I have to preclude this review by stating that the door attendants, amenities and overall building is very nice. Nevertheless, be cautious, your electrical bill will be $300 to $400 monthly for a one bedroom. Goose Mgmt. will also nickel and dime you with a $2 fee for “convenience” when paying your rent online.

I am going to document a process that is deeply flawed. Upon our lease end, the 60 days leading to my wife and me moving out brokers harassed us almost every other day via email, phone call, and text. Even though we clearly outlined times that brokers can bring prospective renters by, even the front desk would even harass us by buzzing thru the loud intercom.

We documented over 14 showings, however towards the end, when their incompetent brokers could still not lease out our unit, Goose Property Management threatened our security deposit in an email and verbally.

Just like Goose Property Mgmt., nickels and dimes everyone a $2 fee when paying rent online, they ended up taking a $350 cleaning fee out of our security deposit! We are a professional couple with no kids that left the unit very clean, deeply cleaned all applicants, wiped down every counter and surface, dusted all baseboards, and vacuumed in cabinets. When emailing goose property management to confirm a satisfactory checkout, they never responded. They did not response to two other emails after that.

Overall, nice building with nice amenities. Be aware of the greedy and unprofessional management and the exuberant electricity costs! Your electrical bill will be a car payment.

They do not have one or two professional brokers, they have hordes of internet brokers that will pester you, and your family to get the apartment rented. In addition, because of religious reasons their office is closed for days and weeks at a time. This is still a business, you should not have to wait days, and days for a response...

I lived here about 5 years ago with my friend in a two bedroom apartment (a third person was supposed to be involved but that fell through after the lease was already in place yikes) This was a hassle to get to by car or even to get dropped off by a taxi or uber, I don’t know if that’s changed since I lived there. I felt totally safe at this location though and the views are beautiful at night especially. There was plenty of space for both of us to live and even an office space in the apartment that we shared! There were a ton of cool amenities that we got charged for even if we never ever used them which was a pain for people trying to save money but if you have the time, there is a gym, a private workout/yoga room with TV, a theater space for private watch parties (given out first come first serve) and several lounge areas to hang out in or get work done. I believe there was a dog spa? Or a dog sitting or dog walking service (iI didn’t have any dogs so you’d have to check) you could use for a fee and a small dog friendly outdoor area out back with yet another place to lounge around. Oh right and a computer lab type room for quiet co-working and you could even reserve one of the meeting rooms for no charge. I wish I had had more time to use the amenities but...