Bait-and-Switch on Washington Park?
We got an email on Saturday from a incredulous reader pointing out that a $4.5 million brownstone listing on Washington Park had just popped up on the New York Times. Say what? With a little digging, the whole thing really started to stink. The ad from DJK Residential was using “borrowed” photos from an old…
We got an email on Saturday from a incredulous reader pointing out that a $4.5 million brownstone listing on Washington Park had just popped up on the New York Times. Say what? With a little digging, the whole thing really started to stink. The ad from DJK Residential was using “borrowed” photos from an old Brooklyn Properties listing for, we believe, 181 Washington Park. When you clicked through to the DJK web site, though, the map location said 192 Washington Park, an impossible address based on the the backyard photo. So a friend of the original tipster gave the broker, Ken Smith, call. Surprise, surprise: Within 24 hours of the listing popping up, it was already in contract! But, of course, the broker would be more than happy to show her something else. Here was Ken’s reply email:
Thank You for your enquiry but this house is no longer available. I will be happy to assist you with other properties if you remain interested. I am expecting some details with regard to a similar property also located in a hi-end Brooklyn neighborhood.
Pretty darn fishy.
192 Washington Park [NY Times]
my good friend is an agent and he tells me how many crazy mo fo’s are out there…SEE they just don’t have a site where THEY can bitch and complain about y’all. (im not an agent) I just think its silly to expect agents not be on this silly site. Some People on this site are seriously NOT NICE! its supposed to provide information, not bash people, accuse people and so on. so what if the agents are on here, even if they are trying to settle the score, some of you crazy bitches need a slap anyhow… do you actually read what is written on these blogs!! GET A LIFE!!
quest 10-8-07 8:34PM you are soooo Lee Solomon!
Hey 11:44, probably if they wear glasss and spend alot of time in the bathroom during open houses.
I had one experience with Brown Harris Stevens (as a BUYER who was outbid, no less) and it was excellent. I felt that my broker was honest and not pushy. As someone said previously, many times it depends on the individual broker.
if my broker has hairy palms, does that mean he/she whacks off a lot?
Good Point 8:35- I have been looking for a house for about a year now and have met both good brokers and some bad ones too! I can’t believe that someone would try to pull a scam like this – it’s so obvious but again this is NY Real estate and if you look long enough you see just about everything! Literally….
I thought the same thing, first post at 7:50pm. What happened to the requirement to log in if you bash a business? Because I thought the posts ranting against BHS sounded like bitter competing realtors making stuff up. Not potential buyers. I truly doubt any laypeople or buyers would get SO upset as that over whether a realty firm has new listings or not! That was hilarious. Potential buyers would a) move onto the next realtors window to see what they have, or b) chalk it up to the slowdown in the market. And I daresay buyers in Brooklyn capable of spending 7 figures on a property are sophisticated enough to correctly blame the market slowdown.
I am sorry to hear that people are associating the Bait & Switch at Washington Park with Brown Harris Stevens. They were the firm that sold that listing legitimately. I am appauled that people believe that BHS is associated with this when they do not know the true facts. A firm called DJK Properties an unknown brokerage is running a scam to get unsuspecting buyers to deal through them. They placed the ad in the NY Times on Saturday and provided a link to their own website that even had a designated id number assigned to the property. They used photos and description that they hijacked off of a website from another brokerage that once had that listing. Meanwhile, the property was sold months ago and the new owners have moved in. These brokers are located in Manhattan and think that they can just put up an already sold listing and claim that they are marketing it and no one will be the wiser. I particularly like how they changed the price by a mill five to throw off anyone who might suspect…. Instead of bashing the legitimate agencies and agents that work here, live here and care about doing business here, we should be joining forces to keep brokers that behave in such illegal ways out of Brooklyn! Buyers and sellers always want to throw blame onto the brokers – well there are many legitimate and good brokers here – even at BHS – but brokers like the one’s who engage in this kind of thing – they should be put out of business – don’t deal with them!
Good time for sellers. Frustrating time for buyers and their brokers. Most good new listings seem to last a week or two max before they get in to contract. Seems like nobody has listings because they all get sold so fast, including Brown Harris Stevens. Hopefully more will come on the market soon. Does this mean that the new developments are all selling out fast now too I wonder?