The Next Step Realty

Summary —-
1. If you’re from the tri state area and are able to view apartments at your leisure don’t use next step.
2. If you’re not from the area, use a different broker.
3. If you love beer pong; you currently have at least 1 poster from your college dorm room hanging up in your current place of residence; your dad still gives you rent money, and you think someone calling you #fratstar is a compliment, use Next Step Reality.
The fact that this company and the large majority of their clientele are even real people is astounding to me and makes me lose hope in the future of this country. Everyone that works here and 95% of their clients are spoiled, alcoholic freeriders living off of their parents at 25 years old. If you’ve been out of college for more than a year yet still enjoy partying every night, and don’t admit that’s actually called alcoholism or that it’s pathetic, then this is the place for you. You’ll LOVE working with their really competent, well educated, informative brokers… This is sarcasm.
If you are paying for your own apartment, and are gainfully employed and not still withdrawing from the bank of mom and dad then my advice would be find a different real estate agency.
I used next step upon initially moving to nyc. Living out of state, not knowing much about the different neighborhoods of Manhattan, and trying to find an apartment in a short amount of time proved to be difficult. So a broker seemed like the most logical option and a friend of a friend told me about next step. Not knowing any agencies and already stumbling upon two fake/​scam agencies, going with one I knew was real just seemed like the less stressful way to go. And don’t get me wrong, it definitely was, all the apartments they showed me were decent, they drove us around to each one and spent the whole day with us fighting the Manhattan traffic. So those factors were nice yes, but just about every reputable agencies will do all of that as well.
I flew in for a couple days just to see apartments and spent a Day driving around with the broker viewing them. The broker, and all the other employees we met were super SUPER douchy, like did I just walk into a frat house or? None the less, they were nice enough but just not genuine at all and came across extremely phony, and frankly unintelligent. The broker provided no useful feedback about any of the neighborhoods, locations to subways, or other useful information you may actually need to know once living in a city. As an out of towner, and the fact that my money will be paying you thousands of dollars simply to show me a place, I expect you to be more helpful and provide me more useful information than simply turning the key to a door.
Although I was from the Midwest, I had a very realistic view and expectations of what my $ 1950 budget could provide in Manhattan. I also am not a financial idiot and know that when I say «2000 is the top of my budget» that means I CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY MORE THAN 2000, that doesn’t mean show me ones I cannot afford and waste all of our time. Sorry, my parents will not be footing the excess bill like the majority of their clients do, which makes them think this is normal and that people can just go over budget for fun. «It has nice finishes but it’s only 200sqft… But look it has nice finishes that’s what you’re paying for!» …You think I give a rats ass if the fridge is stainless steel or white? No… Anyone who «pays for finishes» in New York is a fool– but that’s another story.
Back to the point, besides wasting time and visiting three apartments that were completely out of budget, my broker didn’t even know how much half of them cost initially. «Ummm I think this one is 1950, oh no wait it’s 1800… Well hm I’ll have to check» «this is over budget but you can have a guarantor» …three minutes later… «oh wait no this landlord doesn’t accept guarantors» okay yes that is all kind of important, thanks. At another apartment when I asked how far away from the subway it was (at the time not knowing where the stations where) he told me it’s pretty close just a couple blocks. Only later to realize, had I gone with that apartment, I would be enjoying a nice 20 minute walk in the bitter colds of New York’s Winter everyday.
Additionally, after returning to the office to fill out paper work, another employee handed my friend and i «gift bags» of little things like ping (beer) pong balls etc. Our broker then said to him «we can’t keep affording to give everyone bags» meanwhile all over their fb they give other clients gift baskets of hundreds dollars worth of alcohol (naturally). I had a very low budget, he got low commission, and he could not of made it any more obviously they we were not import to then bc of that. So unprofessional.
My Second apartment I found on triplemint. Third on Craigslist. Both far beyond what next step did for me.

What a fantastic experience! We had a complicated situation: two new graduates coming from Boulder, one set of parents in Wisconsin, and another in Los Angeles. I called Next Step and was warmly and courteously greeted by a sweet girl at the front desk. Within an hour, I received a call from Victoria Scott, our broker guru and angel! She listened attentively to our needs, was very positive and encouraging although our budget was relatively low, calmed us (me, particularly!) when we got nervous, coordinated among us all – no small feat when dealing with 4 time zones! – and ultimately, with great speed and efficiency, found our two new New Yorkers a perfect place to hang their hats :-)
Victoria continued throughout the weekend to orchestrate the movement of funds and remote signing of leases. At every step of the way we felt strongly that she had our best interests at heart, helped us push back the move in date since we did not need the apartment immediately, knew both the landlord and the co-​broker personally, and couldn’t have made our transition more smooth or enjoyable! As a former New York City residential broker for many, many years, I couldn’t have hoped for a better experience than we had. The fee is well worth the work Next Step does on your behalf. Now onto stage two: leaning on Victoria to help us gain access for measurements, helping us with furnishings suggestions, and generally helping us coordinate the move in process.
These guys are the best!

