City Connections Realty

We had a terrible experience with Ken Ferman and would advise management companies who are looking to use City Connections to look elsewhere. Ken was rude, pushy and completely unprofessional. To add he would repeatedly come into our building and apartments with no prior notice to the tenants. There are so many other great real estate companies to use in NYC, keep looking. We had a much better experience with CitiHabitats and would recommend them.

I worked with Ken Ferman when I first moved to NYC and had a fantastic experience with him. He was incredibly patient and helpful, as I really knew nothing about apartment hunting in NYC. Ken was kind enough to take me through the ropes step by step, and helped me find an amazing apartment. I truly had a great experience overall, and would absolutely work with him again moving forward and have recommended him to friends. If you are a seasoned apartment hunter or new to the city, Ken Ferman is a great choice for helping you find the right space.

Ken Ferman
I first met Ken in 2008 when I purchased my first home in Jersey City through him. I was very impressed by his in-​depth knowledge of the housing market, the location, and the network he had. He was incredibly honest and helpful throughout the whole process which was extremely stressful for me, but he ensured my closing went seamlessly.
Due to my positive experience with him back in 2008, he was the only one I trusted when it came time to selling my condo in 2013. This experience surpassed my initial one with him given I was going through a painful divorce at that time. Ken was not only there for me every step of the way as my broker, but he was there for me as a friend as well. He went to great lengths to keep me posted on every development throughout the entire process and helped me make the best decisions which resulted in a sale price that exceeded my expectations. For that, I am eternally grateful.
Ken is smart, savvy, and above all, he is honest. He is extremely organized and hard-​working. I can honestly say he is the best broker I’ve ever worked with and I will continue to go to him in the future. I highly recommend him to anyone wanting a broker they can trust to get the job done right.

I just wanted to write about my experience with Cherilyn Julien.
While I landed up going with an apartment that an old landlord offered, I wanted to convey my gratitude at this hard working broker. She was almost hard to keep up with as she was trying to show me as much as I wanted in my price range. She’s super knowledgeable about the areas, the market and is willing to work her hardest to get you the place you’re looking for, and is not afraid to tell you if you need to go higher in rent or look at other places.
She was a tremendous help and I know anybody who is suspect of brokers out there can rest assured she’s trust worthy and hard working. If I didn’t get a deal on a different place, my 2^nd and 3^rd options were ones that she lined up for me.
Thank you Cherilyn!

I just wanted to share my experience in working with Emile at CCR. He was great. I had pretty strict criteria in where I wanted to live and what I needed out of an apartment. On top of that, I had two big (60lb+) dogs that were with me, which made things difficult. He was incredibly helpful, informative and generally a good/​trustworthy guy.
I highly recommend him!

I found City Connections Realty through an exclusive listing on StreetEasy. Being on a tight budget (by New York City standards, anyway), I was shocked to find such a large apartment under $ 2,400. This led me to continue to work with the listing agent at CCRNY, Ken Ferman, who then forwarded me over to his colleague Christie LaRusso.
Christie was kind, professional, and patient. My partner and I viewed close to 30 apartments and we never felt like we were a burden. Christie was dedicated to finding us an apartment we both loved that fit our budget. Never did we view a place out of our price range, or beyond the neighborhoods we suggested. She was on top of every listing agent who’s apartments we showed interest in, and was never unclear about fees/​upfront costs. Christie was very easily accessible by e-​mail and phone, even after we signed our lease. Having personally worked with other brokers prior to this experience, I can say I was never as successful as I was with CCRNY.
This is by far, not a hoax review. I am an active member of Unilocal,and Ken and Christie are genuine people who care about their jobs and aren’t just out to get their money and split… Which can not be said about a majority of agents in New York City!

I worked with Ken Ferman of City Connections Realty when renting my apartment this past summer and it was a pleasure! I’m picky and impatient and he was quite the opposite, patient laid back, no-​pressure real estate agent (quite uncommon among rental agents) and worked with me to negotiate the best possible deal and terms of my lease. I referred a friend to Ken last month to assist him in finding an apartment in the city. He was moving here from out of state so had limited availability to apartment hunt and had very specific requirements and preferences in a place. Ken was fantastic! He stayed late when needed, explained the «NYC» renting process (which is different than anywhere else in the world!) and was fair on the brokers fee; after quite a bit of work he found him a wonderful place. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to rent or buy. He’s truly a pleasure to work with.

Classic bait and switch scammers, don’t do business with these people.

