Ardor New York

I don’t know if they still handle sales or only rentals but when I had the misfortune to cross paths with them in 2003 I was buying.
I’m always going to hate these guys because they pretty much cost me the deal of a lifetime. When I turned 30 I decided to buy an apartment in NYC which all my friends thought was a crazy idea. I was young, single and didn’t make a great deal of money. But on the plus side I had great credit and worked for a bank where I qualified for an employee mortgage and had lots of financially savvy co-​workers giving me advice. The real estate market in NYC wasn’t totally insane yet though it would enter a bubble two years later.
Long story short: I found a building in Brooklyn in an obscure neighborhood I figured correctly would be nice one day and the previous landlord from before it turned co-​op was liquidating all his holdings way below market as sponsor sales (no board, no 20% down). I found a gorgeous one bedroom. Enter Ardor. I could tell during the walk through the agent wasn’t listening to a word I said. I kept trying to show him my mortgage approval and bank statement showing I had the downpayment and he didn’t care. A week later I called and they didn’t know who I was. They never put my bid I e-​mailed them in and somebody else snatched it up. Was it because I was a young woman? Did the low price mean he didn’t care about the consequently small commission? Did he not want to deal with the complications and transfer tax of sponsor sales? Who knows but I will always resent Ardor. If it was actually discrimination that’s illegal.
A few months later I did buy a sponsor sale in the building on my third try. It’s smaller and un-​renovated but on the plus side it’s on the top floor. My agent? An aspiring filmmaker who moonlighted as a broker and worked from his apartment. Not the most professional guy on earth but he took me seriously as a buyer and really helped me out.
Lots of aspiring artists moonlight as real estate agents. Don’t write them off. Sometimes they can be more decent than elitist sleazebags like Ardor.

Could be the worst real estate brokers in the city. No one worse than todd. The guy must have called me 10 time when I was moving out wanting to show the apartment. I let them show my apartment twice while I wasn’t there and my kindle was stolen. Complete scam artists use anyone else. Try one of the no fee sites if possible.

Charles Murray IS. THE. MAN.
He really made apartment hunting feel low stress. When my initial plans for housing in NYC fell through, he was able to find me several places which met my needs on short notice. Through the whole process I didn’t feel pressured or anything. Basically it felt like he just wanted to make sure that I got what I needed.
I had very negative experiences with many other brokers in the city and just knowing that someone like Charles is working in this business gave me a bit of hope in humanity.
100% recommend.

This review is for Eugenio (Eugene) Carillo. He is very professional and really made the process of hunting for an apartment less stressful. I love my new place, and I have also appreciated how Eugenio and Sabrina at Ardor helped when questions came up, even after the lease was all signed and done, I felt like I could call up Ardor or Eugene and they would promptly follow up. I am very happy with my experience, especially after working with other brokers and seeing the negative side of the NYC apt hunt — it was a relief!

My roommate and I did not have a pleasant experience with Ardor. We were assigned 2 different brokers, because we has requested listings via Naked Apartments, which made the whole thing awkward because they are all competing for commissions. One of the brokers was good, and showed us a few plausible listings, the other was very inexperienced. We endup up finding an apartment we liked through them, but they were so shady we had to walk away.
They didn’t give us any info on the landlord, and when we wanted to make requests about repairs for the apartment (and it needed a lot of work), they refused to give us the landlord’s contact information, saying it would all be done through them. There was no proof ever given that the repairs we requested would be done, and they expected us to take their word for it and just sign the lease. Overall they were very pushy and made me uncomfortable.

This review is for Stamatios Tsilimos. I moved to New York for a job and found a listing that I was interested in. I contacted Stamatios and he responded very quickly and ensured me that this apartment was a nice place to move into. I live out of state and could not find the time to view it so I asked for photographs, meanwhipe being very weary of not being able to view it. He sent me photographs of its present state and its future state after they fix up the apartment. When I came to the apartment, it was exactly what I expected. He accomodated to my needs and made my move in very easy.

