AC Lawrence – Coldwell Banke

Don’t fall for their bait n switch. Second time it’s happened, think you’re going to see one place because of pictures posted, end up seeing a closet that is an entirely different «apartment.» Never again. 0 stars. Don’t waste your time.

Unfortunately, I am not happy with AC Lawrence– Coldwell Banker. Perhaps it is just the «strategy» they are using like many do. 1. Make it seem like they have the listing to show you on trulia etc… 2. After rushing over there to view the «apartment» it is just their office and of course. there actually is no apartment. 3. Waste your time registering with them– but there was nothing to show.
A complete waste of my time. It was pouring rain and cold. I took the time to travel to their office (unknowingly until I got to the building… the fake listing was supposedly located close by). They try to convince me that I should look at other areas, higher budgets etc. I made it very clear– I know what I want. People do not want to be «tricked» into business. Not exactly a good way to create trust. WOULD NEVER recommend. I think the agent’s name is Monika.

What ever you do Dont not work for this company in this blg as a first time agent. They will ask for almost 600 in fees and after training they will let you go and keep your money watch out!!!

I had a wonderful experience using Coldwell Banker and more specifically Gerry Magpily. I relocated from North Carolina, and I only had a 3 day period to find an apartment. Not knowing the city well, and looking for a pet friendly place on a low budget, having a broker was a must.
Gerry was very kind and patient and only showed me apartments that met my criteria. He did not pressure me in any way, and went over everything step by step. The first day of looking, I didn’t see anything that really fit. Gerry was texting me late at night with new listings. It meant a lot that he was putting in that extra time and effort. As a result I have a beautiful studio in a great location.
Gerry will certainly be my broker the next time around.

AC lawrence was absolutely top class. Friendly and helpful staff. Available anytime. Really worked above and beyond to find us an apartment we loved. Paperwork was smooth and easy as well. Would definitely recommend and will be using them for all future needs.

So many thanks to Anna and Normund at AC Lawrence! I am moving to New York to begin my first full time job and was very nervous about finding the right place to live. I told Normund and Anna where I wanted to live at 11 AM, and had seen about six units by 3 PM! I am happy to have been approved and have Normund and Anna to thank!
If you need to find an apartment in New York city, USE AC LAWRENCE! Specifically, try to work with this pair of great brokers as they are truly kind people and very very sharp negotiators with landlords!

I had a wonderful experience working with Coldwell Banker AC Lawrence! My broker was Yeranui Barakyan and she was incredibly helpful! My roommate and I called her on a saturday morning to ask about one of her listings we found on
, and she had us in her office that afternoon to talk with us about that apartment and also other options. She then scheduled nine appointments for us the next day so that we could see apartments immediately at our convenience. Bother her and her partner were very professional throughout the whole process, and made my first renting experience very easy! She has been very patient with my lack of knowledge, and has been very trustworthy. I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a great deal, and especially to those who are nervous about the renting process in NYC.

This is an unprofessional group. Stay away. They did not return our deposit when we did not move forward on the apartment. I cannot warn you strongly enough.

While looking for our first apartment was very stressful, the staff here at AC Lawrence Coldwell Banker were there every step to help us.
Gerry was our broker, and was amazing! He helped us find our perfect apartment, and gave us guidance the whole way. We will definitely come back to Coldwell Banker and Gerry in the future!

This recommendation is for Bob Brooks of AC Lawrence:
Bob saved my life! I came to him completely overwhelmed with the process of finding a new apartment. I had seven days to find a new place, sign a lease, and move. I had tried briefly on my own — I called other firms about numerous listings on StreetEasy that had «just been leased» and dealt with small-​firm agents insistent on selling me anything that I would look at.
But Bob was different. From the initial meeting until after moving in, he was on my team in a genuine way that the other realtors just weren’t. The consultation alone was incredible — Bob pulled the freshest listings and sorted through based on his 20+ years of experience with New York real estate. He saved both of us so much time weeding out buildings where the finishes or location were subpar.
When we went looking, Bob didn’t to the typical sell-​you-​anything routine. In fact, he had such a great grip on my preferences that he was able to walk into an apartment and make a judgment based on what he knew I wanted. He was spot on every time, and never tried to get me to compromise on things I felt strongly about.
We saw a considerable number of places that weren’t ideal — Bob was patient and encouraging the entire time. Finally, we arrived at my absolute perfect apartment — a newly renovated Gramercy walkup with high ceilings, an updated kitchen, and a fireplace. The price was fantastic, and Bob made the application process easy, keeping me posted at every step of the way. He was extremely organized with paperwork and did a great job negotiating lease terms with the owner. He even provided a great moving company to finish the job.
Apartment hunting is stressful. Bob cut through that stress, allowing me to focus on the important things like choosing the space and the move itself. I had no doubt that he was advocating for me — not for the landlord and not just expediting his commission. Going forward, I will be using him exclusively. He is a rarity — a real estate agent with integrity — and I highly recommend him.

