Ula’s Real Estate

We contacted the agency on very short notice on a Saturday desperate to see a listing that same day. Although Ursula was unavailable to show us herself, she was able to recommend a second listing as well and give us Lesley’s cell to set it up which I greatly appreciated. Lesley was able to accommodate us on short notice and show us both listings. The listing recommended by Ursula was amazing. Lesley was very nice, professional and not pushy at all. It was cold out and she even was kind enough to drive us to the second listing to stay warm. We ended up falling in love with the listing we originally wanted to see and let Lesley know later that night. Although we were unable to put the deposit down same night, she took our word and made sure no one else would be able to view it. She even came into work Sunday (her day off) just so we could put down the deposit and sign the lease. She was very efficient and helpful and working with her was a pleasure. Thanks to Lesley and Ursula my husband and I have a fabulous 2 bedroom that we cannot wait to move into! I would highly recommend Lesley! (Side note, she also does interior designing and my husband and I are hoping to work with her for help setting up our new place!)

Absolutely horrible! Beware! Ursala and Alex will act like your best friend to get you to rent from them, but will turn on you the SECOND you sign the lease! They are known for making up crazy reasons for keeping security deposits. The first day we moved into our apartment, our neighbors warned us about them, telling us Ursala, Alex and Leslie completely screwed the last tenants that lived in our apartment. We laughed it off and figured the last tenants must have been a-​holes. A few months later our neighbors moved out and we saw the real Ursala, not only threatening our neighbors with violence but also keeping their security deposit AND suing them for even MORE money. We then became extremely nervous and felt very unsafe in our apartment after this incident, but we planned on resigning the lease just because we did not want to move again! Ten days before we were supposed to re-​sign our lease, Leslie Ursala and Alex sent us a letter informing us that they will be raising our rent 13%. Because our neighbor literally got shot a few months before about 15 feet from our front door and our apartment was in Ridgewood, Queens, raising the rent 13% was just ridiculous because the area nor the apartment were desirable places to live. We quickly found a GREAT broker who found us an amazing apartment with a great landlord, and we got the heck out of our old apartment and our security deposit is still no where to be found. They are continuing to ignore our phone calls and avoid us when we show up at their office. Ursala Leslie and Alex are not only greedy, unintelligent landlords, they are scam artists. Trust me when I say, they do NOT deserve one cent of your money!

i am surprised by all the bad reviews here. i called Ula’s to find an apartment when I recently moved back to NYC. I had used her about 10 years ago and the everything went fine both times. She and/​or Leslie showed me 5 or 6 apartments this recent time. They were on time to each appointment, and they were not pushy. They are mother and daughter and i think they have a good vibe. They returned my calls every time. Eventually I found a place through them and I did the paperwork at her office. All went smoothly. Looking for places is never very fun and it is stressful in NYC. They did as good a job as any solid realtors I’ve known.

Had a bad experience a few years back. See things haven’t changed in 7 – 8 years. Still bad service.

I used Ula’s twice in the past 7 years. Ula definitely has the hook up when it comes to finding affordable apartments in Greenpoint, but I agree with the other comments that she can be a bit pushy. They have a very fast turn over, and don’t deal well with people that are on the fence or need time to think things over. Luckily, both times we found great places (one with an amazing landlord, and one with a CRAZY landlady). I would probably use her again.

Ursula and Lesley were so great to with. We went in after having another apartment fall through and they ended up showing us an apartment that they just received that day for an Oct 1 move in date. We fell in love with it instantly but found out it didn’t allow pets. They convinced our lovely landlord to allow us to have our dog and we were able to sign the lease and everything rather quickly. Thanks to them we are a block from where we work and will be living in a great neighborhood.

I recently found an apartment through Ula’s and found the whole process really nice. Lesley walked me through all the steps and made it as painless as possible. They seem to have connections to good neighborhood landlords here in Greenpoint.