This review is for Hans Campaña.
My girlfriend and I were looking to move down to Jackson Heights from the Hudson Valley, and we were woefully unfamiliar with New York City’s apartment-​renting process. We had done our research online, but nothing really prepared us for the death match that is New York City real estate. I was a bit stressed out by the whole thing, having entered myself into some Hunger Games-​esque realty battle. I mean, three years’ worth of tax returns? Guarantors? Months of bank statements? Every identity-​related document I own? And all of it Due Right Fucking Now Or Else Someone Will Snatch Up The Apartment. Yeah, I was kind of freaking out.
Cue Hans, the most patient man in the world. This process did not bring out the best in me (so much nervous energy!), and Hans was a champ about it. He answered all of my questions, he was incredibly communicative, he followed up with the management company when they dropped the ball and held up our application even before I asked him to. And to top it all off, he was a really nice, honest guy – certainly not the slick dirtbag I was expecting to interact with in city real estate.
I was so grateful to him throughout the whole process and so happy to get the apartment we wanted. Hans was absolutely fantastic, and he made the whole experience far less painful than it could have been. If we end up moving again, I will definitely use Hans again.

Saw several apartments online listed by Steve Stern of Ardor Realty. Called and emailed to request a viewing of a particular listing. He agrees and provides me with the address for the apartment I saw in his advertisements online. On the day we were supposed to meet, I stand outside the address he gives me for 20 min. I call him to ask what is up. He says he is on the other side of the block and that I got the address wrong — this is total BS! I wrote down the correct address and this same one is still listed in his advertisements as available. (While I was waiting, I spoke to the construction crew and they indicated the building was under complete renovation as it was not habitable and that also, it was not full apartments but rather functioned like a hostel — separate living quarters/​apartments with 2 shared bathrooms per floor of living quarters. WTF, Ardor.) Total bait-​and-​switch scheme. The apartments he showed me were complete sh*tholes — appliances over 30 years old, cabinetry made of rusted steel with corkboard glued on as «resurfacing» (seriously, what kind of demented «renovation job» is this?), wood floors that reeked from years of dog piss permeating the floor boards, paint sloppily lathered on in so many layers it flaked off in huge chunks (probably also full of lead that your pet or kid would eat), and broken tiled flooring that had peeled up, revealing the nasty rotten floor beneath. After showing me all of these hot condemned messes, I remarked that these are not what I had specified in our initial conversations I was looking for. He proceeds to tell me that no apartments of my preference exist, which is stupid since if this is true, why waste my entire afternoon and $ 20 worth of MTA passes? You should’ve told me that straight-​up. This is when we part ways. The only reason this agency gets 2 stars and not 1 is because I wasn’t asked for money straight up despite everything else being deplorable — the deceit, condescension (hey, man, I’m a New Yorker and wasn’t born yesterday), and self-​righteousness.
A note to everyone apartment hunting, especially if you are from out of town: NYC doesn’t have car salesmen — these cretins come in the form of «real estate agents.» Run like h*ll if they can’t offer u a biz card. This implies their agency doesn’t value them or they don’t value their agency — neither is good. If they can’t provide photos or the name of the landlord, beware of bait & switch listings — those «awesome» rentals they have don’t exist. Don’t give them any $, sign any promisory papers, or otherwise let them pressure u into depositing on a lease. If their craptastic apt was that «hot,» they wouldn’t be trying to corner u like a rat. Cut them loose if u can’t call them on an office landland — if they haven’t been around long enough to have one, what makes them think they know more abt the hood than u? They got no business advising u on real estate. Also, it’s easy to dodge p*ssed off tenants when u have a disposable cell phone. A landline is forever.
Good luck.

