Seabury-Hill Realtors

My girlfriend and I recently worked with Cathy Hill Conlin and Jack Hill to find an apartment in New Haven.
We were on a really tight schedule and moving here from Philadelphia so we had a really small window to find something that we loved. Cathy was very friendly and took a sincere interest in finding us an apartment that would fit our needs.
After showing us only 3 places, we were able to find a really awesome apartment. Still, at no point throughout the process did she seem sales-​y or like she just wanted to close a deal. She was really genuine and helpful.
When we were unsure about which apartment we wanted to go with she encouraged us to take a walk around the neighborhood and see if we could see ourselves living here. Both Cathy and Jack were very available via text and super accommodating to our circumstances.
If we ever move in New Haven again I will be giving Seabury-​Hill another call!

Cheryl Sczcarba is a consummate professional whose abilities and demeanor are remarkable. She is focused, steadfast, and very effective. She sold a major mixed use commercial/​residential building in Science Hill in New Haven for us in 2013, and we have recommended her to many friends since. She’s also a pleasure to deal with: calm, well informed and «can do.» Incredibly responsive to voice mail or text or email.

My boyfriend and I worked with Melanie Gunn from Seabury Hill Realtors, and I cannot recommend her highly enough! She is incredibly sweet, laid-​back, and patient — she truly wants to help you find the best place based on your preferences and price range. For about 3 weeks, she emailed me listings that met the criteria me and my boyfriend decided upon (we were looking for a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom in the downtown or East Rock area). She spent a significant amount of time emailing/​texting/​on the phone with me (and my mother!) trying to help find our ideal place. She is extremely trustworthy, and I speak from experience when I say that she is not at all pushing her own agenda. Honestly, it sort of felt like checking out apartments with a friend! No pushiness, no lies, none of that; she is a true class act and a lovely person. If she doesn’t know the answer to a question (and she usually does), she is honest, and she goes and finds the answer for you. I spoke to other realtors from Seabury Hills Realtors throughout the whole process, and they truly only seem to hire honest, nice, and personable agents who represent respectable landlords and management companies (and, trust me, there are plenty in the area you want to avoid).
I met with about 3 or 4 other realtors in the area outside of Seabury Hills Realtors, and Melanie is truly the only one I felt was 100% looking out for us. Other realtors gave me the impression that things needed to be rushed; that places were getting taken left and right and we needed to make decisions immediately, etc. — it was very high stress. One realtor even tried to push a place on us that had a current tenant who outrightly expressed that she was very unhappy with the landlord! It was the complete opposite with Melanie; you meet her and just feel more at ease. She’s a breath of fresh air. She assured me that she would help us find a place, and my blood pressure surely must have dropped back into the healthy range :) She was extraordinarily accommodating, and even met with me and my boyfriend at 8 PM one night (with almost no notice), after a full day of showing other listings all around New Haven, just so he and I could double check the unit we ended up applying for and getting.
The unit we just signed for definitely needs some work, and I can’t tell you how nice it was having someone like Melanie advocating for us. We gave her a list of the things that we thought needed fixing/​cleaning, and not only did she present it to the landlord, but she even added to our list to make sure that things were in top shape for our move-​in date! That’s service you just don’t get with most realtors, and it’s so easy to overlook details that need fixing in a unit that you only see once or twice for a few minutes. It seemed clear to us that she has established very good relationships with the landlords/​management companies that she represents, and is, therefore, able to have more of a say in the things that need to be done to make the units the best they can be for new tenants. Asking price for our unit was $ 2,200/month; Melanie got it for us for $ 2,000. That will save us some serious cash throughout the year!
Just for context, I will be attending the Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate (PA) Program, so proximity to the medical school/​hospital and/​or shuttles was a priority to me, as was safety (to the highest extent possible). My boyfriend will be commuting to Norwalk for work, so proximity to the highway/​train station was a priority, too. In addition to all this, we had a lot of other specific details we were asking for (central air, dishwasher, in-​unit washer/​dryer, parking, etc.), and she never missed a beat; she pays exceptional attention to detail. To add to the complexity of finding an apartment, we also have two indoor cats, and, in addition to meeting all of our other requests, she was able to help us find a pet-​friendly unit (I can’t believe how hard it was to find one in New Haven!). If we ever need another place in the New Haven area, Melanie is who we will go to immediately!
If you’re looking for a place in the New Haven area, Melanie Gunn is your girl! I’ve never had a better experience with a realtor. Thanks, Melanie, for everything!

Jenn is by far the best realtor there. She was so patient during our search which took a LONG time. She was always readily accessible, and was really honest about what would be best for my boyfriend and I, and what wouldn’t. Once we settled on a place, Cathy took over. And I found it really disappointing that she took over for Jenn (I think because Jenn was on vacation) Cathy was very demanding on getting her money, and not pleasant to talk to, like Jenn was.
If you use Seabury: definitely ask for Jenn D’Amato!