Terrible.
Called Lesley about a great-​looking apartment on a pretty, historic street in GP in our price range. She said we would be the first people to see it in a few days. On the day of the appointment, I called to confirm, and Ula demanded to know who I had made an appointment with and told me that she didn’t have the keys yet, but would have them in a week. I left a few messages, which were never returned, and finally reached Lesley again to set up another appointment the next week. The day of that appointment, I called once again to confirm, and Lesley said the apartment had already been rented. WTF? I had been on this woman for a solid two weeks trying to see this place, and she couldn’t care less. Thank god, because we got a great place through an, ahem, totally professional local broker, and I’m just glad I never had to pay these women some crazy broker fee.
Seriously, don’t waste your time with this operation. Go to Greenpoint Properties and support a way more professionally-​run local business.

It seems like quite a few folks had a pretty bad experience with this place. Maybe they only want to rent to Polish people?
I contacted them to make an appointment to see one of their craigslist listings. I told them about my current situation (looking to move in with my girlfriend) and what I was looking for. They told me: «We won’t schedule an appointment unless both you and your girlfriend are available.» Unfortunately, said girlfriend was away for a week on business – I explained this to them, they didn’t care.
ANYWAY. Yuck. After reading these other reviews, I probably saved myself a lot of stress and aggravation, which is a shame because it looked like one helluva nice apartment.

I met with Lesley a few months back to see an apartment. Despite a list of things I was looking for, Lesley took me to see a place that was completely off the mark (she told me later that was her first time seeing it). Lesley as a person is fine. Not too warm, not too cold. Her personality didn’t really matter to me. I would have continued to check out her listings, but she didn’t follow through with anything else. Luckily, I bagged a great apartment through a friend.
I like the idea of supporting a local business which Ula’s is (a mother/​daughter operation). But unfortunately, there was just an absolute lack of professional follow through. I think it’d be great if brokers (Ula’s and otherwise) would recognize that they are being paid for a service, and would actually work to earn my business. Instead, so often they just want to convince you a crappy apartment is gold, and sign on the dotted line.
Oh, and honestly to Lesley. Nastily responding to someone else’s post and giving yourself 5 stars undercuts your own professionalism, and only reinforces the previous bad reviews.

Called four times about an apartment. No returned call ever. Went to the office on a Saturday. Closed.
I’m not sure how these people stay in business.

I had to write a review to warn you about Ula’s Real Estate! I have never been more uncomfortable! Ula is super pushy and took me to an apartment where she didn’t have the key, the super was high and there was no door knob on the front door! Then made me walk to the train when I said no.
Yikes and Yikes. Be safe and stay away from this dangerous woman!

this place is lame. after calling up about craigslist ads, i was told i’d have to go to the office to register in their system. i did so with lesley, who said there was one apartment that matched my needs and that she’d call me the next day. she never did. the office was supposed to call with any new listings as well. they never did that, either. being a proactive girl, i took matters into my own hands and called about several ads. i don’t know who ula is, since all ads say to ask for lesley. i’m sorry to say, but this woman is really bizarre. she either needs to be on meds, needs to be on more of them, or i really don’t know. she has negative energy and it seems like speaking takes too much effort. her sentences all trail off and she seems seconds away from passing out.
after finally setting up an appointment with her to see an apt, the apt turned out to be awful. it reeked of cat pee as soon as i walked into the front door, there were holes in the hallway walls, and the door of the apt was busted. basically, it was a crackden and i didn’t feel safe there. after we left, she asked me what i thought and, trying to be diplomatic, i said it wasn’t in very good condition and i was having trouble envisioning what it would look like post-​cleanup. she got offended by this and said she didn’t know if she should show me anything else if i would have trouble picturing what it would look like after it was cleaned up. she was supposed to call me about 1 – 2 other apts the following day and, of course, she didn’t.
so basically i feel like you’re not allowed not to like what you’re shown here and you should not bother unless you’re willing to pay the ridiculous broker’s fee while doing all the legwork yourself. i continued to see ads that looked interesting or promising but preferred to take my business elsewhere.