Uyen Le

Review of Destination Real Estate

My main advice if this is TLDR, go with your gut.

My main advice if this is TLDR, go with your gut.

1 star for decent properties
1 star for being accommodating

Lawrence is a straight shooter and all business. While we did appreciate that approach, he was not very forthcoming with information or keen to educate us about the rental market. We were obviously new to the area and we did our best to research "things you should know" on our own prior to meeting with any brokers. Lawrence was the 4th broker and only after we met with a 5th one during our trip did rent control even come up. That would've been nice to know when we viewed the very first property. Anyways...

When he drove us to the different properties, he drove erratically and aggressively. It was pretty jarring and uncomfortable. Obviously, we didn't die, because I'm writing this review. But it wasn't pleasant. We viewed a third property that wasn't scheduled or on our radar that we ended up falling in love with. We were told the rent was $1850 per month (and he knew we had pets when taking us here). We saw the listing on their website afterwards and realized we didn't see it originally because it was outside of our price range and filtered out of our searches. It also stated in the online listing "no pets allowed".

The next day, when we made the decision to apply, we inquired about the price again and about the pets (we have 2 cats). We were told it was $1850 p/month and if our application was strong enough, the owner might make an exception for the pets. It was also not a rent stabilized property - which we were only told when we asked. We took a chance and paid their $100 application fee and applied. Due to our time requirements, we felt an urgency that was in no way caused by Lawrence. We have excellent credit and meet the income requirements so we went in hopeful. We were told that there was a chance we would find out on Friday if we'd be approved since we turned in our application early.



Go through Yelp, on here, and other forums, and read the replies that are given when someone leaves a not so positive review. Passive-aggressively blaming the customer out in the open is so poor in taste. Whether the complaints are valid or not, I prefer the "please contact our office directly so we can make this right for you" response vs the "let me put out every single detail of our meeting and explain how it wasn't our fault because you did this and this and this...". Eh. No thanks.

I'm glad we went with our gut and secured another rental. If you're new to NYC and looking at rentals, make sure you are comfortable with the broker, you know about rent control, and you come with a list of questions you want to ask. It is intimidating for newcomers that have no experience renting here. If you have good credit and your income meets the requirements for the price ranges you're shopping for, you will find something. Don't be like us and feel rushed and afraid that a place will lose its availability if you don't act immediately. If you have time, take your time.

All in all, while our experience wasn't super awful, it wasn't awesome either. Even though this company has some decent properties, we will not consult with them in the future due to their high broker fees and business practices.