It’s not easy to find an apartment you love in New York. The process is fraught with stress and frustration. Brokers try so hard to move their properties without any regard for what your needs are and you end up being treated very poorly. It was almost unbelievable to me that Elliot Adler was such a gem to deal with and that I was shown the exact apartment in the online ad and given all the truthful information about what to expect to be able to secure it. I am so grateful to him for helping me find my new place and also helping to make sure the process of getting into the building and approved all around was as smooth as possible. I am so impressed with how I was treated and how smoothly it all went I highly recommend Elliot and City Connections to anyone at all who wanted to avoid the usual tribulations of apartment hunting in NYC.

City connections made our apartment search a breeze! We worked with Britney Hatcher who was fantastic! She worked hard to find an apartment within our limited budget and time restrictions. We found a great apartment and could not be happier.
Other realtors were pushy, rude and did not respond in a timely fashion.
I would ABSOLUTELY recommend working with City Connections, especially Britney!

Ive dealt with both Randy Baruh and Scott Anderson in my search for an apartment. Both were very friendly and approachable. They listened to what I was looking for and really came through. I never felt abandoned even when I finally moved and still had questions.
Would and do recommend to friends. One star off for the slightly high fees. But in the end the price is worth the lack of stress on my end.

Also got the bait and switch. Advertised a newly renovated 500 square foot studio with hardwood floors on Hamilton Terrace. Got there this morning– elevator smelled like urine, the floor was linoleum, the paint job and appliances were both the cheapest possible, there was mildew in every nook and cranny in the bathroom, and the space was 450 square feet tops. The broker I met with was actually a really nice guy, and seemd like an overall decent human being. Unfortunately, central command in this business must just suck. CCRNY manages the building, so very little room for confusion on basics like this, one would think. But they did have an apartment that would be available newly renovated in two weeks. Great– it was a nice block. Probably someone’s dog had just leaked in the elevator. It would be taken care of, asap. No big deal. I went to get a cashier’s check from bank. Had been in line for a half hour when I got a call telling me the rent had gone up $ 100. Which is fantastic, especially when the broker’s fee is 15%. And when I was the only person at the open house. Thanks but no thanks. But you’ll never find anything this nice in the neighborhood at this price. Really? Never? Ever Again? What if I wait until September, geniuses? Please. Save it for the noobs.

Bravo! This place delivers the classic bait-​and-​switch ploy, advertising a modest but still nice-​looking one-​bedroom apartment in Harlem for $ 995/​month. Yes, that’s super cheap, so I wasn’t expecting much — but this was just totally unacceptable. I’m surprised a «real estate company» would actually represent a property like this.
Before we even begin, Randy shows up 30 minutes late then proceeds to take us to THE WRONG BUILDING. When we finally get to the right one, it looks like a crack house out of the Bronx from the 80’s. Run down, dirty, smells weird, drug dealers in and out. Doors on the front of the building don’t lock — no keys needed to get in and out. The apartment itself is ridiculously disgusting. Nothing had been changed or renovated in that place for decades except the kitchen counters. A place like this with no safety should definitely not be $ 1k/​month. I’ve seen wayyy better for the same price.
So, on to the next spot. This place is $ 1075/​month and is nicer, bigger and newly renovated. SO newly renovated the place isn’t even finished yet. How can you show an apartment when it was just freshly painted, all the windows are closed and the fumes are unbearable? Oh, and let’s not talk about the safety hazards all over the place with wood and tools everywhere. But wait! We couldn’t even GET IN the door for a good 20 minutes. Randy broke the doorknob off and had to call the super to come open the door. The thing was totally jammed and he basically had to break it down so we could get inside. WHAT is with these places that CCR decides to show?
Here comes the kicker — the broker fee is $ 2k. Excuse me? But my frined found YOU. She did not call you and hire you to find her an apartment. Why do you get 2k for just showing us the place? I’m not really sure i care about your «exclusive» listings — simply because they’re all crap.
Our «agent» was rude, cocky and kept his iPod headphones in most of the time he was with us and barely engaged in conversation about what it was my friend was looking for, her budget, preference in location, anything. It was a really poor experience and I would never use them myself. It was a waste of three hours just to view 2 god-​awful apartments that rats probably wouldn’t want to live in.

