Douglas Elliman Real Estate – Cobble Hill

Oh man was I wrong.
Yes, Allan helped us find a «long term» landlord/​apartment last year. I recommended many people to him. Then…
The building got sold. We got 30 days to move.
Allan did very little to help us this year. Really disappointed.

This review is for Allan Gerovitz, the King of Cobble Hill.
It was my first experience using a broker in New York, so I was somewhat hesitant about the whole process. After a few hours of researching brokers online, there was one name that kept popping up as the must-​see broker for Cobble Hill, Allan Gerovitz. I found a listing, called Allan, and met with him the same afternoon. All of my broker fears were quickly assuaged after sitting down for our meeting. We had a great chat about all the particulars, from a quick bio of me to his role as matchmaker.
In the short walk from his office to the rental unit, no less than a dozen people waved and greeted Allan. The neighborhood and its residents clearly adore him; I realized later it was probably because he helped all of them get their dream homes. The rental Allan found for my girlfriend and me is fantastic; it has a great monthly rate, and he convinced the owner to remodel the kitchen and repaint the apartment before we moved in. He works for every cent of his fee, and in my opinion, it is 100% worth it.
If you are even considering a place in the area, you must talk to Allan. Now I’m one of those residents waving hello to Allan as he walks new faces through the neighborhood, in search of their new home.
Thanks again Allan,
John

This review is specifically for Allan Gerovitz.
In our last apartment search, my wife & I had an absolutely horrible experience with a broker. It was like all the horror stories you’ve heard rolled into one. We SWORE we’d never use a broker again — whatever it took, we were going to find a place on our own.
If you’re reading this, you know — that’s no fun and pretty much impossible. We’d had a couple of people recommend Allan to us, but I was pretty skeptical. Those folks were right though — Allan was amazing and totally flipped my opinion of what working with a broker can be.
When we first met Allan, he asked us a bunch of questions, seemingly attempting to hone in on exactly what we were looking for and making sure the apartment we were going to look at would fit our expectations. Like others have said, Allan is «old school» preferring to talk in person or at least over the phone, rather than taking care of things via email. But it’s totally worth it.
If you’re hesitating on a broker, I get it. But Allan is great and you have no reason to worry.

This review is specifically about Allan Gerovitz.
My husband and I heard Allan was the guy to talk to about rentals in Carroll Gardens and he did not disappoint. We met Allan at his office around lunch time on a Saturday to discuss what we were looking for and at the time we weren’t even 100% sure what we wanted. After a fairly rigorous interview from Allan he was able to help us figure out exactly what was important to us. He showed us two great places Saturday afternoon and then an even better one Sunday morning… the perfect one for us! We were able to meet the landlord and sign the lease right then and had the whole process wrapped up in around 24 hours.
Allan is nothing like the typical NY brokers we are used to. He strives to match you with the right apartment and landlord, and makes the entire experience very pleasant. Once we signed our lease, he even celebrated with us by treating us to a bottle of wine and walking us through his favorite neighborhood spots. I couldn’t have asked for a better welcoming to our new neighborhood.

(This review is specifically about our experience with Allan Gerovitz)
My wife and I have been casually looking to rent a 2 bedroom with outdoor space for a reasonable price in our Cobble Hill/​Boerum Hill neighborhood — a real unicorn around here. When we found a listing that was just outside what we wanted to pay, I dragged my wife to the listing. She immediately loved it.
I was expecting the same shady, slick broker ready to do the bait and switch, or push you into a quick decision. Instead we got — Allan Gerovitz. Allan is the last honest broker in NY. He doesn’t just show you the apartment, take your money, and run. He works for you, as well as the landlord, to make sure both sides are happy. We were able to negotiate a lease that brought down the price to where we were comfortable AND add a second year.
The whole process was seamless and wrapped up in 48 hours. He is thorough, documents everything via email, and makes sure you survive the process with his quirky personality and great sense of humor.
BONUS: if he really likes you, he might get drinks with you after the signing to celebrate.

I worked with Elina Golovko and Allan Gerovitz to find my new apartment. Working with tenant’s brokers was exactly what I needed making the home search more efficient and as stress free as possible. Plus they were entertaining.

I was in contact with Irene by email only and although I did not end up working with her on my apartment search due to reasons outside of her control, I was impressed by her responsiveness, candor and market knowledge and would thus definitely consider her as my agent for a future apartment hunt.

Unfortunately, I would like to write a good review but cannot. We used Allan Gerovitz to locate our first apartment and was told he valued repeat customers and that if we would suggest him to others and use him again, he would work to find us another apartment the next time we needed to. Both my husband and I read this article about Alan and at first we agreed with it:
Last month, in our time of need, Allen turned us away. So much for honoring repeat customers. He snubbed his nose at us. I guess we didn’t make the grade.
Go elsewhere, find someone who cares about your needs and wants to work with you, do not pay this man money to treat you poorly. Not even a block away, Brooklyn Real has several brokers whose feet touch the ground and who will connect with you and work with you.

This corporate broker is a bane on the neighborhood and the older man who sits behind the main desk on the right side was awful to us – really horrible.
He could have cared less about us as people, wanted to immediately talk about our credit rating (and lectured us about it, despite it being above average), told us there were no apartments in our range, and then went on and on about how awesome of a broker he was and about how he’s writing a book about himself. He made us feel like bad, poor, stupid people. (We are none of those things.)
And then! We walked to another broker up the street and had our apartment that same week! A gorgeous, big, well-​priced place right up the street from this office, and he had no idea it was even on the market.
They are not a part of the neighborhood; they only know about big corporate buildings and a few more. If you want charm and authenticity in the nabe (and why else would you live here?) go to a LOCAL broker. They have the good inventory and are generally nicer people.
I have been walking past their office daily for almost 18 months now, and nearly every time I look in and see this guy, I think about how mean (and wrong) he was.
You deserve better. Go elsewhere!

I also had the misfortune of working with Bren and Mikael. They gave me a poorly copied set of keys at move in that didn’t work and then tried to blame me for it. I didn’t have hot water for the first week at the new place because they neglected to mention that the gas was shut off and would take a week to come back on. They gave incorrect information about the state of the apartment and local cable options which disrupted my ability to work from home. It would be one thing if they charged $ 10 – 15 per hour, but a month’s rent for such poor service is totally out of control.

I had the misfortune of working with Bren and Mikael when I was seeking a place this Spring. What began as normal broker communication turned into slower and slower responses until we heard nothing at all — after we gave them our background check money. Bren started us off showing a place, which we submitted an app for slightly under the asking price. We filed paperwork in the office with Mikael, gave our $ 70 for background checks, and were all but ignored from then on. After much failure to respond to our questions and misleading promises to reach out to us by specific days, we gave up and secured a place with Brick Realty.