Jeremy Dan Second Realty

NEVER deal with these people. They are the most crooked people on the face of the earth. I put down a deposit on an apartment with them, they told me that it was refundable and it was just temporary to «hold the apartment for me.» I called the next morning to say I had thought it over, and that it was actually a little out of my price range, and they told me it was a non-​refundable deposit. I told the broker Kate that I would literally not be able to afford an apartment without that deposit and I would be in deep trouble, her reply was «too fucking bad, we don’t make a habit of refunding deposits.»

Renters beware! I have had a terrible experience during my stay here with Steven Oved (owner), Aaron Hoffman (super) and Fern Oved (accounting). The rental company operates under several names– SMSR Realty, DER Realty and GPS Realty.
I lived in a junior 1BD for about 1 year and 7 months. My security deposit had $ 450 withheld for no reason ($ 250 painting and repairs and $ 200 extra cleaning pet hair). Painting should be considered part of normal wear and tear. There was one nail hole that needed to be repaired which should not cost $ 250. I never had a pet in my apartment at any time so am being charged for false claims. I have contacted Aaron several times by email and phone with no response.
In addition, I was harassed by staff in December 2011 due to an error on their part. I had sent my rent check prior to Dec 1. On Dec 4, a memo to tenants was left on our doors instructing us of a new mailing address for rent checks. I was left a threatening letter to be evicted and had about 3 different members of the staff call me demanding I send another check. I told them it was their error in informing us after the Dec rent checks were mailed and they would receive it in forwarded mail. They would not cover the fees to cancel the check I had already sent or listen to any reasoning. Fern literally screamed at me on the phone to send another check and hung up on me.
This rental company is entirely unprofessional, does not treat tenants with respect and cheats us out of a portion of our security deposit. I was a reliable tenant who paid the rent on time every month and did not cause any problems. I have lived in 2 other apartment buildings in Manhattan and have never had issues to this extent. Those management companies were actually professional.
Also, this apartment is freezing in the winter time. A bit of heat comes out of the heating unit by the kitchen, but the living room and bed area are freezing. I informed the landlord and they did nothing to try and fix the heating unit so that more heat would be emitted. I was provided with a space heater by the landlord after 2 requests, but then I am paying for the additional electricity.
You will regret living here.

NEVER WORK WITH THESE PEOPLE. I saw an apartment, decided I wanted to rent it, was guaranteed the apartment and then when I was ONE block away got a call that the apartment was no longer available. Apparently guarrantees mean nothing to these people and they proceeded to give me the run around and offer me apartments $ 600 more than my stated budget. At the end of the day I realize that NYC real estate searching is hard, but there really is no need to work with scum like these people.

Is there a zero star option? Never, EVER deal with these people. Especially Alena.
We saw an apartment they had advertised and were ready to put down a deposit and sign a lease immediately. As in, we told Alena that we would walk directly to the office with her and sign it and that we had the money available. She said that she couldn’t do that, but that we could come back in the afternoon. We were persistent about signing right away but she said she had other obligations. She guaranteed us that she wouldn’t be showing the apartment and that there would be no problem in signing the lease. She was emphatic that the apartment was ours and we were ecstatic.
We showed back up at the time she requested, and lo and behold someone else had just signed a lease for it. Even though we had in written communication from her that no one else would take the apartment and that is was ours, it was taken. She was extremely rude and we were told by others in the office that «that’s real estate». It is real estate. Bad real estate.
After hearing that we were willing to put down any amount of money needed to secure the apartment in a last-​ditch effort to get the one we had wanted, hoping that the «someone else signed the lease» was yet another lie, she was verrrrrrrrry willing to show us something else. Predictable. She showed us a 2 bedroom (why? I have no idea. We explicitly stated 1 bedroom.) drastically over our budget with less amenities and in a less desirable location. She offered to guarantee it for us if we would sign the lease based on pictures alone. Yeah right, Alena. You just screwed us over once. We’re not that stupid. We left immediately.
Alena and her colleagues are exactly what everyone hates about NYC real estate. Dishonest, money grubbing, and incompetent.