Citi Habitats West Village Office

April Purdy is the best broker ! I recently recieve and accepted a job offer in nyc and had less than a week to find the perfect apartment within my budget. she showed me everyhting on my wishlist while also staying around my budget. of course i wanted something modern, close to the subway, a city view, and a cute neighborhood. many brokers only want to show you a few apartments but april went with my mom and i to over 30 places hitting everything on my wishlist. i recieved the cutest studio apartment on the upper west side that is udated, city views, and close to the subway/​grocery stores. This apartment was the last we saw but i got to see the apartment before the open house, signed the lease and moved in all within three days !!! I already told her when i decide to move again (Hopefully Not Soon) that i am calling her again! She was so relatable and made the experience for my mother and I less stressful than what I was expecting ! Thanks again April You were amazing & I am happy to say I’m offically a resident of NYC !

April from Citi Habitats figured out very quickly what I liked and didn’t like and showed me a few places within my budget and in the area I wanted. She helped coordinate the whole thing to make sure all the documents were received and mailed. Would strongly recommend her! Thanks.

April from Citi Habitats is by far the best broker in NYC that I have come across. Thanks April for helping me find a great place so quickly.

My friends and I were looking for an apartment and we unfortunately went through Citi Habitat for a broker. The broker they provided us was extremely unknowledgeable given the high broker fee rate (12.5%). I had to email her points to argue when negotiating the cost of our chosen apartment. This should be her job to know what to do in this situation not ours. The entire ordeal was a headache that I wish no one has to go through. We didn’t end up renting an apartment with Citi Habitat because we did not think that the broker deserved any of our money because she did not do her job properly.
Moreover, we had a meeting with her manager because she couldn’t adequately answer our questions as first time renters. She sat in the meeting and lied through her teeth about information that she «told» us. This is unacceptable and extremely rude. The management here should understand that they work for their clients, not the other way around.

avoid, especially ethan wolvek. ew

I had a wonderful experience working with Citi Habitats and in particular with broker James Swierczewski. Originally I was apartment hunting (and going on terrible appointments) with another broker who seemed thoughtful, but was just not getting it. When I originally reached out to the other broker I contacted James as well but by circumstance started working with the other guy. THANKFULLY James followed up with me a couple of days later and offered to show me some places.
Right off the bat, I felt like James truly listened to me and accepted WITHOUT ARGUMENT my deal breakers and my geographic desires within the city. The places we saw were what I was looking for and he took me to several places of comparison. He NEVER ONCE put on the hard sell, or tried to talk me into something that was not in the price range I desired. He had the patience of a saint and at every point gave advice when questioned and was quiet when I did not ask for feedback.
His «sainthood» even continued through the lease signing that turned into an epic stay at my office (he waited in a conference room for almost 3 hours while the paperwork was fixed.) In addition, there was a discrepancy regarding my move-​in date and he worked all of that through so that I would get the date that I wanted.
James was an OUTSTANDING agent/​broker and I probably won’t work with/​recommend any other person to friends and family in the future. He made the search for an apartment easy and I truly enjoyed working with him. James is a gem!

I had a really good experience with citi habitats. I worked with Yiannis Sarafidis and he found us the perfect apartment. He was never pushy and always went above and beyond to show us as many places as he could. We ended up finding our apartment within one week of working with Yiannis. He also understood what we were looking for and never wasted time showing us places that were above our price range or didn’t fit our criteria.
Also, I always felt really comfortable with Yiannis telling him exactly how I felt about a place. He never tried to «sell» me on something I didn’t like. Which I really appreciated since many brokers will just try to sell you the most expensive apartment. Yiannis was extremely friendly, easy to work with, and definitely knew what he was doing in the crazy NY real estate market!
I would use him again when I decide to move.

Working with Jennifer Vola was a good experience. Great enthusiasm for the apartment-​hunting process. She showed us multiple places and had our best interests in mind. Light-​hearted and fun — we recommend Jennifer.

I walked in to the office looking for some assistant into finding my next home.
Yiannis Sarafidis was at the desk and immediately went out of his way to start helping me and listen to what I was looking for. He pulled out his listings and rapidly identified some places that will fit my criteria. Not a second was wasted. He walked me through the applications process so thoroughly in order for me to understand any questions I had. He worked hard thru shine and showers finding my perfect place. He is the one you want to work with. He will not rest until my needs were met. Thank you so much for being so productive, persistent, and wonderful and also for finding my perfect match.

Worked with Sharon, who made it a (relatively) easy ride for finding an apt in NYC (I say relatively only because no one likes apt hunting in this city). She was honest and professional, yet kept it easy going and fun. Would recommend her for anyone looking for a good place to live.
Would give it a 5 star rating but brokers fee kept me eating ramen for a few weeks.

I worked with Karina from this office and she was awesome! She spent the time to understand our needs and constraints, and put in a lot of thought to find good options for us. We had seen a lot of other apartments, but found one on the first day working with her. In fact, she was able to find us an apartment in a great location that we would never have seen on our own.
I would highly recommend working with her. She’s very easy to talk to and very professional throughout the entire process!

I can’t say enough positive things about my experience working with Tal. He wasn’t even actually my broker at the beginning — he was working for the owner and we met him at the open house, but was so helpful and responsive that by the end of the process I’d nearly forgotten that.
He responded quickly to messages at all times, weekends included, walked us through the application process clearly and thoroughly, and mediated some relatively complicated lease negotiations between us and the landlord. We felt confident he was representing everybody’s interests fairly, and were happy with the results.
I’ve had some pretty bad broker experiences in the past 5 – 6 years (see at least one of them in my reviews below), but I highly recommend working with Tal.