Once I got to their office I was told that the couldn’t show me the apartment unless I signed some paperwork. Which was never mentioned before. And they refused to show me the apartment without it.

My husband and I moved from San Francisco to New York. We were given Darla’s contact information at Coldwell Bank by one of my husband’s co-​workers, but we ended up working with Mariana and Tasha. They were both GREAT and both found great options for us to choose from. Tasha focused more on the Washington Heights /​Inwood area, and showed us some newly renovated, beautiful, very affordable two bedroom apartments. We were ready to set on two of them, but decided to go with the one that Mariana showed us in the Upper East Side. It’s nice to work with two different brokers who focus on separate areas of the city.
Tasha and Mariana really know what they are doing and are also a great pleasure to work with. They are nice, funny, friendly while very professional.

AC Lawrence helped me find a perfect modern studio apartment here in Greenwich village at a reasonable price. The landlord even let me move in a week in advance, that’s great!
I want to give special thanks to my agents Soraya Selles and Thalia Mancheno who helped me all the way through. They are thoughtful, responsible, client-​oriented agents that any person deserves to have.

New New Yorkers, beware! This operation is skeezy.
I’ll go into more detail below, but suffice it to say that 1) they lied in ads about apartments being no-​fee, 2) they tried to give me BS information about apartment rates in Manhattan and had to back-​pedal when they realized that I’ve done my research and know the city rental market well, 3) the agent we were given knew way less about the area of Manhattan in which we were looking than I did 4) they have no decent apartments under $ 2k.
Like others, I came across these guys on Craigslist and Padmapper. I responded to a few no-​fee apartment ads (more about this later) and was unknowingly corresponding with 3 or 4 different agents based at the same Midtown office. All were demanding that I come meet them in Midtown before I travel back uptown to see apartments in or near my own neighborhood. I didn’t have to do this the first time I had to find a place in NYC a few years ago, but since so many agents were making the same demand, I figured it was a new practice and went along with it.
When I got to the office (which is a madhouse, btw), the agent with whom I had corresponded wasn’t there, so we had to wait 30 minutes to talk to another agent, only to be told that the apartment we had come to see and which the agent I spoke to on the phone told me was no-​fee, which had «No Fee! No Fee! No Fee!» in the tagline, and which was categorized as no-​fee in the listing was not, in fact, no fee. I realize now that given the pricing of their other listings, this one was too good to be true and was probably fake.
After a quick apology for the «mix-​up,» we were then given two listings (that were way less attractive than the one we’d come in for) and passed along to another agent who was pegged as the «Uptown Expert» to go view them. Now, our agent was a really nice guy and I don’t blame him for any of this. I don’t even think he realized he’d been described as an uptown specialist, but I get the impression that he had never been to Harlem or Yorkville. I had to help him find the apartment, and also had to explain to him going rental rates in Harlem.
The apartments we were taken to were crappy, which is partially due to our limited budget, but it sort of felt like they were trying to show us garbage so we would agree to spend more. Look guys, just because you don’t have anything that’s not rat infested below $ 2000 a month doesn’t mean that apartments like that don’t exist (I know they’re out there because I live in one). I worry about all of the newbie New Yorkers who, feeling like they have no other options, will agree to spend $ 500 more per month than they intended for a dirty, rundown shoebox in the hood.

