Best Apartments Midtown

— Broker engaged in discriminatory practice against person with family (children)
— Broker refused to return broker’s fee despite the written agreement.
I signed a lease for apartment street with broker on record Best Apartments North and paid 2,400 as brokers fee.
As part of the contract with the broker I signed a contract stating that if the landlord refuses me as tenant I will receive the broker’s fee back. When completing lease agreement I specified that I have a wife and 2 children.
8 Days after May 1^st (move in date) into broker named FEINGOLD, HOWARD R called me to inform me that the apartment is not safe for me and my children and that landlord is requesting that I move out. He said that landlord Landlord doesn’t want liability of having children living in the apartment due to some neighbors being Meth dealers.
Howard stated that I will receive a refund of all money paid if I move out. After moving out on 15^th Best Apartments North refused to issue a refund. He stated that I lied about having a family.
After repeated calls to agent and having no other resource I contacted Landlord who issue a refund in form of a check to Best Apartments North in the amount of $ 4,000
After repeated calls to Best Apartments North Howard refuses to issue me a refund without me agreeing to pay the broker’s fee.
The owner, Howard and the people that work there are scam artists. They will say anything to get your money and then once they have it they refused to give it back even though they promised in writing that they will.
I encourage anyone who has had an issue with this broker to file a complaint with New York State Licensing Bureau at

BEST APARTMENTS NORTH INC License Number is 10 991 219 678.

What a waste of time. I asked the agent Rich to show me a few places and he insisted I come visit him in his office. I told him I live currently in the west village and that I’m looking at apartments here, so why not a phone call to get the screening out of the way and then he could show me place that are appropriate. This led to numerous messages back talking about how he has wasted so much time with clients in the past and that the face to face is necessary, and how what I’m requesting is «rude, entitled and bratty.»
Is this really how you speak to a potential client who is going to be paying you a large fee? I’m glad I came on to Unilocal to find that everyone here has basically had a terrible experience with this company, I will be avoiding them and suggest you do too.

If I could put 0 star, I would.
In a nutshell:
One of their employee stole me my deposit and 2month rent and then disappeared. The company did not take responsibility and insulted me and my roommates.
Just AVOID THIS PLACE

My roommate and I came into the office, looking for apartments in West Harlem. We met with Sam, who gave us a list of places to view and sent us out with a different broker. Of a list of 5 apartments, the broker did not have the keys to get into two of them and could not find the building at all for one of them. We spent several hours walking back and forth around the neighborhood, just to see two apartments.
We decided to put in an application on one, and sent all of our paperwork over. Luckily we didn’t put down a deposit or application fee, because all of a sudden our original agent left town on vacation and handed us off to Nik. Nik did not return any of our calls or texts, and all of our attempts to call the office have gone unanswered.
Needless to say, we will be going through a different agency.

It’s a shame you can’t do zero stars. These guys are a total scam. They tried to get rent and deposit and then said they couldn’t show me the place, but to hurry and pay to make sure I secured the place. I’m not that stupid, sorry guys.
Also, the guys are super rude and not at all professional or work appropriate. DON’T GO TO THEM. Save yourself the time and energy.

It’s been almost a year since we signed our lease and we are just now finding out how shady some of these employees can be. This review is for Mike Riccioiti and Kevin. We never received a copy of our lease or a receipt for what we paid, even though we enquires about them.
Now when last month’s rent is due, which we were told was included in our payment, the landlord says that is incorrect.
We contacted Mike and he told us all that extra cash went to his brokers fee. We know we only paid one month of rent in the brokers fee so in the very least he owes us an excess of $ 750. Not to mention the $ 200 non refundable cash payment we made which there is no record of.
Of course Mike has not receipts to back his claims up. He is now at Bond Apartments. Beware!