Disappointed. We had been referred to a broker here when we were looking to buy an apartment and immediately received attentive service. Great first impression!
But then it went south… When our situation changed and we switched to looking for a rental, we were told by the broker he would happily still help out. This ended up not being the case because calls and emails suddenly went unanswered and promises to send a list of apartments never materialized even though our need became urgent.
We would have preferred being told directly that our business was no longer wanted rather than getting a rather unprofessional silent treatment.
(We went with Douglas Elliman Real Estate instead. They were great!)

Tal Mucktar-​Barnes is a great broker. He took the time to get to know what I was after, and walked around in the rain with me to show me several properties in one day. It was obvious that Tal knows the Lower East Side well.
I’m a recent international transplant, and Tal was the only broker I worked with who gave me advance notice of the documents I’d need to rent in New York. When I found an apartment I liked, Tal clued me in to a cheaper, similar apartment in the same building and managed to process through to lease signing.

I had a terrible experience working with Tal Mucktar-​Barnes at Citi Habitats at Perry St location. He was dishonest with us, and acted as if we worked for him. He complained about having to cut his weekend short to show us an apartment and then refused to return our deposit back in a timely and professional manner, making us go to his office to pick it up even though we asked him to FedEx or mail it. Terrible attitude and bad ethics. In NYC there are so many wonderful brokers to work with whether you are a landlord or renter, I would stay away from Tal.

I cannot say enough good things about this brokerage.
Udi Eliasi, a senior broker at that firm is the most honest and reliable person.
I am relocating from CA to NY, and I came across one of his ads on the New York Times.
My call to Udi was such a pleasant experience, as I know the attitude you usually get from brokers especially when they cannot see the immediate profit.
That is not the case with Udi Eliasi. I flew to NY and met with him, and I was stunned by the amount of exclusive listings that he has. I felt like a boy who walked in to a Toys R Us store for the first time in his life. The amount of time and effort he invested in order to find me the right apartment was of the charts. I highly recommend this brokerage and especially Udi Eliasi.
Thanks Udi!

Jonathan Abbou from Citi Habitats made the rental/​relocation process extremely easy for us, in a very short amount of time. My husband and I are relocating to NYC from out-​of-​state and had only 1 weekend to find an apartment. Starting about a month out, we sent a «wish list» of locations and amenities. During the month leading up to our house-​hunting trip, Jonathan sent us new listings every few days (to get a feel for what we like). Once we arrived in NYC with only 2 days to look, Jonathan showed us 30+ apartments in all areas of our price range. By comparing places at all different costs, he provided us with all the information needed to make accurate comparisons. He also braved nearly 6 hours of walking around the West Village in the rain with us, all with a positive, friendly attitude. We ended up choosing an apartment whose current tenant was also represented by another broker at Citi Habitats (Tony Wilson). Jonathan and Tony made the entire application/​lease signing process as smooth as possible, and we left 2 days later after having successfully secured a place to live. Thank you to Jonathan & the team at Citi Habitats for making this process absolutely painless!

If you’re reading this review, chances are you’re in the midst of looking for an apartment in Manhattan. I’d like to tell you that it’s a good time, a fun experience, an enjoyable, memorable time – but it’s not. Anyone who tells you so is a liar and, consequently, so are many real estate brokers. I dealt with a few of these self-​styled «real estate professionals» until a mutual friend introduced me to Ronnie Fernandez, who eventually found me the apartment that I now call home.
At that time, Ronnie had was new to the business so I had my doubts that he’d be able to help me find a spot that I both liked and fit my budget, but I thought I’d give him a shot, at least as a courtesy to our mutual friend.
From the very start, Ronnie was honest and forthright; he told me he’d only been working in real estate for a few months and had yet to broker a deal. That’s usually not what you want to hear when you’re looking for your first New York apartment, but I’d dealt with so many pushy liars up to that point that I valued his honesty and had him show me a few places on the Upper East Side.
In the end, Ronnie was great to work with. He was patient, honest, and hard working: three qualities I don’t usually associate with real estate brokers in Manhattan. Whether you’re looking for your first apartment or just a different place in the city, I’d recommend Ronnie Fernandez as a broker who’s capable, professional, and honest.

So I worked with Ronnie Fernandez from Citi Habitats and honestly, he’s just super awesome. He looks for listings under your budget so you get the most bang for your buck and is just overall a really decent yet chill guy to talk to.
I would thoroughly recommend working with him, as he is very professional yet very easy to talk to and communicate with (in terms of what you want regarding location and budget in NYC). He is very honest and straightforward which is a nice change considering how full of fluff NY brokers can be.
If you work with him you can be sure to have a positive experience!

It was my first time looking for apartments in New York and I had a really great experience with Citi Habitats and Jonathan Abbou was AMAZING. I had been working with several other brokers with other companies and was so relieved when I met Jonathan. He was very attentive, showed us apartments in our price range and in the neighborhoods we preferred. I felt that some of the other brokers only pushed me into units or buildings where they would make the most commission and weren’t really showing me anything in the neighborhoods I requested. Jonathan wasn’t like that, he was very straightforward and patient with us while we narrowed it down to two apartments.
If you are looking for a good broker I highly recommend Jonathan Abbou from Citi Habitats!