Rental at 226 West 97th Street (Don't deal with Greg Bibens)

thats f'ed up

Are you sure that apartment even really exists? A lot of these brokers have pictures and info on one apartment but then you never get to see that one since %u201Cits rented%u201D and they only show apartments that are more expensive.

Look, I don't want to speculate about the honesty or lack thereof of this broker. I am just reporting what I know as fact and my opinion of how it reflects on him.

I've definitely had brokers who pulled that kind of thing on me in the past. I don't know what's going on here, but it doesn't seem particularly good behavior. I might track down the building owner and ask. Doubt the building owner would be down with this kind of behavior.

i had a different broker show me an apartment there. i think you can go through any broker.

"He's doing his client (the building, which is paying the fee on this rental) a huge disservice"

Why dont you go directly to the building yourself?? Screw this guy and his tactics, why do you want to use a broker for rentals anyway?

I replied to one of his sale ads and while the price and description sounds good, I am curious whether I should follow up with him. He is unwilling to disclose the location unless I meet him
Any advice

You say he's highly unethical yet you don't want to speculate about is honesty or lackthereof.

OMG joedavis, no, this guy sounds like a grade a-hole. He should at least tell you the cross street! There are SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many apartments now and so many brokers. He clearly sounds like a scam artist.

joedavis, arrange to meet him and then stand him up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Hey, lets all do that! It could be our own Street Easy meet-up!

there's nothing lower than a rental agent -- they practically scrape these people off a subway platform and give them a job. this is probably a bait and switch -- as there are no active listings in this building. if you really want to make sure - call any brokerage and as to speak with a rental agent - you have the address and they can tell you what's available. thank god most of these loser don't last long in the job - unfortunately there seems to be no shortage of idiots to replace them.

I asked my agent to pre-view some apartments for me (including couple of apartments he lists), as I have no time doing that. And Mr.Bibens told my agent that he doesn't do pre-views.

Greg Bibens is not the exclusive agent for this building, there is no exclusive broker for this building. You can ask your broker to call the management company to get you in. If your broker is going through him they have no idea what they are doing.

And there are currently three 2 bedroom apartments and one 3 bedroom.

And the apts. are vacant so you any broker can pre-view them.

R_hood do you have links to the listings??

I'm a broker, that works with this building and management daily. You can ask your broker to show you the listings at the building. If they don't see anything at 226 West 97, they can check 230 West 97 (the buildings are joined in the lobby.)

I recently used Greg Bibens to find an apartment. I have since recommended him to many of my friends. He is one of the MOST ethical brokers out there--so anyone that doesn't give him credit is a moron! People have complained on here because he wouldn't show them something. He is busy, and doesn't need his time wasted on one apartment. Give me a break people. I saw 5 or 6 with him, and he showed me the perfect place!!!

Barak is shady like most others

nyc_renter, when I buy coffee in the morning, the guy gives me coffee as I expect. I don't consider that ethical, although the coffee is actual coffee and the milk he puts in is actual milk and he has real sugar and real Splenda and real Sweet n Lo (which I don't use). So if the guy helped you and you found the perfect place, that's great, but what makes him one of the most "ethical" brokers out there if he's just doing his job?

mobiusmodx, you are smearing someone who has decided not to do business with you unless on his terms. mr bibens (like many of us in the business) didnt want to waste his time showing you one apartment, then potentially having you runn off to deal with other brokers. as this building is an open listing, he did absolutely nothing unethical or wrong. what you did was both unethical and wrong as his name now appears in this thread for no good reason.

jimhones09, isn't it the agents job to rent apartments. IMHO, I think that by requiring potential renters to use him exclusively does a disservice to his client(s). He seems to be putting his needs in from of his clients. While no one enjoys "wasting time", it's part of the job. We all have certain unpleasant parts to our jobs, and most of us put up with it.

our job allows us to decide if we want to work with someone or not. he decided not to work with this person, for one reason or another. that is his perogative, much as it is a potential clients perogative to work with one, or multiple brokers. and a person isnt a client until there is a mutual agreement (spoken or not) to work together.

i really think that if someone is going to call someone out on a board like this by name, they should use their name as well. disgusting practice to use anonmity in this way