Hi everyone,
A case against Best Apt — Court Date March 25^th
If you are interested in meeting with and asking questions to the representative of Best Apt., you are welcome to join me at 9:30 am on March 25^th at the Small Claim Court, 111 Centre Street, New York, NY 10 013.
One of the employees of Best Apt., who was definitely their employee at that time, took the amount of three months’ rent from me and disappeared. I was left with the receipt from Best Apt. The former employee is now wanted by the police. However, Best Apt. refused to take any responsibility for it. As far as I know, the landlord terminated the management of their property with Best Apt. because of numerous cases similar to mine. Since the landlord never received my money, I was asked to pay rent and deposit ALL OVER again. I contacted Best Apt. to get my money back since they failed to provide the service but I was, again, ignored. Going to court is the only thing I can do right now, because I want my money back.
You’re all welcome to join me at the courthouse and «consult» with the Best Apt. representative if you are planning to work with this company.
A sad face :(

STAY AWAY.
I found beautiful pictures of an apartment for rent through them. I contact the woman on the page, named Melanie Esquilin. She was nice at first, set up a time for me to see the apartment and told me to meet her at her office. I went and asked for her, but another broker told me she was not available and sent me to Sam Diab instead. This man is TERRIBLE.
I sat down with him, asked me which apartment I was seeing. There was no address on the listing, so I gave him the listing #. He plugged it into his computer and pulled another girl over who took me to go see it. When I go there, it was NOT what was being shown in the pictures. When I called Melanie, I got no answer and when I emailed her I got nothing as well.
I then called Sam, hoping he’d tell me it was maybe a mistake or there is another unit available. Instead I got a disgusting attitude from him and cursed out by him. It amazes me this man still has a job, he is a PSYCHO and should be in an institution.
I’ve also filed multiple complaints about these people.
Do yourself a favor and use one of the 10 000 000 services out there which are much more reputable and more professional.

In an ¹¹⁄₃ email, Jay R wrote, «I visited the apartment over the weekend and was shocked of the condition of the apartment. It was ’ Mint ‘, with exception of the wall needing a little paint.» Here is a complete list of all the damages we discovered upon move-​in:
No hot water in kitchen
Giant hole in wall in back of cabinet, large enough for rats to get through
Broken toilet flusher
Broken shower curtain rod
Extensive water damage in walls and ceiling
Living room window does not close, leaving 1-​inch gap in frame
Broken kitchen sink faucet extender
Missing piece of floor molding with nails hanging out
No buzzer, even though building has intercom system
Pubic hair and filth on toilet
Rodent feces on floor
Pink mold in bathroom sink and shower
Grime all over kitchen appliances and inside oven
Soot buildup on windowsills
Head hair and dust bunnies on closet shelf
WHAT A DISHONEST, CARELESS JERK!

I would give zero stars if I could but unfortunately I can’t. These people are a total scam.
There’s ONE good dude who works there– Dennis. He is a wonderful guy.
The rest of them are trashy and scummy and try to trick you into paying more whenever and wherever they can. Not to mention they are so rude and borderline incompetent.
Avoid at all costs.

Minus the star and that’s what I think of these SCAMMERS! Anyone writing a positive review with 5 stars is working for this sham of a company. I have been searching this and other sites since July. Suddenly today there is 12 plus pages of special Student units available for amazing rates with inclusive utilities and shared baths. While I’m not crazy about the shared bath idea a great unit in New York is. Great unit.
So I called Zak to inquire about a unit in Chelsea. He asked what the rent was not what the listing number was. When I told him it was a student unit for 1200 he immediately said oh that’s gone. The first thing that pops into my mind is with 12 plus pages of similar units that where just added to this site how can it be gone already. He went on to tell me how it’s only a representation of what is on the market. So I said ohhhh like a bait and switch. He wanted to know if I was familiar with the New York housing market. Was this to see if he could sell me a bridge?
Well he went on to inquire about my max budget and what I wanted to spend. But I only wanted to talk about why they are baiting clients then attempting to sell something else. I don’t even blame him personally, I think it’s company practice to use deceptive and illegal practices to fool, bamboozle, hoodwink, trick, mislead, anyone that will fall for being taken. The Housing Market in New York is monopolized God Bless AirBnB!!!, not bull, no brokers:)
If you are reading this and still considering working with this company I encourage you to read all of the previous reviews then RUNN!!!