This review is for Claude Lewis, who just told me that it is impossible to find anything in my price range for the area I’m looking for. Actually his exact words were, «Even if the broker fee was one month rent, which is the absolutely lowest brokers will go how will you manage that?».
In the past THREE days alone that I have started my search, we have managed to find MANY listings that meet the criteria. We were intending to use Ardor NY as a resource to narrow those listings down.
If you are so incompetent that you are unable to find anything in a perfectly acceptable price range, at the very least don’t be rude and challenge your potential customer by implying that they are stupid to think anything is available.
I have worked with many real estate companies and this is the most ill-​mannered one I have come across. Disgusting.

Oh man… Don’t know where to begin. Very very complicated experience with them, which mostly sucked, but in the end I got a great apartment, which rocks.
They do have exclusive relationships with some landlords, so I’d say its worth seeing if they have the place for you.
Tips:
— Work with a senior agent. We had he’ll with a junior one, and we only ended up getting our apartment (after it was taken from us) when I emailed his boss and boss’s boss.
— Ask (demand?) for papers to be ready before you get there. I spent over an hour in their office (twice) just waiting on them for different things.
— Also ask for them to prepare the correct number of key copies in advance. They gave us just 1 set, the day before move-​in, which was a huge pain.
— The source of probably all the problems we had with them was that they ultra under-​communicate. Make sure everything (especially deadlines) is super clear.
— Know that all payments have to be cashiers checks, and know how to get those in large sums in advance. Probably something that’s the same with all realtors, but given the extreme lack of communication (see all pts above) this both saved us and caused problems at times.
In the end, got a great place, but a very tough experience getting it all done.
They’re listed twice, and the UES address does not exist to my knowledge:

I recently worked with Ardor Realty to get my new apartment for July. I worked with Emil Bucca and he was hands down the best broker I’ve worked with since living in NYC. He didn’t sugar coat anything or lie. He was honest and trustworthy. The process was smooth and painless. I’ll definitely be turning to him in the future.

Gabrielle Engh was very polite on the phone the first time I spoke with her. Then she cancelled at the last minute when we were supposed to meet. When we planned on meeting a second time became very belligerent on the phone to me. Strangely, she also refused to give me details about the cross streets where the apartment was located, saying «That’s now how real estate agents do business.»
Sorry to say, YES IT IS. the agent gives you an address, and you meet them at that address. If they’re withholding the address, it’s probably because the apartment is not in your favor.
Move along, and request to deal with another agent.

I worked with Emil and he was by far the best broker I have worked with. For one thing, when I contacted him to schedule a viewing he was incredibly prompt in responding and setting it up (next day when I contacted him at like 10 at night). And he actually showed me the apartment I saw online! Trust me, this is the first time its happened for me. Usually there is a «bait and switch» game with NYC realty companies (or so it seems). He showed me the apartment without making me go to the office, sign paperwork, etc first. Also unusual from my previous experiences.
I rented my very first NYC solo apartment through him and so far, its been a great experience! I had to contact Emil to get the landlords phone recently and he responded immediately.
He was responsive, didn’t pressure me to rent at all, kept me updated throughout the process, and was upfront with all of the details. GREAT experience.

This review is for Eugene Carrillo.
Moving from NJ to NYC was a big hassle (no surprises). The biggest hassle was dealing with realtors. Some never responded to my calls or texts. Most lied about the layout of the apt. And I had one female realtor who wouldn’t stop texting me that I would never find anything in my price range. Well lady, I did! Eugene was professional and fantastic from the beginning. Didn’t hassle me about my price range. Helped me through the paper work. Got the apt!!! And even after having moved in, he has continued to help me work out minor issues. He is my back-​up support, and for that I am very grateful. I highly recommend him.

Emil is pleasant, professional, and reliable. It was so refreshing to see that kind of professionalism in the realty field. He was straightforward about any flaws the apartment has (saving both of us time!) and he answered his phone every time and was excellent at quickly responding to emails. He doesn’t pressure you into getting the place, and genuinely works hard to find a good match for you. I’d absolutely recommend him!

