Please avoid using this company at all costs. My experience with them from start to finish has been a lesson in handling unprofessional people.
My first (and most significant) complaint is that my first agent at Awaye illegally misrepresented my offer to the owner/landlord of the building. It is the agent’s legal responsibility to accurately represent all offers made by both potential tenant and landlord. By making an offer to the landlord that was not the offer I presented, the entire negotiation process was compromised. Further, they then presented an offer from the landlord that I later found out was never on the table. The negotiation process became so convoluted; I had to go out of my way to contact the owner personally to make sure I wasn’t a victim of fraud.
Having finally settled on a deal (directly negotiated between myself and the landlord), the agents at Awaye were incredibly difficult. Several e-mails and calls were always required to get in touch with them. My second agent (I told Arlene I refused to continue working with the first) would routinely answer questions with clearly uninformed answers and later have to retract. I was twice promised that the keys would be dropped off in my mailbox and twice I came home to no keys, no note, no call and no e-mail. My frustration with all of this simply elicited further spiteful neglect. To cap it all off, when I went to pick up the keys the morning the lease started, they had misplaced them; causing significant inconvenience to me and the landlord.
It seems (from various other reviews) that I am not the first person to have a bad experience with this agency. Considering their apparent lack of respect for the laws governing their industry (let alone basic customer service), I am amazed that they remain in business. With the exception of the largest agencies, New York real estate agents are generally shady. Given their inability to perform the simplest tasks, Awaye Realty definitely wins the overall incompetence award.
Pros: absolutely none
Cons: read below
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