Citi

Doesn't Recommend

Lorimer

Joined 3 years ago

Dishonest brokers. Their broker did not disclose information about the management company's laxity in maintaining the building that would have clearly made the apartment unacceptable, though it turned out she was well aware of how problematic they were. She had been funnelling people to that property on a long term basis. Eventually those issues caught up with me and caused me to pull another move earlier than anticipated.

To make things even better, a week after the lease was signed, the management company told me they had paid the broker, but... the broker had gotten a 15% fee from me before signing (this was before the market came down). So these people got paid off twice for the deal. Of course, I tried to talk to the broker's boss, and he blew me off. That's where customer service comes to a grinding halt.

If 'buyer beware' applies anywhere, CitiHabitats is it. The only further thing that can be said is that, in all other respects, they are just like any NYC broker: they will show you tons of crappy apartments that don't meet your stated requirements.

Here are a few hits that may be helpful in your search:

1) Beware of bait and switch: a large number of listings are for properties that don't exist on the market. You'll be told that there's an application on the property, but in fact the whole thing is a just a ruse to get an 'in' with you for the broker, so they can show you whatever they have in inventory.

2) Most brokers will tell you that it's a bad idea to work with multiple brokers because everything on the NY market is supposed to be listed in the common database. Well guess what? The fact that they are telling you to only work with one broker should be a sign that you darn well should use as many information sources as possible (and not just brokers, mind you)

3) Don't let them hoodwink you by talking up a feature that they discovered is attractive to you, so that they can distract you from other things that in the final rendition will make the property unworkable. If the location is really great, think a bit more about what it would really cost to fix up that old apartment. If you find the apartment features really great, check that location's proximity to the subway. Take that walk when you get a chance. Don't let the broker distract you during a showing.

4) Brokers will always try to rush you into closing once they discover you are interested in one of their apartments. Take your time to consider the situation. If the broker gets pushy, tell them to shut up.

5) And last but not least: pretentious, holier-than-thou NY brokers - gimme a break, these people are snake oil merchants. Feel free to tell them to shut up.

Doesn't Recommend

NewYorker2011

Joined 3 years ago

Avoid at All Costs. This company's brokers are questionable at best. I am all for being competitive and business is business but they are either incompetant or worse.

Recently, they tried to reneged on a deal I had for a place without notice and did not allow me to put in a counter offer until I had my broker from another firm raise a stink about it. This after they had setup a lease signing and after they had told me a place was mine. Avoid at all costs. You do not want to be on either side of a deal with them.

Doesn't Recommend

THEM

Joined 4 years ago

Misleading and incompetent. Looking for an apartment, kept getting the car salesman, "everything's good, everything's fine"... but no real answers. Never responded directly to any question.

Lots of headaches. Look elsewhere.

Finally found a great place with Caliber Associates.

Doesn't Recommend

CUSIP

Joined 4 years ago

WASTE of TIME. We are relocating to Manhattan and only have a few weekends before we need to be settled in. We spoke with Danny Moyals. We didn't want to waste his time so we let him know our budget of 2400, looking in UWS, would like to be near a park. He said no problem he had a ton of places to show us...got down to the city, he was all the sudden unavailable and had his partner show us around. Then all the apartments within our price range we thought we came to the city to check out were instantly all rented and wanted to show us 2700-3000 apartments. I would NEVER recommend them. They don't take the 15 minutes of time to find out what is important to you and classic bait and switch...Total waste of time and only creating more pressure for us to relocate.

Recommends

BrooklynsBest

Joined 4 years ago

Best Brooklyn Broker. No fee Apartments available

He was knowledgeable and professional. He worked quickly and found an apartment in the time I needed it.

Contact him for Brooklyn apartments no matter what your budget is

Call Quran Deas

347-415-9211

Recommends

BonTon

Joined 4 years ago

Contact Alex Cheung - a good agent. Alex was a very helpful, easy going agent to work with. Whenever I had a question or issue he was always quick to respond. He helped me find a great apartment at a very good price when something else I liked fell through. He does fee and no fee apartments.

Doesn't Recommend

afenfun

Joined 4 years ago

Waste of time, use Craigslist. met with a broker. showed me a total of 3 apartments. always seemed like she made the appointments that morning, because she "couldn't get a hold" of half the available landlords. the broker's game was asking me what apartments i wanted to see from their website. when i looked and picked things, half of them were already rented. the apartments i was shown were all buildings i had seen on craigslist. it seemed to me like bait you with nice pictures on their website, make appointments for craigslist apartments, and then expect you to pay a fee if you see one you like (that you would have easily found yourself).

Doesn't Recommend

wawinter

Joined 4 years ago

Wasted over a month of my time.... I was shown an apartment by one of their agents at then end of November. The apartment was undergoing minor renovations. He told me that the management company verified that the apartment would be ready for my Dec. 16th move-in date. The 16th came and the work had not been completed.

The agent reassured me that the work would be completed that week and it would be ready by January 1st at the latest. On December 29th the agent said that all that was left was to get the lease from the management company. The next day, on December 30th, he was unable to get the lease because the renovations were not done and it would be at least a few weeks until they would be.

The agent knew that I had canceled my lease and I did not have any other options readily available to me.

He then proceeded to offer me a smaller apartment in the same building for the same amount of money. It was around this point that I lost my temper on the guy. He then came back with an offer of the same smaller apartment for slightly less money. If this is not the very definition of a "bait and switch" I do not know what is.

He had plenty of opportunities to check on the original apartment and was insisting all along that it would be ready. He could have checked on it anytime between the 20th to the 30th. He left me a day before New Years Eve in NYC with no lodging. He lied to me and, of course, blamed it all on the management company. He refused to take any responsibility and offered me no compensation, other than the smaller apartment for slightly less money. It was not until I pointed out that he should have checked on the apartment after the week of Dec 16th to see if the renovations were done that he agreed to give me back my application fee.

Perhaps there are honest, responsible brokers that work there, but even if there are, it's a crap-shoot.

Recommends

mkennedy2

Joined 6 years ago

I had a great experience with the West Village office. I had the best experience with Citi-Habitats. My agent was very knowledgeable and found my apartment in the West Village within two days. He knew what I was looking for and was extremely professional. Ask for Udi Eliasi at the Perry Street office. He was really great. I will recommend it to anyone.

Doesn't Recommend

althepal2

Joined 6 years ago

Don't waste your time. We wasted 2 full days with this company seeing nothing but crummy apartments and being repeatedly misled by their agent who insisted that theirs was the most comprehensive list of apartments and that everything available was on it. When we liked nothing she showed us, she insisted that no other company could show us anything else -- that she had shown us everything available in our preferred neighborhoods. We then went to Manhattan Apartments, Inc., and the first two apartments they showed us were exactly what we were looking for, and at a good price! We took the first one, and would have been equally thrilled with the second. Don't waste your time with City-Habitats.