Is This a Scam?
So my wife decided to cruise through Craig’s List real estate for some reason. There she found a 2 bedroom-2 bath apt. in a “boutique” condo in Boerum Hill. The ad didn’t list an address or a real estate company (but did have a photo of what appeared to be Harrison Ford above the agent’s…
So my wife decided to cruise through Craig’s List real estate for some reason. There she found a 2 bedroom-2 bath apt. in a “boutique” condo in Boerum Hill. The ad didn’t list an address or a real estate company (but did have a photo of what appeared to be Harrison Ford above the agent’s name).
At any rate, I emailed the guy asking WHERE this place was. His reply was:
I’m so sorry, but my company does not allow us to give locations until we have made an appointment and registered you with the building.
I can tell you that it is 1/2 block from Smith
St. This is an 11 story building set amongst a
tree lined street with brownstones.”
A) Does that sound fishy to you at all? (Suddenly having flashbacks to those companies that sold rental lists when I first move to New York).
B) Does that sound like Baltic Towers? (Can’t think of any other 11 story joints half block from Smith … oh, and half block from the projects as well.)
Just weirdness all around.
Any thoughts? Anyone else seen this sort of thing?
Also, that building is one door away from Hoyt — not “half a block” from Smith. I can’t stand that type of padding.
Anyway, Newsouthsloper is right. Don’t pay to be on the list.
Thanks for the input.
It may or may not be a scam, did the poster ask you to pay a fee to “Register with the Building?”
My experience is most of the postings on craigslist are just brokers looking to generate leads on buyers. This is especially true of the non-descript properties with a photo of a sunset or high end bathroom or something like that. They are generally trying to get you to call them so they can add you to their contacts.
They often advertise some apartment with only neighborhood and price info to attract you to respond and then they can show you the “Real” apartment listings they have or poach a listing from another broker by bringing you to the seller or gettiing the broker to split the fee for bringing you in.
If they do ask you to pay a fee to ‘Register’ it is most certainly a scam – no brokers charge a fee to show you a listing.
Yes, it does sound like Baltic Towers. I bet they want to register you with the selling broker so that If you buy at Baltic towers, they can claim you as their client. It is illegal for another agency to advertise another agencies exclusive, which is probably why they won’t willingly give you the address….