r/NYCapartments

Hello! I'm 44. I have roughly $3.3m in my investment portfolio (~$2m in brokerage, ~$1.3m in retirement). Unfortunately, I was laid off this month and currently do not have an income. I'm considering early retirement. I currently rent an apartment in NYC but I'm concerned that it will be an issue when I inevitably move.

Does anyone have experience with this? Is it going to impossible to rent in my scenario?

Thanks in advance!

I recently applied for an apartment I originally found on Craigslist. Before doing anything, I verified the broker's information—I checked the brokerage, email, phone number, licensing, etc., and it's a legitimate, existing brokerage. That said, I've since realized that just because the company is real doesn't necessarily mean every business practice is above board.

I've been striking out on apartments all month, mostly because listings disappear before I even have a chance to apply, and I think I let my desperation get the best of me.

I found this apartment Friday night and immediately submitted an application and had my dad apply shortly after as my guarantor to really lock in the deal, as places have been slipping away so quickly like I mentioned before. Because it was a holiday weekend, I expected there would be some delays.

On Saturday, the broker asked if I could view the apartment on Monday. I replied yes, and that even if the viewing didn't work out for some reason, I was committed to seeing it upon a lease signing if approved and move forward with next steps.(I had seen the video tour he sent me that he was included in, the listing he sent me, and went back to view previous years listings which included video tours to make sure it didn't look entirely different in anything.) While I'd normally say this was stupid to do, the place looked like everything I've been wishing for and I didn't want to lose out on the opportunity by chance.

Then Monday morning, I was told the current tenant had a "work emergency," so the showing would need to be pushed to Tuesday during an open house. Around the same time, I was sent a request for a $1,000 "good faith" deposit. At first, I actually understood the reasoning. Since I hadn't seen the apartment in person, I figured they simply wanted reassurance that I was a serious applicant while still keeping backup options if I backed out. Honestly, if I were the landlord, I'd probably want the same thing.

It wasn't until the adrenaline of sending the deposit wore off that I started second-guessing everything. If I'd already made it clear I intended to move forward, why was there suddenly an open house? I understand they're under no obligation to stop showing the apartment, but combined with the deposit request, it started to feel off.

Paying a $1,000 "good faith" deposit is also something I normally never would have done. From what I've read, these types of deposits can be legally complicated in New York depending on how they're handled, which only added to my concerns.

I'm not asking whether the brokerage itself is legitimate as I know it is and has been in business for quite some time now. I'm wondering if anyone here has actually rented through them or gone through this exact process.

Did you get the apartment? If it fell through, did you actually get your $1,000 back? I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone with firsthand experience, since most of the older Reddit threads I found never included an update.

The intent of this post is threefold: 0) apologize and hopefully help someone avoid my stupid mistakes, 1) hear your thoughts on whether I could realistically get my deposit back, and 2) hear your thoughts on how to stop other people from getting scammed by this guy.

First, the apology. A while ago I posted an apartment here that, in hindsight, I should never have posted. The place had systematic problems and living conditions close to the limit of human tolerance. Luckily, nobody from this subreddit actually took it or signed anything; the broker eventually found someone else after we moved out. Still, I'm sincerely sorry for having posted it here at all.

Before you say it, I'll say it myself: I know, I was an idiot. I signed a lease from the other side of the world without ever seeing the place in person. I did a video tour and it seemed fine, but little did I know what I was getting into.

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The apartment (prewar, for context) had several problems. Every time it rained heavily, a literal waterfall would form in our kitchen and down the staircase. When we moved in, the chandelier in the bedroom wasn't working; we took it down and found two liters of water inside it.

But the worst part wasn't even the apartment. It was the super, who wouldn't help us in any way and actively fought us at every turn. From the very first day, the other tenants (it's just four units) confirmed what we'd immediately suspected: dealing with her was impossible, and we weren't the first ones to go through this.

Since then, we've now moved downtown to a building that's everything we could've dreamed of: repairs happen immediately, everything work and people actually reply.

So the first takeaway is obvious: know exactly what you're signing and what you're committing to, and ask around before you do.

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Now, the deposit. They kept our entire security deposit for reasons that made no sense. They charged their own lawyer's fees against it. They deducted $100, sometimes $300, every time the super "visited" the apartment, including when she was just supervising the contractors doing maintenance (the windows, for example). None of these charges were in the lease. And they charged us $100 for the day we moved in. Like, wtf.

We assumed the only option was hiring a lawyer, but as international students we have no idea what that costs here, and we're owed $2,575, which might not even cover the legal fees. (For context, we moved out on May 5th)

So, in short: does pursuing this legally even make sense financially?

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What's really hard to digest is that they've apparently been doing this for years, and we're nowhere near the only ones. Everyone in the building, and even people on the street, knows exactly what's going on. Search HPD for that building alone and there are three open cases: humidity, mold, and massive leaks. And here's how deliberate it gets: the buzzer has "never worked" and they refuse to fix it. We're convinced that's on purpose, because without a working buzzer, I doubt that HPD inspectors can get into the building on their own, so the landlord keeps operating undisturbed.

What makes it even crazier is that the owner isn't some anonymous slumlord. Without naming him, he's a somewhat public figure with a real online presence.

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So my last question: what's the right way to warn future tenants without ending up in court myself?

Thanks in advance for your help ❤️

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Made and signed by two international students who didn't really know how renting works in the U.S., and who have now learned a very long-lasting lesson.

Advertised & agreed upon rent for an apartment was one price. Then the lease lists a gross monthly rate that is $200 higher. Then there is an attached addendum that gives me a $200 credit that makes my rent the advertised rent.

Is this a normal thing that happens/has anyone seen this before? I don't recall this happening with any apartment I've rented before.

As a lifelong New Yorker, this is easily the worst experience I’ve ever had with a landlord/ property management company. I had something stolen and asked to see the security camera footage, and was told it was a $500 fee to view. A neighbor told me they were slapped with a $250 fee for alerting emergency services while water was leaking from the light fixtures in the lobby that could’ve caused an electrical fire. Most recently, they even charged tenants to watch the fireworks from our roof! They are unresponsive for the most part, but when you do finally reach them they are incredibly rude and in some cases threatening. They have many properties in Brooklyn, Jersey City, and Queens. I had to wait til I moved out to share this (even anonymously!) because they threatened to add fees to my tenant portal if they found out I was “bad mouthing” them - aka telling the truth. I paid rent on time, never had a complaint against me, all I did was bring some concerns about bogus fees to whomever I could reach on the phone. And they threatened me. On tape. Their Google reviews say it all but just wanted to share this here to hopefully spare others from experiencing what I have while living at a Goose Property Management building.

Hypothetical scenario — if you could buy an apartment for life with an unlimited budget in any neighborhood which neighborhood would you choose (be as specific as possible), and which building?

I guess we can all agree that the market sucks right now. Five years ago, I was at least able to get a few showings and had the option to put my application in. Today, agents hardly respond. I get it, tons of interest. But only viewing two apartments in the past few months is a new low.

Am I secretly blacklisted? lol:/