I had a great experience with City Connections. After two disastrous experiences with other brokers in the same month I had given up hope of ever finding a broker who would actually do their job and get me into an apartment. I saw a studio on Craigslist and contacted the broker, Randy Baruh, on a Thursday. Randy showed me this studio as well as two others in the same building. Then going above and beyond what any other broker had done previously, offered to show me another studio and one bedroom a little further uptown. I went back to the first studio on Friday and put down a deposit. The one thing that I really appreciated about Randy was that 5 minutes after I said I wanted the studio I watched him take it off the market via his iPhone. There was no doubt in my mind that he or the landlord would be taking me along for a ride and comparing my application with 5 others. When we left the building, Randy then laid out the time frame of how long it would take to process my application, something the other abysmal brokers didn’t do or were very vague about, and when I would be able to sign a lease. Randy and I were able to negotiate a broker fee that was within my budget. I have no problem paying a broker fee if the broker shows me multiple places and gets me to sign a lease quickly, which is exactly that Randy did. Your broker fee with Randy is an investment in saved headaches and stress from other brokers and I highly recommend him.

I recently rented an apartment through City Connections with the help of broker Randy Baruh and was very impressed with his professionalism and helpfulness. I called Randy after seeing a couple of listings and he worked with me to find the right unit within my budget. I was on a tight deadline to find a place and had some special requests and he was very attentive and hard working. I was new to the broker system and he was available to answer all my questions.
I think the negative reviews come from people that don’t understand that you can’t «window shop» in the NYC market. You should have money in hand and and a move in date before you waste the time of a broker. Broker’s fees are how they make their living, much like tips for waiters. You wouldn’t be able to browse a menu at a table in a busy restaurant and not order. Randy did a great job for me and checked in after the move to make sure everything was OK. I definitely recommend!

WARNING about the City Connection Realty. PLEASE DO NOT SIGN The Client Registration Sheet when the broker or salesperson show you the apartment and stating that «this is just to prove that I represented the client». I was fooled. Mr David Dunkin was the agent of CCR who threatened me to take legal action on email if I don’t pay his broker’s fee because I turned on his back and was planned on signing a lease with another broker. He even got the listing price of the rent wrong (much higher). AVOID THIS PLACE. It’s A SCAM!!! TONS OF CON-​ARTISTS. There’s something VERY SHADY about any Real Estate world but this place has their own lousy sneaky business strategy to coax customers.

My husband and I had a great experience with our broker, Devin Bokaer. We saw an apartment on Craigslist that we were interested in, dialed the number of the broker on the ad, and scheduled a time to check out the place.
Devin was on time and was immediately very friendly. To our dismay, the place he showed us was unfinished and was not exactly what we were looking for, but he told us he had several other places he could show us in the neighborhood. He was extremely attentive to our desires and didn’t try to convince us to see anything out of our price range. Over the course of a week, Devin showed us somewhere around fifteen apartments, which was no easy feat in the middle of the July heat wave.
Eventually, we found a great place in Hamilton Heights and we jumped on the opportunity to get it. Our apartment is the perfect combination of good location, awesome price, and a great amount of space. After all the help we got from Devin, we felt justified in paying the broker’s fee. He definitely earned it! Even after we signed our lease, Devin helped us by answering several questions as we prepared to move in. We highly recommend City Connections and would use Devin again if for some crazy reason we ever decided to move out of our amazing new home.

I wish I could submit this without a star. Hmm, I guess I can justify a star for a working phone number.
So, my SO and I are looking at apartments because our renewal lease is coming up. It’s rent stabilized, but a little small, so we’d like to see what’s out there before we commit to another year or more.
I was looking through Craigslist ads and saw an apartment and called the number… the broker, a Randy Baruh, told me immediately that the apartment was taken, though he had more. He proceeded to tell me he had more available, but did not ask me what I was looking for, nor the sizes of the places he was listing off (which, I suppose, makes sense when he didn’t ask me which apartment I was referring to in the first place — weird). He asked me when I wanted to move, and I told him that I didn’t have a set date, but could move immediately if we found the right place. He then told me that he had exclusive deals with x number of landlords with over 2000 apartments, and that he had 20 people working under him and that I should call him when I was ready immediately. I reiterated that I would be if I found the right place, and that would probably take actually hearing about the places and maybe seeing them (hint, hint). He also suggested that I just not sign the renewal on the lease and call him when the lease was up. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable just giving up the lease and hoping for an apartment in 30 days.
Anyway, the phone call was a total fail, and I’m just trying to add my $ 0.02. That broker is a Douche McGoosh.
Here are a couple more fun links to awesome City Connections service:
Huzzah!