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]
Sorry but BHS is the worst firm I have ever encountered in Brooklyn bar none. Rude, unprofessional and thy try to steer you away from listings they don’t have a co-broke on or an exclusive and they do it in a very negative manner, either trashing the broker, project or neighborhood. My friends had the same experience. Interesting how one poster said they were expanding because they hardly have any listings!
Developers of Vermeil are selling it themselves now…
Hey 12:45 – Do you know which ad on NYTimes that was, I think I may have fallen for the same one?
Thanks!
I didn’t like that one particular broker with BHS at the Vermeil, but I’m a big fan of BHS in general. Our broker is with them, and I know others with BHS just as friends. Through them I have heard a little bit about how BHS is administered from on high, and it’s a well-run company with experienced, intelligent brokers.
In the end, you have to evaluate the broker him/herself as an individual. That’s the person who will be doing all the work and riding herd on their colleagues, etc.
The worst bait and switch i’ve seen is ADShaye Realty. They had the same ad in the NYtimes up the entire summer.
Amazingly enough, Corcoran seems to be good about taking down listings and noting them as ‘in contract’ on their website.
Vermeil dropped Brown Harris Stevens.
They have a new rather nice looking new website and not sure who is the broker now. I think just an independent.
They’ve resumed work outside, put up a cornice over the last 2 weeks and seem to be moving along. I live near there, so have been trying to figure out what the deal is also…
http://www.vermeilcondominiums.com
Did you know BHS is expanding to twice its size on 7th Avenue???
Sucks.
I was curious if the BHS broker who was rude at the Vermeil open house I attended was the same broker 12:12 might have encountered, and I tried to look up the Vermeil website or listing on BHS. It’s all gone! No more Vermeil website and no more listings on BHS. Does that mean they sold them all? The building isn’t completed yet and I thought it wasn’t completely sold.
I’m in the market and I responded to this ad to see a.) if the property was real, since I cannot fathom that there would be a $4.5 listing in Ft. Greene, and b.) to see what said $4.5 listing could possibly look like to command that number.
We bought a house through Warren Lewis and I was pretty unhappy when the listing stayed on the website for almost three weeks after we’d gone to contract. And it was front and center on the home page. Our other dealings with WL were very professional but I thought it was lazy at best, slimy at worst, to keep the listing up there.
It’s such garbage that the broker ‘forgot’ or the website ‘hasn’t been updated’. They update DAILY to add in open house information; why can’t the web manager hit the ‘delete’ key on old listings?