Unhelpful, rude brokers during difficult times

I'd also like to mention that she made the comment about the expected bidding war after I told her that we are pre-approved for a mortgage and have the down payment for the full asking price of the apartment. That is when she went into specifics and wanted to know exactly how much more we were willing to pay than the asking price before she would make an appointment to show it to us. Where that is where our discussion ended because we weren't comfortable virtually bidding on an apartment sight unseen.

People get mad when they aren't getting a paycheck and their career is swirling the proverbial drain. Plus, I hear PCP makes you do weird things; like claim that there will be a bidding war amongst the largest real estate bubble and subsequent collapse in the last 80+ years, huge layoffs in the very sector that brought such bidding wars to fruition with it's ridiculous profits and pay, and the fact that no bank really wants to lend on a property that might (or, will likely) be worth much less in the coming months/years.

it's = its

Sounds like crap, don't put up with it. You should contact the owner (look up ACRIS) and tell them what their idiot broker is doing. Alternatively, if you let us know what the apt is, I'm happy to do it, in case you don't want to piss off the broker, as you're interested in the property. Should be lots of fun...

Edith206: I'm not remotely excusing Patricia Levy's rudeness, but I think there may be some extenuating circumstances with this particular listing. That $475K asking price is a teaser, and Ms. Levy is basically running an auction for a seller who needs a quick, sure sale.

Again, no excuse for rudeness. I think in this very narrow case, though, she's doing her job. She has has to prequalify prospective buyers aggressively, because the seller doesn't have time to mess around. She may be right about the price too. The unit directly below sold for $713K in early 2007. Even if the square footage is more like 850-900 than 1000, $475K does seem pretty low.

but...why couldn't she simply have said exactly what you just said? not only have you been truthful but the way you put it makes the whole deal seem more appealing.

Ahh...the brokers are starting to be revealed as the caged rabid animals they really are! This behavior is out of control. Their entire way of work/life is coming to an end.

Sooo many of them are going to lose their jobs in the next year. It is time for them to start supporting buyers, not sellers. I wonder if the sellers of the apartments I have been looking at, and their brokers, are watching the news!

Everyone should look at the thread about negotiating and Buy vs.Sell Brokers,you will see that you cannot trust brokers,most are not informed.One broker said to me stop listening to CNBC ,,reading Wall ST Journal,Times and Streeteasy because you cannot believe everything they say.....Be your own negotiator!!!!!

Does anyone know if a buyers broker gets less of a percentage if they use a listing broker from there own firm vs one from competitive firm?

"Has anyone in Manhattan encountered rude, unhelpful realtors"

Hmmm. I'll need to think about that... Real estate brokers? Who are rude or unhelpful? Wow. That's a tough one.

Many of them will be out of a job, especially the rude and unhelpful ones..

"Has anyone in Manhattan encountered rude, unhelpful realtors"
giggle, does a bear carp in the woods? If you're really pissed, call her boss & complain. You may not get satisfaction, but, it's never good to have customers complain.

Rude brokers are dumb. RE brokerage is a people business, so it's stupid to piss off people.

Gawd, isn't this such bulls_hit??

http://www.prudentialelliman.com/mainsite/agents/agents.aspx?BID=PDLPATRICIA LEVY
Vice President

Top 5% of brokers Nationwide

Sales Awards:
2005 Leading Edge Society

2006 Chairman’s Gold Circle

2007 Chairman’s Gold Circle

2008 President’s Circle

www.thenewyorksource.com

#1 BROKER FOR YAHOO REAL ESTATE - FROM MANHATTAN TO MONTAUK
Uncompromisingly passionate, focused and diligent, it is not hard to see why Patty Levy is among real estate’s rising stars

Correct link: http://www.prudentialelliman.com/MainSite/Agents/Agents.aspx?BID=PDL

Yes, the ad says that's she's taking sealed bids. Kind of a different model than I've usually seen but I guess it's legit. http://www.prudentialelliman.com/Listings.aspx?ListingID=1051190&rentalperiod=&SearchType=Broker_Current&Region=NYC&BID=PDL

If you think she was that rude, I'd say to call the agency & talk to a supervisor, not just the person who answers the phone.

she looks fat

tell the broker to go sell fruit...that's what she'll be doing in a month...

I think you guys crashed the site looking her up. I am getting "Server is too busy" error. LOL!

Thank you for your comments! We feel better now that we know we're not expecting too much, especially in this market! We have encountered some friendly and helpful real estate agents in our recent search, it's just that we were caught off-guard with her behavior. Well, if she keeps it up, best of luck to the seller of that listing!

West81st, I'm not sure how low $475k really seems. The $713 comp seems to have been fully renovated. If you figure renovations might cost $50k in this one, that brings $475 up to $525k, which is about $190k below the comp, or ~27%. Is 27% down really that surprising? Hardly seems like a steal at that price.