Faye Samim gives new meaning to dedication and determination. I cannot thank her enough for finding me the perfect studio; an oasis in the midst of Midtown Manhattan.
During a very chaotic and stressful apartment hunt, Faye was like a real-​estate-​savior. No, that doesn’t even do her justice, I prefer to call her the queen of NYC apt rentals.
I was wonderfully impressed by the high-​level of professionalism and genuine concern that Faye and the entire AC Lawrence office put into finding me this amazing studio that happened to be far below my price range.
The amount of personal care and attention I received can only be described as unmatched. She made sure that I got exactly what I wanted.
Now that I’m happy in my new space, I can honestly say the apartment hunt doesn’t have to be stressful. Just go to Faye and she will take excellent care of you! A big thank you is well-​deserved to the queen of Manhattan real estate.

I have a very grueling work schedule and Thalia Mancheno took so much time with me late at night after work to show me places all over Manhattan. I had very specific needs– on a budget with 2 roommates and 2 pets and she went through every listing she could to try and find something that met my needs. After only just a week we found the perfect place and who knew it would be! It was listed as a converted 3 br so we almost didn’t even look at it but luckily Thalia had it on her radar and suggested it anyway. It had a dishwasher, washer & dryer, and rooftop space! Not to mention the gorgeous high ceilings with skylights and tons of natural light and very nice exposed brick.
Well, it ended up working perfectly and we couldnt be happier to be in our new place. Both Thalia and Soraya Selles helped our transition into the apartment and communication with the landlord to be a fairly simple one. They helped to clarify any of the concerns we had with the lease and were on our side from the very beginning.
Simply put, without these ladies, my roommates and I wouldnt be so happy in our new gorgeous apartment! Looking for apartments in new york city can be a royal pain in the butt but call Thalia and Soraya and I can assure you that they will make it as easy and down to business as possible!

STAY AWAY.
tl;dr: Horrible experience, bait and switch, expensive (15% when most others were 8.3%), and a giant waste of time.
I responded to an ad for a specific unit, which was «suddenly unavailable» when I arrived in the office. And instead of being able to see the unit directly (I currently live 4 blocks away), I had to go to the office in midtown to «sign paperwork».
The agent I corresponded with was not in the office, and gave me no indication that I would be working with someone else. I ended up working with 2 people OTHER than the agent who placed the original ad that I responded to.
I arrived at the designated time and had to wait about 25 – 30 minutes to speak with someone at all. When I did speak with someone, I had to start from scratch and find apartments that fit my criteria. All previous communications I had had with the agent about what I was looking for were ignored.
When I was sent out with *another* agent, he was clueless — he had no idea where the units were, or how to get there on the subway (he didn’t even have a metrocard!) He could not answer the most basic questions about the units (eg. how much monthly rent).

I’m glad for my fellow Unilocalers that some of you have had a better experience than I did. My experience with AC Lawrence — Coldwell Banker was the most unprofessional, cheapest attempt at scamming I have ever seen. I’m ashamed to admit that I even allowed myself to become victim to some of these practices.
I got in touch via a Craigslist post, wanting to see a specific apartment that was advertised there. Mike answered the phone and asked me to meet him at the office. When I got there, expecting to meet Mike, I was instead ushered to the desk of another broker whose name was unclear because the business card he handed me had one name crossed out with another written on top. This was already a big red flag.
Over the next 45 minutes, he proceeded to ask me questions from a questionnaire that I had already filled out, even though he was holding said questionnaire (filled-​out) in his hand. He complained that I listed my max rent as $ 2500 even though my true amount was slightly below (Dude, your system has a drop-​down menu that doesn’t allow you to enter exact amounts).
He then made several «calls» to supers and building managers, each of whom supposedly denied him access to the apartments I wanted to see. At last, he offered up an apartment that was well out of our budget range, which we had been firm about from the beginning. When that didn’t work, he tried to push us into neighborhoods we didn’t want to live in.
When I asked why we couldn’t see the apartment we had been promised to see, listing the exact specifications we had seen online, the guy looked surprised, shuffled through his papers, and mumbled something about how the apartment must already have been rented. Bull.
Most annoyingly, he never stopped talking long enough for me to get a word in edgewise. Any questions he asked were clearly to hear his own voice, because as soon as I started answering he would interrupt and/​or disregard whatever I had just said. Finally we just thanked him for his time and left.
All in all, I got zero value out of my interaction with this firm and wasted almost 2 hours traipsing down to their office and back just to have one of the most mind-​numbingly aggravating experiences I’ve ever had.
Still, I count myself lucky because we aren’t in a huge rush to find a place. These practices are designed (and are successful) for renters who are desperately seeking an apartment at the last minute. The more desperate you are and the longer you sit in a broker’s office going through your information, the more likely you are to feel bought-​in and attached to that broker. (After all, you don’t want to go through whole long process again, do you?) The more bought-​in you feel, the more likely it is that you’ll stick with this broker as s/​he takes you from terrible apartment to terrible apartment, only to pitch you something at last that is great — but out of your budget range.
Of course not all brokers are like this; I’ve worked with great ones. But a word of advice: if you are planning to rent in NY, get a referral for a specific broker that someone you know liked. The odds of getting a bad apple are way too high and your time is too valuable to waste on interactions like this.

