I owned Apt 12F for almost 10 years, and have sold more apts in the building than any other broker the past five years. So, while I am truly the building expert for 415 E 85 St, the same cannot be said about building experts at other buildings. The old StreetEasy that we all knew and love is now owned by Zillow. If you doubt this, just scroll to the bottom of any page on StreetEasy and you will... [more]
I owned Apt 12F for almost 10 years, and have sold more apts in the building than any other broker the past five years. So, while I am truly the building expert for 415 E 85 St, the same cannot be said about building experts at other buildings.
The old StreetEasy that we all knew and love is now owned by Zillow. If you doubt this, just scroll to the bottom of any page on StreetEasy and you will see the Zillow Sites, Inc copyright. In the old days when StreetEasy listed the top five sales agents and top five rental agents in a building, it was truly based on closed transactions by those individual agents. Unfortunately, that all changed when Zillow bought StreetEasy. They immediately saw an opportunity to charge agents, like myself, for the building expert slot. So, StreetEasy created the Building Expert title as a revenue stream for them, to sell as advertising to the agents in this market.
Since StreetEasy refuses to be transparent about this fact, I am simply stating the facts here, facts that may not be obvious to the consumer. On 25 June 2015, at an event called The Future of Real Estate, one agent asked Susan Daimler, the general manager of StreetEasy and Zillow NYC, “Does two sales in two years [make someone an] expert?”, and I followed that up by asking Ms. Daimer to (have StreetEasy) begin to display the words "paid advertisement" under each building expert as a way to be truly transparent to the consumer. She did not reply. Shouldn't the consumer know this fact? I think so. Here’s a link to a Real Deal article about that event: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/06/25/streeteasy-exec-takes-heat-for-building-expert-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=streeteasy-exec-takes-heat-for-building-expert-program.
I am confident that you will find that I am truly the building expert for 415 E 85 St, having served on the board when I lived there. I look forward to helping you to sell or buy at this wonderful building.
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Response by Riccardo65
over 10 years ago
Posts: 347
Member since: Jan 2011
The people at Street Easy are morons and/or vicious incompetents who enjoy messing with people. I love reading comments from New Yorkers and their experiences vis-à-vis real estate. Could you please give me a one word response so I know that they are not intentionally ignoring anything I might have to say?????
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Response by lpresser
over 10 years ago
Posts: 19
Member since: Jan 2008
Riccardo, your comment, which I just noticed, was hidden, and labeled as ignored. What is that all about? I appreciate your reading my post, and would appreciate if you spread the word to others you know who use StreetEasy. Together, brokers and consumers can have our collective voices heard.
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Response by lpresser
over 10 years ago
Posts: 19
Member since: Jan 2008
One other note to the Consumer: The brokerage community has become aware that StreetEasy is using a system in order to track phone calls made to the Building Expert. They do this through the use of Phone Tracking Numbers. If you visit my Building Expert Page for this building, you will notice that the phone number displayed is NOT my direct number, 347-829-9996. Instead it is a phone number that StreetEasy owns and forwards to me. The issue here is one of privacy: Were you aware that StreetEasy has captured the phone number that you called from? Not sure if StreetEasy would ever consider marketing to your phone, but it is not inconceivable to think that they would at some point. So, my suggestion is that when you want top contact a Building Expert, before you dial the phone number on the Building page, click on the agent's name to open the Agent's Page on StreetEasy, and call one of the phone numbers the agent has displayed. Your privacy matters!
The people at Street Easy are morons and/or vicious incompetents who enjoy messing with people. I love reading comments from New Yorkers and their experiences vis-à-vis real estate. Could you please give me a one word response so I know that they are not intentionally ignoring anything I might have to say?????
Riccardo, your comment, which I just noticed, was hidden, and labeled as ignored. What is that all about? I appreciate your reading my post, and would appreciate if you spread the word to others you know who use StreetEasy. Together, brokers and consumers can have our collective voices heard.
One other note to the Consumer: The brokerage community has become aware that StreetEasy is using a system in order to track phone calls made to the Building Expert. They do this through the use of Phone Tracking Numbers. If you visit my Building Expert Page for this building, you will notice that the phone number displayed is NOT my direct number, 347-829-9996. Instead it is a phone number that StreetEasy owns and forwards to me. The issue here is one of privacy: Were you aware that StreetEasy has captured the phone number that you called from? Not sure if StreetEasy would ever consider marketing to your phone, but it is not inconceivable to think that they would at some point. So, my suggestion is that when you want top contact a Building Expert, before you dial the phone number on the Building page, click on the agent's name to open the Agent's Page on StreetEasy, and call one of the phone numbers the agent has displayed. Your privacy matters!