Working with Seabury Hill was an absolute nightmare from start to finish. My husband and I worked with them in the fall of 2011 and spring of 2012 on finding an apartment in New Haven. We dealt primarily with Cathy. We were looking for a 2 bedroom apartment that allowed dogs. She brought us to an apartment on Lawrence Street (which was basically the third floor of a one family home) and conveniently left out a whole lot of details that are absolutely crucial to making the right decision on selecting an apartment.
First of all, she explained to us that the landlord was a really sweet elderly woman who was «totally cool and laid back and traveled to Puerto Rico for 6 months out of the year». When we asked «Who takes care of apartment issues, should one arise, if the landlord is away that long out of the year?» We were told Jack Hill was the point person for issues while the landlord was away. We were told that the electric heating was awesome and was enough to heat the entire apartment when we inquired about the radiators and electric heaters throughout the apartment. When we noticed that there was no mailbox for our unit, Cathy told us that we could put a bin out on the front porch for it. It was also left out that the person we’d be sharing the house with (the landlord) had two dog-​aggressive dogs living in the house as well. Not knowing all the less desirable facts of this apartment, we took it (worst 9 months of my life).
During this time, the landlord was extremely difficult, unreasonable and unresponsive, the opposite of what we were told by Cathy. She refused to let us have a mailbox and when we put one up anyway, had her son call and harrass me at my job, demanding we take it down. He told us «You just don’t have a mailbox on the porch on a beautiful house like this on the corner of Lawrence and St. Ronan». Question though, how are we supposed to get mail when she was in Puerto Rico??? Didn’t think that through I guess. When we threatened legal action (mail is a federal matter and she was not legally allowed to screen our mail), then out of the blue, the mailbox was fine. Weird.
Her dogs tried everyday attacking me and my dog as we tried to leave or come back to the apartment. This was made worse by the fact that the landlord would not always leash them. Again, something Cathy conveniently left out of her description of the apartment, which was very relevant to know.
When the landlord was in Puerto Rico, it was apparent that the heat did not work properly. When we got an electrician in there to check out the «awesome electric heaters» –Cathy, he said that they were meant to «supplemental heating and in no way could ever heat the entire apartment properly, but that they were indeed working fine and were not broken». When we called Jack Hill to report this, as the warmest the apartment would reach was 60 degrees in the dead of winter, we basically got the response «not my problem». Oh, and this all came with an electric bill of $ 500 a month for the winter months. Another lie in order for Seabury Hill to get us into this hell hole. I really should have contacted New Haven Livable City, but what could they really do with the landlord out of the country? But I digress.
In the spring of 2012, it became apparent that there was some sort of animal living in the walls, as every night for a period of time we would hear scratching in the walls of our bedroom. Once again, when we contacted Jack Hill about it, we basically got a response of «not my problem» in the form of ignored phone calls.
When it was finally close to our time to leave this place (our lease was up August 1, 2012), Jack Hill asked us in April if we would like to try to leave early. HELL YES! So we agreed to begin looking for a new place and Jack and Cathy began looking for a new tenant. One would think that us leaving the apartment early was contingent upon us actually finding a place to go. Keep that in mind. We finally found the perfect place, which would be ready July 1, 2012. We told Jack Hill that we would be out June 31. He told us he lined up a tenant already for June 1. What??? And when was he planning on telling us that??? Ridiculous. Showing the apartment was another whole disaster which I can’t even get into right now, but suffice it to say, Cathy is clueless, incompetent and unprofessional. In the end, we left June 31 and haven’t looked back since. We didn’t get our security deposit back until after a month went by and sending the landlord a certified letter for it.
I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever recommend Seabury Hill to anyone looking for an apartment. If you did decide to, I would use EXTREME caution and make sure to ask a lot of questions! Hope this review can spare someone the horrific experience my husband and I had!!!

My boyfriend and I had to find and move into an apartment within A DAY after we moved into an apartment where the ceiling fell in (we used Pike International – see review) and they were just outstanding. They worked on the weekend with us to get us settled into a place that was less expensive and much bigger than the one we moved out of. Seabury is a professional and respectable family operation.

I am a 25 yr-​old New Yorker moving to New Haven. I found Seabury-​Hill on Craigslist. I primarily worked with Sarah Beth, and she did a great job of showing me 5 or 6 1 bedroom apartments/​studios in my price range. As a soon-​to-​be student, she respected my budget. She was always amenable — quick to respond to emails — and very up-​front about fees, pros & cons of areas. If she wasn’t available, her colleague, Jack Hill, was always reachable.
I have worked with some terrible neophyte and experienced realtors in NYC. I was so pleased, thus, to work with Sarah Beth. Check them out. I hope your experience will be as good as mine.

I have worked with this company both as someone trying to find an apartment, and, more recently, someone whose landlord hired them to rent their property. I am never dealt with a more unprofessional person. Lack of notice, relying on the tenants to be there to have a key (actually expecting this), calling repeatedly when people are out of the country, asking the tenants to move out early, expecting tenants to give notice to other tenants, etc. The list truly goes on and on.
I would like to think that our experience is only with one real estate agent and not the whole company, but our experience with that one agent was enough to distrust the entire operation.