I'll add that this seems like a smart marketing tool to get people excited about a place in an otherwise difficult market. I wonder how exuberant people will actually get about the place though. I personally wouldn't pay asking for it.

On the rental side, I've been trying to track down an agent with a listing I'm interested. No returned phone calls, nada. The apartment has been listed since last October and undergone a price cut. I don't understand this at all. I also went to an open house today where the agent simply didn't show up. And I had a broker last week try to convince me that a one-month fee was a "reduced fee." Not in my book, it ain't.

evnyc: If you e mail me the info of the apartment you want to see I would be glad to look into it for you no strings attached. Just put something in the subject box so I know its you. I can look it up in the data base that agents subscribe to. I have have met a number of people who have found me on SE, three rental deals done this week-no fee. www.theburkhardtgroup.com

evnyc:
"On the rental side, I've been trying to track down an agent with a listing I'm interested. No returned phone calls, nada. The apartment has been listed since last October and undergone a price cut. I don't understand this at all. I also went to an open house today where the agent simply didn't show up."
She now works at Ocean Grill, UWS on Columbus, they lost their great afternoon bartender, your missing agent took the job.

Heh,that may well be it, Patient. (self-correction: should have been "listing I'm interested in.")

Burkhardt, thank you for the offer. I put in an application today on a place, but if for some reason that falls through I'll surely take you up.

what happens is that agents get sick and tired of running around for nothing without fully qualifying the person inquiring, does it make it right? no, but imagine jumping for the annoying people who call you on a listing and "can you show me this right now?" who are you?! when are you moving, what are your qualifications, time is money, i am not your freaking butler or doorman. some of these agents have been int he business long enough to understand what a waste of time is, the above mentioned is of course a bit extremely, but if you jump around like a lil lamb, you might get slaughtered!

You should "Dexter" them...

Kia, how about brokers showing up for open houses that THEY SCHEDULED? Brokers are in the business of making deals. When the customer - buyer or renter - wants to see the place, it is the broker's job to make it happen. And in this climate, few if any brokers can afford to be picky about who they select as clients. This little fact was forgotten during the bubble years and for many brokers, it was not what they were ever accustomed to because they'd never worked during non-bubble conditions.

I ended up with a fabulous apartment at a great deal involving no broker fee. Which little lamb got slaughtered there, me or the borker I didn't pay?

Some who were quite polite when sales were going well have turned the corner to rudeness - P. Elliman seems to have a basket full of them

they can be picky, why in the world would you go run around for someone who isn't qualified? forget it. i rather sit at home and eat potatoe chips lol - nothing is free in this world, sure some people get lucky, but the majority of the real estate business is still under brokers, so, good, great, you paid nothing to a broker, wonderful, sometimes that happens and that's great. what happens is the industry is full of all kinds of people, you can't generalize, as an agent, i have dealt, w rude individuals who do not earn the money, they tell me to to their office and pick up the key to their exclusive and show it, what that tells me, is that the apartment is not worth showing, but you can't generalize, there are good apples and rotten ones.

"forget it. i rather sit at home and eat potatoe chips lol"

Based on your expressed work ethic, I assume your Kia is being repossessed and your mother is getting rather tired of vacuuming around your lazy behind on her chip-scattered couch. I didn't pay a broker's fee because I did the legwork myself. Some people aren't willing to do the legwork; they should use one of the excellent brokers out there, many on this board, such as Keith at the Burkhardt group. I highly doubt you are among that number, Kia.

Actually the Kia is making excellent product at the moment. More of a yugo, wo the cheap charm.

Oh yugo did ya buy the potato chips on layaway?

No slam on the Kia at all, westie! It isn't a bad car, and budget friendly if you must own a vehicle (happy not to need one myself). Just saying that the beamer our poster is claiming for his handle is likely aspirational rather than reality.

hey if you can afford a broker and do not have the time to do the legwork then pay a broker, if you have time and energy then go ahead, save yourself money, i am currently doing my own accounting, i could pay an accountant, but why do it? i don't like chips anyway and i am rather thin it was a joke

You post fat.

Yo evnyc!!!!! 3 friends and I turned over a yugo in hs. ; )

Heh, westie, I can totally envision that! ;)

Yo BMW, I do recollect another BMW awhile back. Well welcome back.

Funny how intuit basically put hundreds of thousands of mediocre accountants out of business.

EDITH206:

If I remember correctly you refused to give me any concrete financial information. I believe you told me not to worry that you were qualified. I generally qualify all buyers who are not accompanied by a broker when they are calling about coops as requirements vary by building and some buyers may not be aware of the criteria. What you don't know is that this building turned down an all cash buyer previous to this apt being listed with my firm and it was my job to make sure that all prospective buyers were qualified--period.

The owner was also a former broker who was well aware of all details, We had over 50 people each week with several offers and we ended up closing considerably over the asking price.

so fu_k all do it your selfer fsbo cheap bastards!

What if a loser falls in the forest, and nobody hears him fall?