Thank you Christian and Next Step!
Christian is/​was incredibly professional and helpful, and worked with my hectic schedule. We saw 7 apartments within the weekend, and I was able to sign my lease within the week. He kept me in the loop the entirety of the process, and also made my friends (who came with me to tour apartments) feel very welcome and comfortable.
Working with Christian and Next Step was great, and I would work with them again.

Don was awesome. I saw ten apartments, found some really cool ones and even signed the lease the same day. All within my budget. I definitely recommend this realtor.

My experience was horrendous and unnecessarily stressful to a gross extent. While Christian was very nice on our first meeting, he left town shortly after our meeting, and took the quality of our service with him. My requests to review a copy of the lease before signing were met with unresponsiveness and excuses blaming the landlords and their «policy of nondisclosure». When I went to the landlords directly, they said he never contacted them, and were happy to give me a copy to take back to my office with me for review, and were fine with me sending copies to others for consultation. So much for nondisclosure.
Additionally, he did not respond to texts, emails or phone calls regarding this matter. On the day of the signing, he was essentially non-​responsive all together.
When I asked for a walk through prior to signing or shortly thereafter (it didn’t need to be with him), he declined to set it up, saying everything was fine. Two of the bedroom lights in our apt don’t work, nor do some of the fans.
He was supposed to inform us/​supply us with guarantor riders. He didn’t even mention it until I asked, and even then he did nothing about it. We took care of all of it ourselves.
After all of that, he emails us a week later talking about how great everything went. I promptly emailed him back listing all of my complaints. He responded by evading the underlying problems and only addressing them in part. Furthermore, he was «kind enough’ to remind me that, at a viewing where I was not present (which he noted) he brought down his fee and «hoped [his] generosity was not forgotten». How very kind of him to point out that we ONLY paid him one month’s rent to open a door for us. Moreover, he wants to paint himself as generous when it is a well known bargaining and psychological technique for a seller to start way higher than what they would accept and work down so that the buyer believes a concession was made. Also a well known fact that most brokers in NYC do this.
He only started paying attention to my complaints when I told him I was posting a review on Unilocal.Too Little, too late. It doesn’t matter that he was away. He said he was away for «another job». Well, I’m paying for a service, which he did not complete, so I will not give him slack for being away. If the quality of your services goes down by that much when you’re out of town, don’t take jobs when you know you’re traveling.
This was a terrible experience, and had it not been for the fact that my two other roommates who needed to be moved in and settled ASAP, (I was not pressed for time), I would have walked away. I DO NOT recommend working with Christian or The Next Step Realty.

Matt helped us find our amazing apartment on the Upper West Side. He listened to our requests and personally showed us a range of great places. He was thorough, patient, knowledgable, and friendly! It was so much easier to work with this team (Craigslist and our own search turned up a bunch of scams, false listings, etc). We loved working with him and strongly recommend him if you are looking for your next apartment!

I had a terrible experience with Next Step. When looking for an apartment, most that were shown to me were out of the price range that I specified and several had dead critters inside for my showing. When I finally decided on one, I was told there was no history of bed bugs by my broker and later found out that there was recently an infestation during my lease signing. If anything, Next Step made the process more stressful than it needed to be, and I wish I had just looked harder on Craigslist or another site. On top of all that, their broker fee discount is minimal — making the entire experience a pricey and frustrating exercise.

I moved to NYC about four months ago from Texas, and knowing I would need a real estate agent (if you’re moving from out of town, you MUST have an agent, there is no way you can look at apartments remotely and find a good place) I began researching firms and agents. Unlike some of the larger companies I contacted, Next Step got in touch right away and kept up with me for about 2 months before I set an actual appointment. Several months later and they still check up from time to time. A+ for client relations, Next Step.
Before I arrived in NYC, Matt Bauman (who is a-​mazing!) emailed me a bunch of prospective listings to get a better idea of what I wanted in an apartment. I had some unusual specifics – must take dogs, must have big closets, light, built-​in bookshelves – and he met them all. We discussed what documents I would need etc. so I was totally prepared when I arrived in New York.
I was picked up at the airport by Charles in the company’s Range Rover, driven up that morning from Miami (first client to ride in it yay!) and taken to the office in Midtown for a quick meeting before hitting the UES. The office is super chic, btw, and has an awesome view.
Over the next four hours Matt took me to 15 apartments, all on foot, which was a great way to see the market and the neighborhood where I’d be living. When I found one that I absolutely loved, we rushed back to the office to put in a bid. We stayed in the office pretty late – until about 8pm or so – making sure the paperwork was in order and the bid went through. This is pretty indicative of Matt’s work ethic; judging from this and the fact that I would receive emails from him at 10 o’clock at night, I can tell you that he and the Next Step team are totally dedicated to their clients and the work they perform. When the offer fell through (because there was a prior offer pending) Matt called me in the morning and we went with my second choice – an apartment on First Ave I am very happy to now call home. However, he was totally prepared to show me more units until I found one I was happy with.
So bottom line is that Next Step is FANTASTIC and I am so grateful to Matt and the company for making my transition into NYC easy and happy! Thank you all!