In a NY Times Cityroom post about real estate brokers a person calling themself “lower manhattan” releases the hounds (as it were) on an unnamed Brooklyn Heights coop board:
NY Times Cityroom: There is a special place in hell for the Brooklyn Heights real estate broker married to the president of the coop board who assured a first time and foreign buyer that she and only she knows what the board is looking for and you are it.. And don’t worry! She and her husband will facilitate! Yet she can’t tell us what their financial requirements are beyond “20% down and enough to pay on a rainy day”! She leaves us to put together the ‘package” – rushed as soon as the mortgage commitment letter arrives (rather than letting us address its conditions first). She has her husband call to prep us for the interview but says not to let the board know that he has spoken to us. We are blindsided in the interview – presided by the husband – by the confusing situation of this subterfuge (what are we supposed to say? what are we not?) as well as the surprise that the storage rooms in the basement have a 12 year waiting list (not 9 months to one year, as the broker wife assured).. Our rejection arrives from the broker the next morning by email. Sorry! Let me know if I can help you in your future search! With what??? We have lost a quarter of our deposit to the seller (so sure was the broker that we were “just right” that she conned us us into signing a non-refundable deposit with no board approval contingency), thousands of dollars to the mortgage company (recommended by the broker), appraiser (whom the broker made sure got the right comps to insure it was high enough), the building’s management company (chosen by the broker’s husband), and the coop board itself.
Cooperative apartments are one of New York City’s meaner realities, and they have spurned a breed of broker uniquely awful unto themselves.
Looking in Brooklyn Heights? Ask the broker what her connection to the board is! Don’t fall for the trap we did!