I saw a listing for an apartment i was interested in on Craiglist and made a phone call to someone I believe was named Michael. The apartment I wanted to see was on the Upper East Side. I lived on the UES and was currently at a Dr appt, also on the UES. I was told that i HAD to travel to their midtown west office if I wanted to see the apartment that was literally 2 blocks from where I already was. After a bit of fighting, I lost and was on my way to Midtown. I arrived and Michael had passed me off to someone named Said (Sah-​eed). It turns out the apartment I saw online was listed incorrectly and wasn’t really on the blocks it was advertised as, and I actually couldn’t see it.
Said and I spent some time going over my (very specific) needs and found 2 more apartments to see. So I went back to the UES with an appointment to meet Said later that day. I arrive at the first apartment to view to find I had been passed off to ANOTHER broker. Jay. Jay is very polite and professional, shows me the apartment, we go on our way.
Later that day I head to my 2^nd appointment only to find a FOURTH broker. Phillip. Phillip is also very kind and professional and tolerates me as I take measurements and ask many questions about this apartment.
I decide later that day that the 2^nd apartment I saw is for me.
I see Said the next day, and mention that I am concerned bc there was some water damage in the bathroom. Said assures me that the bathroom will be in perfect condition before I move in, and the apartment will be painted.
I also find out that they had informed me of the rent incorrectly. It was actually $ 25 or $ 50 more than I was told (I can’t remember exactly.)
I filled out an application, handed over an arm, leg and my first born child in broker’s fees and whatever else and begin the waiting process.
It ended up taking a few days to get approved for the apartment because of weekend, applying late in the day, etc… Fine.
As moving time approached, I was getting feedback from my new Super that they would not be making any repairs or painting before I moved in and that I must accept the apartment as is. At this point I have already signed the lease and given over all monies. I am annoyed, furious, unhappy, etc… I call Said and he treats me like he doesn’t care. He has my money, he is done. Words were had and he ended up getting in contact with my new landlord to assure that all repairs, cleaning and painting would be done before I moved in.
After everything, I arrive at the new apartment to find it had not been cleaned, painted or repaired. I feel like Said basically told me what I needed to hear in order to sign the lease and hand over the hefty broker’s fee.
I would be VERY hesitant to use them again in the future. My Aunt also had an issue with them where the broker was using her deal (buying, not renting) to leverage another deal for a different client.

I’ve had a great experience with one broker in particular… Jennifer Rouse. I’ve used her services for a number of real estate related transactions and I highly recommend her.
Initially, we asked Jennifer to rent out our condo when we were moving out of NYC. She found us an amazing tenant with excellent credit, and he’s been with us for 2+years.
We’ve then decided to sell our condo and she got us two offers in under a week of the apartment being on the market!
Jennifer is a great broker because she’s always available answering emails, phone calls or texts, and really fights to get her clients the best deal. I’ve met a lot of brokers who are money hungry and just want to make a sale, Jennifer is different because she wants to please her clients and actually makes you feel like someone is fighting for you. It’s so rare to find a broker like her in NYC. If you need to find a place to live, sell a place, or rent out a place, I HIGHLY recommend Jennifer for your needs. She’s amazing and you won’t be disappointed!