Do not sign anything with these people. They’re out for blood. They may seem nice, but it’s only to trick you. As soon as you sign anything, they scam you out of money left and right. The same goes for Big Apple Management, who they must be in cahoots with.
I told them I wasn’t comfortable looking for a place with Big Apple. They said it’d be fine. They lied. Then they said I was being unreasonable when they changed my down payment after I was told I was accepted to a whole year up front.
Run from these people – if I can call them that.

I would give zero stars or negative stars if that were an option.
Called agent Sam Diab on an apartment advertised, was told it was unavailable — and then he proceeded to ***curse me out in a threatening and scary way*** for having asked about it and the ad!
Still in shock from having been screamed at for no reason with language I would probably get in trouble if I duplicated here, I called the office to let a manager know about this experience. Things got even stranger.
The person who answered (I did not get their name) proceeded to try to sell me on looking at apartments through him, without even apologizing for my bad experience. It was like a sleazy stereotype of what you worry about encountering when looking for an apartment in NYC. Finally when I told him I was just calling to alert them to the negative customer service experience I had he **hung up on me** midsentence!
I eventually called one more time and asked to speak with a manager directly, after a long period on hold the person I briefly spoke with said he would «talk to» the agents I dealt with. Though given the other reviews listed on here I think that is a slim chance of being an effective option.
There are thousands of real estate agents in NYC, don’t waste your time with this agency. The entire operation exudes scum and I definitely wouldn’t trust them with any more of my time or any of my money.

Short review due to time constraints, but just had a very positive conclusion to the apartment hunting process in NYC, thanks to some brokers at this firm (Best Apts. Midtown office). From reading the reviews, it’s clear that this place is hit or miss. That said, the individuals you should find are:
Josh and JR (Jorel Rodriguez,
)
They are extremely competent, a good team, and friendly. Most importantly, they don’t try to BS you around. It’s clear that when apartment hunting around here (NYC), you have to be flexible (apartments are sold before you get there, etc.) but, those complexities aside, Josh and JR landed me an apartment that was far nicer than I had originally hoped, within the price range I was considering (actually substantially under what I had written down I was willing to pay).
When it turned out the landlord would only accept an Aug. 1 move in (vs. Aug 15), they split the difference with me (so that meant that they took a ~14% loss on their broker’s fee income).
Josh and JR are highly recommended.
[Note: % off was incorrect before, has been adjusted.]

This review specifically pertains to Saher Nasan at Best Apartments.
With only about 10 days until our current lease expired (didn’t only start looking with 10 days to go – had a roommate drop out on us), we put down a deposit on an apartment he and his assistant showed us in a building in which he assured us he was «boys» with the management on a Saturday. He assured us they would have the lease from the company for us to sign on Monday. Monday comes around, no lease. Call him up, tells us they are just swamped and will have it tomorrow. Tuesday, no lease. Get the same answer from him. I even ask him directly if this is a bad sign and if we need to look into other options (7 days to find an apartment now) and he assures me that we are fine. Finally, on Wednesday morning, we get a call from him saying that we had lost the apartment due to the management doing an «internal transfer» of another one of their tenants. Naturally confused and angry to just be hearing of the possibility of this even happening for the first time, I ask «what the **** does that mean?» He proceeds to flip out and start cussing me out — despite the fact that he’s the one that just screwed us over — and unfortunately because he still has $ 4,000 of our money we have to take it. On top of it all, he tries to convince us that he’s doing us a favor by getting our deposit back, saying that it’s a non-​refundable deposit but because he’s such an all-​star he was able to convince them to give us our money back. Do yourself a favor and move on to the next broker. Contrary to popular belief, there are a few out there that are pleasant.

I had an appointment at 10am, was there on time, but Arturo didn’t show up. Neither did Sam later in the day that I also had an appointment with.
This sweet girl Veronica then took care of me, and even though she’s been there for only a few months, she knows better how to deal with clients than her own boss (and she’s not afraid to tell him and make him work!). She offered me water, told her boss to finally do his homework and check out places for me to see, and got some keys and off we were. She was very sweet and caring, could really relate to what I wanted and just generally cares about her clients. I wish there were more brokers like that and I really hope she stays the same and NY won’t ruin her. With her warm way, she made this apartment hunting a wonderful experience and turned it 180% around, as I was pretty pissed in the beginning, since none of my assigned contacts showed up.
The office itself is pretty shabby. Like said in previous posts, they post pics of apartments to lure you in and then say it just went off the market.
Make sure you get Veronica to show you around. Then you’ll be in good hands.

