Yoreevo — Local services in New York

When deciding to sell our Manhattan apartment and analyzing the fees involved, I quickly realized that traditional real estate brokers get paid way too much for what they do (5%-6% all in). I researched alternatives on the Internet and came across Yoreevo.

Yoreevo is a full service, professional real estate brokerage firm with incredible customer service. They are changing the industry by offering better service at a lower fee. I called them directly and Leon Goldfeld picked up on a Saturday afternoon and spent an hour speaking with me and answering all my questions about the process, how to prepare the apartment, pricing, marketed the listing, negotiating tactics, etc. I highly recommend talking to Yoreevo before considering Corcoran, Christies, Douglas Elliman etc. Also avoid Hauseit (see my review), Do your research carefully because some firms are not transparent with regards to who they are and to whom they are referring the business.

I can say without hesitation that Yoreevo's level of service far exceeds the most prestigious firms in NYC. Don't be fooled by the brand names. They don't do anything special. When you hire a real estate broker, you are hiring the person, not the firm. You want someone who is going to stick with you through the entire process. Yoreevo was incredibly responsive and worked very hard through the most difficult market in NY history (COVID) and sold our apartment at a better than expected price. It did take longer than average, but the delays were due to COVID and other events that were beyond their control.

It's also important to understand how the real estate brokerage business works. The traditional 5-6% fee is typically split between the buyer and seller (3% each). This is a huge amount and hasn't changed in NYC in decades. The brands and other dynamics which Yoreevo can explain to you help them keep the fees up. This is changing. First, buyer demand is entirely driven by online searches. You can easily search and review pictures and videos online and then request to see the apartment. The buy side brokers really focus on guiding you through the process and help negotiate. There is no reason to pay 3% for buying an apartment that you can easily find online. Yoreevo will rebate two thirds of what they collect to buy an apartment in NYC. And they also charge only 1% to sell an apartment. In general, selling the apartment involves more work than buying, so make sure you hire a motivated and experienced team like Yoreevo.

After Yoreevo listed and marketed our apartment they found a represented buyer and negotiated a great above ask price for us. We signed the sale contract, the buyer was not sophisticated and didn't know how the closing process worked. They assumed everything was on autopilot or that their broker (Christies) would stay on top of the details. The Christies broker essentially checked out after the contract was signed. He was incredibly difficult to reach and delegated many tasks to a junior colleague. Be careful because many brokers are just sales people who are there to win the business and then they don't focus on the details. The most frustrating part of the deal was that Christies made more money for doing less work! It was shameful. Yoreevo worked tirelessly to keep the closing on track and had to do some of the work that Christies should have been doing.

Finally, we had a previous buyer that couldn't get financing and breached the contract. Yoreevo stuck with us and worked hard to get our apartment sold. Because of COVID Yoreevo effectively sold our apartment twice all for a 1% listing fee. Leon and the team were incredibly responsive and looked out for our best interest even when that meant less chance of selling the apartment. If you want to keep more of your money and have real professionals handle your sale, then give Yoreevo a call. You won't be...

I started my search to buy my first condo apartment in Manhattan with Yoreevo in spring of 2021, with an aggressive goal of being in contract within 2 months. I'm writing this review about 3 months after closing. I'm the type of person who wants to do my own extensive and comprehensive search of listings on the market, instead of relying on someone else, especially given how easy it is to search/filter online these days. I know my preferences best and what trade-offs make the most sense to me.

I was in shock when I learned that in NYC, essentially every real estate transaction has a licensed seller's and buyer's broker whose fees are predetermined as ~3% each (essentially 6% if the buyer doesn't have a broker since the seller's broker by default then also takes on the role of the buyer's broker). If I was going to do most of the search work myself anyway, what was I paying the buyer's broker to really do?

I had talked to Leon, one of Yoreevo's cofounders, and the business purpose and backstory of wanting to disrupt an unreasonable real estate market resonated a lot with me. 2% cash rebate is a huge part in doing that, and the way they make it work is by: reducing the fluff, supporting buyers where it matters, being more of a volume-based business, and spending most of their time servicing clients (not trying to find new ones). In particular, Yoreevo scheduled and coordinated viewings based on listings I provided them (this would have been a huge pain to do myself, especially during COVID when I was trying to fit in up to 9 viewings in a single day), provided comps within 24 hours of identifying a property to put an offer down for had a video conference to discuss offer considerations, suggested attorneys/insurance/title companies (not at all pushy), and support to compile all necessary documents for the offer package and board application.

I mainly worked with Paula and Leon, and they felt like true professional partners throughout the process. They were very knowledgeable, passionate about their work, and down to earth. Given the volume-based business, they are involved in many more deals per month than the typical broker, so they had a lot of experience (and market data/analyses) but at the same time didn't try to act like they could predict everything 100%. They were responsive, very honest and gave us their thoughts based on experience and recent anecdotes without being pushy.

While Leon/Paula couldn't be there for every viewing (they had their own open houses at the same time), they did make sure to be there at the first few to make sure the right questions were being asked, and share their opinions. By the time they couldn't be there, I was comfortable handling the viewings without them. Nonetheless, when they did have some free time, they still made sure to come at the scheduled time to see apartments together.

Everything through and after closing went very smoothly. I got the big rebate check in the mail (flexible options) within a few business days after closing and it all landed in my bank account safe and sound. Even in retrospect, Yoreevo seems like just the right working model for me and I would go back to them again.

TL;DR: Good service, save thousands of dollars,...

The first thing to know about working with Yoreevo is that there is no catch. It is at least as good as working with any other real estate agent except you get a fat check in the end. During the buying process, they made suggestions on apartment listings and came with me to the viewings. During the negotiation, they provided comps and solid recommendations. Once our offer was accepted, they suggested attorneys and mortgage lenders/brokers and worked with them and me until closing. Once we closed, they sent me a check for 2% of the purchase price (it cleared!).

I talked to 3 other agents before settling on Yoreevo:

1/ Hauseit/Homedax. Similar to Yoreevo in that they also return 2% on closing, but unlike Yoreevo, you don't know ahead of time who your agent will be as it could be any of their 20 agents (my understanding is Prevu operates in a similar way, but I didn't talk with them). I didn't like not know who I would work with, so I passed.

For reference, since the Hauseit vs. Homedax thing can be confusing, here is what they told me. Hauseit is the marketed company name that they use to source clients, but when they go out with clients to make offers on homes, they use the Homedax name. They say that is because seller's agent can be biased against buyers that work with companies that take less than 3% fees and since Homedax is not directly associated with the 2% rebates, it avoids that issue. I was skeptical, but whatever.

2/ An independent real estate agent that was intimately familiar with the area I was looking to buy. I think that if you aren't getting a significant rebate, this is the best option, particularly if you don't know the area. I wanted to stay in the same neighborhood I was living, so I passed.

3/ Compass. Most listing seem to come from Compass in my area (Park Slope) and it is possible that buyers working with Compass agents could get a head start on some new listing, but if that happens, it really isn't in the best interest of the sellers, so I can't imagine it happens that often. Pass.

In the end, 2% back sealed the deal, and knowing that I would work directly with one of the founders, Leon and James, sweetened it. I personally worked with Leon as well as Paula and both were very responsive and were just nice. Thanks...