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]
Talk about bait and switch — Brown Harris is the worst. I was looking at coops and condos in Brooklyn on and off for a year and a half. Went to an open house at 354 2nd St in Park Slope. Very nice modern condos in small building that blends in well. When I call to inquire, was told that they had several bids over asking. As the agent at the open house had said there were two units available, I called back when I saw another listing a few weeks later, and the agent got mad at me. Then had someone call me back and try to switch me to a really ugly building in Windsor Terrace for $25K MORE. Rude all around, and I don’t believe those units in Park Slope were ever available. Ended up buying a loft condo in the Chocolate Factory in Clinton Hill (the yellow one). Dealt with Elliman; they are excellent!
Exactly, Rehab at 12:01! A potential buyer capable of paying $4.5 million for a house is really going to just say “oh okay, gee, well if this little ole house ain’t available, shucks ma’am, sure you can show us more houses.”
Erf.
And how many buyers ARE there in the $4.5 range–particularly buyers that would fall for such a transparent crock of shit? Boy, this broker’s a real prize; sleazy AND stupid.
Not sure about that comment 11;49. When I was in the market last year real estate was red-hot, and I encountered alot of these bull ads. I must have called about adozen brokers asking to see apartments that had just posted and told the same line – “Oh, actually that unit is just now off the market but I have some very similar properties that you might like.”
Yeah right – now I get a million calls a day from brokers who think I’m their client now because I responded to sum fake posting.
Thanks!
So is the plan to prime the market, make people think this listing actually attracted buyers and sold at $4.5, in order to introduce a similarly astronomically priced listing?
Isn’t this practice actually illegal?
Putting up a completely fake listing is unbelievably cruddy and scuzzy. Nobody should ever ever do business with this realtor. Why reward this person for her idiocy. NYC is officially the least regulated city for real estate on the planet. It’s the wild west. The city doesn’t make the realtors all join REBNY. The DOB lets builders do whatever they want. The ECB lets buildings fall down and remain abandoned and dangerous for decades. It’s disgusting.
And 181 Washington Park just closed in June 2007.
A NY Times online ad costs $125 for 14 days.