Occupy Montague Street? Would-be Buyer Protests Corcoran’s Business Practices

This afternoon David Huber set up signs and handed out leaflets in front of the Corcoran real estate office at Montague and Henry streets, telling any passers by with the time and curiosity to listen about his frustration in dealing with the large real estate broker. In a nutshell, he says Corcoran showed him a studio apartment he liked, he signed a contract, arranged for a mortgage, and incurred out-of-pocket expenses preparing to buy, but after three months learned that the apartment lacked a required certificate of occupancy. At this time, he said, the Corcoran agent “quickly wished me goodbye.”

Mr. Huber then asked Corcoran’s local managing director if the company would reimburse him for the expenses he had incurred in connection with the busted deal. Her response, he said, was to say that, under New York law, real estate transactions are governed by the principle of caveat emptor (buyer beware), which means that the burden was on Mr. Huber to inquire about the certificate of occupancy. “What do you want me to do?” the Corcoran executive asked rhetorically. Huber concedes that she was correct in her statement of the law, but questions whether it is a good business practice to apply that principle to cases like his. “[S]hould real estate be a high-risk game of obfuscation and obstruction?” he asks. He then makes the serious accusation that the Corcoran agent “recommended that I lie on a federal mortgage application (a felony) in order to make the sale”.

Huber has a website devoted to his beef with Corcoran. He also invites people with “Corcoran horror stories” to send them to him at mycorcoranhorrorstory@gmail.com

We’d be glad to publish Corcoran’s side of the story if they give it to us.

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  • PJL

    In NYC, title companies usually do municipal records searches (including C of O) as part of their report. DOB records are also easily searchable on the city’s website.

  • nabeguy

    Sounds like somebody got C of ONNED.

  • Gerry

    Nabeguy – good one!

  • Western Brooklyn

    Corcoran is like the Goldman Sachs of the real estate industry.