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Brownstone Real Estate
Category: Home Services Real Estate Real Estate [Edit]
372 7th Ave(between 5th Ave & 11th St)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Neighborhood: Park Slope
(718) 499-1410
- Nearest Transit:
-
7 Av (F, G)
15 St - Prospect Park (F, G)
9 St (D, N, R)
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
9 reviews for Brownstone Real Estate
9 reviews in English
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Review from Rachel B.
Brooklyn, NY
11/29/2011
After sampling a selection of so-so apartments, I happened upon Cristian Dobles at Brownstone Realty in a moment of pure serendipity. Lo and behold, not only did Brownstone have EXACTLY what my roommate and I were looking for (the price was right!), but the apartments we were shown were bigger and in amazing locations in Park Slope than we could have ever hoped for via Craigslist. The most amazing part about working with Brownstone was finding Cristian as a broker--the man was about to leave for the night when my roommate and I walked in on a whim. Instead of asking us to come back in the morning, Cristian sat down with us on the spot and showed us a beautiful apartment right in our price range that very night, then sat with us in the office as we filled out an application at 10:30pm.
I couldn't have felt more taken care of with Cristian as our broker. Good-natured and kind, Cristian consistently went the extra mile to work with my schedule (not only did he show my roommate and me apartments after hours, he made himself readily available to me via cell phone at all hours). His brilliant communicative skills made the otherwise terrible stress of finding a NYC apartment significantly easier to deal with. Cristian really has a gift for working with people--and none of it is contrived. He's all heart, really listens to your needs and will walk you through the apartment process and paperwork every step of the way.
I will definitely be returning to Brownstone next time I need an apartment. In a tough city like this one, I can't emphasize enough what a breath of fresh air it is to work with a broker that is so warm, welcoming and personable. -
Review from Katherine S.
Brooklyn, NY
11/29/2011
Stop your search for the perfect broker now! Crisitian Dobles, Brownstone Real Estate's resident shaman/Don Quixote doppelganger, is on the case and willing to do whatever it takes so you can get the apartment of your dreams.
My roommate and I's encounter with Cristian and Brownstone was serendipitous to say the least. We'd been looking at some mediocre places around Park Slope and just happened upon Brownstone on our walk back to the subway. Even though it was quite late and their offices were technically closed, Crisitian was eager to help us right away.
Other brokers will not return your calls or will show you stuff completely outside of your price range, but Cristian will work hard for you and respects whatever financial limits you have set. He went over all the forms we needed to sign and if there were any hiccups along the way he handled them gracefully. He even talked on the phone with my parents at midnight to go over guarantor forms.
Always calm and funny, his presence was an instant stress reliever, which is absolutely essential when you take on the Herculanean task of trying to find an apartment in New York City. -
Review from Till M.
Bronx, NY
5/2/2012
Just like a previous reviewer, we were very happy w Arnie Cohen as our broker. We had been looking for a long time and my intelligence was often insulted by the crappy places I was shown for rents well over 2k/mo. Once we saw a nice place w a Corcoran broker but after that fell through because our income was a little less than 40x the rent (which he had made him aware of; we had been ready to pay one year's rent upfront...), he all but abandoned us - obviously some brokers don't care about rentals... We had found a great place on craigslist w/o a broker, but the current tenants changed their mind - so we kept searching for weeks and weeks... Many a broker's strategy seemed to be to show whatever they had indiscriminately, obviously hoping that we would settle for a less-than perfect place out of sheer exhaustion. Brownstone's approach was different - they really wanted to hear from us what kind of place we were looking for. It took more than a week between our first contact and the first showing - but that place happened to be perfect and we immediately applied. The very next day we signed the lease. As other reviewers have stated, paying the brokers fee hurts less if you work w a nice guy; also, we feel that finding such a nice apartment ourselves could have taken another couple of months so it was well-deserved.
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Review from Michael S.
Brooklyn, NY
6/10/2011
Without a doubt the best experience with a broker I've had in the city.
This coming from a guy who, at the beginning of May, was dead set on a 'no fee' apartment. My fundamental problem with the 'fee' is that you're so often paying a broker a month's rent just to turn a key... you've already done the footwork on craigslist. So to really impress me a broker would have to be more than a middle man.
Jamie was more than a middle man. Over a month ago, my girlfriend and I started looking for a place together. I found myself fruitlessly combing the 'no fee' section of craigslist for weeks. After seeing a few miserable places, we finally decided to consider an apartment with a fee. Thank god we did because we almost immediately came across Jamie's ad for a rent stabilized one bedroom on Graham Ave.
The price seemed too good to be true, a few hundred dollars under our limit. After reaching out through Brownstone's website, Jamie gave me a call almost immediately, and we set something up for the next day. He was punctual, professional and, most importantly, incredibly personable. The apartment was equally outstanding. Jamie made it clear that if it was not to our liking, he would happily assist us moving forward in our apartment hunt. How refreshing.
The apartment was to our liking though, and we were whisked away to their Park Slope office to get the paperwork together. The catch, if you want to call it that, was that their broker fee is 12% as opposed to just a single month's rent. If they hadn't been so great, we might have balked at that. Jamie actually told us we could try to negotiate it down, but we were too excited about the apartment to stall the process. My girlfriend and I did the math and, even factoring in the high broker's fee, we came out just under our max at signing (meaning if we had signed for a place AT our limit, then paid first, security and one month fee on that).
Everyone else we met in the office seemed delightful. One gentleman even rendered his desk to me so I could sort and print bank statements and the like. As an added bonus, the office was a short walk from Dram Shop, where the lady and I celebrated with a couple of burgers and beers after signing the lease.
If you want my honest advice, I would still say avoid paying a broker's fee. When you realize that's impossible though, call Brownstone. -
Review from Nick S.
New York, NY
2/24/2012
Cristian Nobles was really helpful, nice and genuine while my fiancé and I were looking for a new apt. He sent us a lot of pertinent listings and made himself available whenever we wanted to view the ones we were most interested in. All in all a really nice and helpful broker, which can be hard to find.
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Review from Clara S.
Brooklyn, NY
1/21/2011
We had a good experience with the Park Slope Brownstone, particularly with Arnold (Arnie). After a day of looking at rather depressing options within our budget, we happened to walk into the Brownstone office on a whim based on their window postings late in the day. Arnie immediately greeted us, heard what we were looking for, and happily walked us a few blocks down to show us what he described as "a gem". Surprisingly, it wasn't all talk... he was right! We decided on the apartment on the spot, and he stayed late at the office helping us gather together all the materials so we could grab it before it disappeared (which wasn't just bs... with this one, it really would). Arnie was a very friendly guy who seemed to genuinely care about finding a good place for his clients... it takes a bit of the sting out of paying the broker fee when you work with a nice guy.
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Review from Dan C.
Woodstock, NY
5/30/2010
We had a great experience working with Jamie out of their Cobble Hill location. Whereas most brokers we talked with didn't seem interested in our business, Jamie worked with us to find a 2-bedroom in Carroll Gardens that really fit our needs. I'd definitely recommend working with him.
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Review from ashley n.
Manhattan, NY
5/23/2011
Jaime was the best! My roommate and I worked with him in the Park Slope office. He was super personable, trustworthy, and helped us put together our application quickly to score the apartment of our dreams! Definitely go with Jaime. He makes the arduous task of NYC apartment hunting so much easier.
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Review from Josh Z.
Brooklyn, NY
8/13/2009
David, one of the brokers, was very helpful, straightforward, and honest. He coached me through the whole process as we looked for apartments in Park Slope before moving here from out of town. They had several decent deals, too. Worth contacting, although they charge a broker fee.