If you are looking for a good brokerage firm definitely try Ardor NY. Their office was really pleasant (some offices are scary). I was comfortable throughout the process from beginning to end. They told me everything up front about the process, fees, cost etc
I actually met with 5 different brokers from 5 different firms and trust me they aren’t all pleasant. After a lot of stressful apartment viewing and running around in the city…
My broker Travis Healy found me my first solo home in NYC. I definitely recommend working with him. He was pleasant, professional, responsive, patient and easy to work with. The apartment he showed me was exactly as it looked in the pictures on the website.
I got more than I bargained for. I was looking for a studio and ended up with a beautiful 1bdrm apt on the UES for the same budget.

First, this is only a reflection of my experience with Ardor, which was purely related to the agent that we used and probably doesn’t reflect the rest of the company. Unfortunately, after the experience I had, I’m going to do my level-​headed best to make sure that no one I know does business with this company. Here’s why:
1. After seeing a few apartments, we found one that we really liked. It was being renovated, so the agent offered to call the landlord of the building to see if the apartment would be ready in time for us to move in. The landlord apparently told the agent that it would, and he collected a deposit and money for a credit check from us. Nearly two weeks later, they called us to ask if we could move in 60 days later than we planned. Needless to say that wasn’t going to work, but our agent offered to get our deposit back and help us find another place. At this point, we are down $ 200 for the credit checks.
2. We found another apartment that we liked, and on our way out a pregnant woman who lived in the building asked to speak to our agent. He told us we could wait for him outside, and since it was so hot, we did. He then came out, and I asked what she had wanted to talk to him about. He told me it was nothing to worry about, and we moved into the apartment about 2 weeks later. However, he had lied to us: The woman was trying to get contact information for the building’s owner, since the super was nonexistent and the building had a serious BEDBUG, ROACH, AND MOUSE problem. Of course, we didn’t know this when we moved in. 5 weeks after moving in, we were forced to find other places to stay and everyone except for one family had broken their leases and moved out of the building, as there was no way to contact the building’s owners or the super.
As a result, we had to find a new apartment (paying another broker’s fee), have all of our stuff treated ($ 3,200), and had to have our credit pulled again.
The owner of Ardor contacted me about a month after this whole thing not to apologize, but rather to ask me to refer my friends since this kind of thing «never happens» and because he’d «take good care of them.»
This is a summary of the experience. After telling my landlord about this experience, he decided to list his building exclusively through another company, since he had received other similar complaints.

Eugene Carrillo is one of the best agents I have had the pleasure to work with. Ardor is very lucky to have him. Every moment I spent with him felt like he was giving his 100% for me to get an apartment. Incredible skills, fantastic professional and above all, a decent, very warm human being.
Highly recommended!

When I first moved to the city, I was in a serious time crunch and had a tight budget. I worked with 3 – 4 companies simultaneously and an Ardor agent was by far the best.
Jessica Pena was my agent. She walked up and down (in last summer’s sweltering heat) showing me so many apartments. Due to time constraints, I was forced to get an apartment through another company (whose broker was pretty slimy). Jessica was by far the best and most helpful agent I worked with. Her professionalism, patience and knowledge of the areas was impeccable. In fact, I contacted her again this summer in order to help find a new place.
–K

If I could date a real estate agency, I would.
But that would be weird.
~*~
In any case, Ardor Realty was like finding a hot chick on an online dating site. Your curiosity is peaked by attractive photos and interesting details. You establish communication with an e-​mail or a phone call, both of you trying to see if the other person has what you really want. You decide to meet up, despite the inherent fear that you’re could wind up actually meeting an 88 year old man with a molestache. But no. The chick is HOTTER in person.
That’s right. Ardor Realty went out of their way to help me out, meet my specifications, and land me the gorgeous Brooklyn apartment I’m in now. When the first few didn’t work out (uncooperative landlords), my agent Av Berkowitz helped me land a July 15^th move-​in date and made sure all the renovations were done in time. At no point did I feel pressured to SIGN RIGHT NOW OMFG. Trust me, I had at least 4 nightmare meet-​up experiences with other places I found online. These people rock.
~*~
Internet dating for real estate agencies. It can be done!