The hunt for an apartment in NYC is daunting and tiring at best. I wanted it to be as painful and efficient as possible. When I went into Best Apartments, I was happy to get out and see places the same day. Granted the market is tough, esp this time of year, the brokers did there best to meet my needs and get me a nice place for my budget.
The office will negotiate a fee when working with students and gave me a good deal so that I could bump up my rent without too much angst.
I would recommend Best Apartments in Midtown for someone looking to rent fast and ready to get out on the street and find a place.

I called Clarence to see an apartment listing that I found online, we set up an appointment for the next day. I walk in, Clarence’s associate, Iman said she’d be working with me. I told her about the apartment I saw, and she was totally unaware of any such listing. This makes me believe this listing was planted, a too-​good-​to-​be-​true listing to hook someone into their office. I then asked to see an apartment for a certain budget and was shot down «No. That won’t happen.» She found a listing in the place I wanted for the budget I wanted — I forgave the little impoliteness from before. Clarence takes me to see the place. Clarence was nice, but didn’t know what he was doing really. It took us forever to get to the first apartment, he didn’t really know where we were going. To add, it was hot out. So we get to the apartment, go up a really sketchy elevator in a really sketchy building. We go to the apartment, open the door, and I KID YOU NOT it was a freaking CRACK HOUSE. Sh*t EVERYWHERE, a complete mess. Nasty carpet that looked like it had cat pee stains all over it. An ancient fridge IN THE LIVING ROOM. I took one walk in and one walk out I was disgusted. I couldn’t believe this is where they decided to take me… wasting my time! The next apartment we saw was not a true 3 bedroom and it was in a sketchy neighborhood with bad natural lighting. The floor plan was really odd. I’m sorry guys — but I’m not… because it took us 4 hours to just see 2 places, and come out with nothing but a bad experience and a waste of time and money.
Please save yourself people, go somewhere else!!!

Where to begin?
If I could give you 0 stars I would. This place is an absolute scam. I have lived in NYC for 7 years and finally learned my lesson about doing my home work on brokers (which in the past had always magically worked out well.)
I contacted them via craigslist, went to meet with the brokers, and saw a few apartments. Seemed legit. I gave them $ 200 to run my credit which was absurdly high and $ 2000 to hold the apt. I knew it was risky but I really wanted the place. After two weeks of «I don’t know why the owner isn’t getting back to us.» I started panicking.
If you look at the Unilocal reviews and filter through them properly you will see that most of them are hidden because they are not legit reviews. The are from profiles that were created specifically by this company to try to up their rating and have only made the one review. Many other complaints are similar to mine.
I shared my concerns with my brokers, who to be fair were nice about the whole thing and very apologetic. I demanded my deposit back but I had to eat the $ 200. This leads me to believe they scam a ton of people out of a background check knowing they have no intention of renting an apartment. FYI citi habits and other brokers charge about $ 30 for background. They were also demanding 15% fee for the «exclusive listing.»
After discussing this with other brokers, every single one has stated «It’s ironic they call themselves «Best Apts» since they are known as the worst in the area. They also informed me the listings I viewed with them were not exclusive and had been vacant for quite some time.
This left such a sour taste in my mouth I took on a friends lease and avoided a broke altogether. Moving is stressful enough no one should have to add this to their list.

Reached out to Best Apartments and received a same-​day response. Was told the apartment that had been posted up that day on
was «meant for college students» and they wouldn’t show it, but that they’d follow-​up that week with a few options.
Had radio silence for over 2 weeks before the broker finally got back asking when I could see places. Really, no options? Nothing in 2 weeks? By that time I’d already discussed my situation with another broker who were responsive and kept much better tabs. Not sure if this is par for the course with all the brokers, but based off this experience I’d be hesitant to mention anything positive.