Rapid Realty

I worked with Payal Kaliandasani to find an apartment in Astoria. She was very helpful, especially when the leasing office for the apartment I eventually got was giving me some issues. She’s very trustworthy and always available by phone or e-​mail. I am already planning on recommending her to a friend who may be moving to the city.

I had a great experience with Rapid Realty in Kensington. Jason Pierre kept in constant contact with me via text/​phone and let me know what was available for me to see asap. I found the absolute perfect apartment I was looking for — it had everything — which is a rarity! Also, Madeline always returned my emails and calls within minutes and answered all the questions I had.
All in all it was a good realty experience — which is saying something New York! Thanks!

Wow, what a horrible experience.
My broker was Randy Francis. He showed up late (once it was 45 minutes late, and he called half an hour in to say he was «two blocks away»), gave me fake addresses (or told me to meet him on a certain block — as in «it’s on Cortelyou between Rugby and Marlborough» — leaving me standing in the middle of the sidewalk like an idiot), then when he would *finally* show up, it would be still more drama to get the keys. Seriously dude: You couldn’t call the super *before* the appointment? At one place we got inside the building but never found the super, so we never saw the actual apartment. I suppose that was better than Michael Scott, also of Rapid Realty, who was supposed to show me that apartment the day before but never showed up at all (or responded to my message or text, asking where he was).
But finally Randy had a winner, and I put down a deposit. This was on a Friday. On Monday, his supervisor messaged me to make sure that my partner and I got all of our paperwork in by the end of the day. On Tuesday, Randy called to say the apartment was gone; someone else had gotten it on Saturday.
Saturday? Didn’t you guys just call me *yesterday* to make sure I gave you all my paperwork?
He said he would have new places to show me the following morning, and suggested I look through their website in case anything else caught my eye. I browsed and sent him probably ten listings.
It only went downhill from there. «tomorrow morning» for him became 5:30 pm, which was impossible for my partner. Then he said 9:00 am, but, when I asked him where, he changed it to 1:00 pm. We met him at 1:00 (he was actually on time! First time ever!) and he showed us a TERRIBLE apartment. Then he said he had another, better place, but we had to drive him to Park Slope to get the keys, and also, it was $ 250/​month MORE that our stated budget.
We demanded a refund right then and there.
The ironic part, to me, is that this agency, which would not accept checks as a form of payment, was going to refund my deposit with a check. When I balked at that he said «It’s a Rapid Check,» as if that actually meant something.
When I picked up the check, they told me not to deposit it for two hours. I’m still waiting to see if it clears.