Select Real Estate

My brother asked me to help him go apartment hunting and we stumbled into here. Greeted by Kristi Colossi who was amazing. Took us to 2 units and was nothing but helpful with making a decision. She knew the area and helped making a decision on what will better fit him from transportation, night life and places to eat. I would recommend anyone looking in the area to stop in.

I have to say that this is one of the best real estate companies I’ve ever worked with! From beginning to end my experience was excellent. My broker Kristi was very attentive and made the apartment hunting enjoyable. She really took into consideration what I wanted and only showed me apartments that were to my liking.
Not only was she patient with me (after showing me 4 different apts) she was also very punctual; always responding right away to an email or call. During the lease signing, the office staff was very friendly and polite.
I highly recommend select real estate to all my friends.

I only chose 1 star, because not choosing any isn’t an option. This is the worst experience I’ve ever had with a realtor. Immediately after walking through the door I got bad vibes as I was ignored & looked at as though I had 5 heads. After standing in the doorway for a good 2 minutes Kristi approached us: «umm can I help you?» I began to tell Kristi about my criteria when she rudely interrupted me to «fill this out» & shoved a clipboard at me and walked away. Very unprofessional, very rude, I would not suggest this company to ANYONE. I suggest to Kristi, if you want to be taken seriously, lose the attitude, the pink streak in your hair & the shirts cut down to your navel.
ZERO STARS

SLUMLORDS. Cheap, nice apartments in an awesome neighborhood, but anyone moving into one of their apartments should think of the management company as criminals, and deal with them as such. If I could give them negative stars I would. Kristi Colossi in particular is a total liar. She showed me an apartment at 552 Grand Street, back in 2010. The kitchen floor in the apartment was a disgusting mess — old parquet floor, completely scratched up, grimy and blackened from years of abuse. When I toured the apartment, she was like «Don’t even look at this floor, it’s going to be completely re-​done before you move in!» So I took the apartment based on her verbal promise, AND I lived at a friend’s for 2 weeks so they could redo the floor. They never redid the floor. They claimed there had never been any mention of redoing the floor. Kristi just said «I can’t be responsible.» I still blame her, she’s awful! Get anything they say IN WRITING before you sign the lease, otherwise you’re screwed. Make sure to get the following in writing: a complete description of what will be done, WHEN it will be done by, and make sure to get in writing that you will not be charged for any work they do. I once asked to speak to the landlord, when a bathroom ceiling leak was not being addressed, and was actually told «You won’t speak to the landlord unless you see him in court.» I asked «What’s his name?» She would not tell me. Criminals.

STAY AWAY! The management company who you will have to deal with regularly is HORRIBLE! D&G management. When we started getting billed for utilities I thought it was strange that they emailed us some invoice that only stated «gas — $ 67.00» «water — $ 59.00» and no usage amounts were given. We paid a few months until I asked where our meters were so I could check ours. Then I discovered that they only had 1 meter for both buildings! The office girl Nikki told us they divide the bills up. After expressing that it was absurd to charge us that way since all different apts vary in sizes and occupants… She admitted that it was «too costly» for them to install separate meters. I looked this up and under New york State law it is illegal to charge without having sub-​meters installed (otherwise these utilities must be included in the rent). I forwarded this to Nikki and let her know we were refusing to pay. On top of this there were numerous problems with the apartment. Our tub started peeling a few months after we moved in. PEELING off and I know why… because when the repair man came to fix it he just painted right over it! The guy they hired came into our apartment to fix this one day without giving us ANY notice. I came home to my cats having paint on their paws, my front door was left unlocked, the doors were taken off the shower and left in the kitchen, the window in the bathroom was left OPEN and had NO screen in the window! They were aware we had 2 cats. Nikki could only apologize. I put the doors back on myself. Onto the next issue: a massive construction project started at the beginning of the summer which lasted until the end of August rendering our backyard unusable the whole summer. They ripped apart one of the back house apartments leaving the yard a disaster filled with debris and workers in and out (I’m talking about sinks, a tub, planks of wood, nails left everywhere). The workers kept leaving the front door propped open all day and wouldn’t shut it when they left. I came home at least 4 times to my apartment building door fully open at night and no one was around working. I told Nikki every time it happened, she kept saying she would «remind them». In October the 2^nd construction project began in the apartment upstairs. They were renovating this apt now, the backyard filled up again with garbage, workers back, door constantly left open. One day I woke up to a banging on my front door. I didn’t answer because I didn’t know who it was… Then this guy just entered! He was the electrician who said needed to see something in my apt. I was NEVER notified that someone was coming and had a key. Then I go to shower and my water was turned off without notice (same day) I went upstairs and the plumber said he was working, it would be 10 mins. 15 minutes later I go back up, getting annoyed now and going to be late to work. They say another 5 mins, I waited another 15… Still nothing. I went up this time extremely angry and one guy gave me his supervisors # after I asked 7 times who they work for. I called this person (who I am guessing was the owner), I said where I live and that his workers turned off our water inconveniencing us. He replied «how did you get this number? Who gave it to you? never call this number again» and hung up. Then I received a call from Nikki minutes later asking me how I got that number (that’s why I’m guessing it was the owner). She could ONLY say she was sorry and denied having any knowledge they were working here! What a lie. It took over an hour to get my water back on. Then plumbing issues in our apt went on for 5 DAYS after that. we went from having no water, to no hot water, to no water pressure at all, then our shower wouldn’t turn off, toilet bowl wasn’t flushing. The hallway and backyard remained a mess for over 4 weeks. Nikki is extremely condescending and rude. I’ve asked Nikki for copies of bills which were never provided. This is the WORST living experience of my life, save yourself the headache, DON’T rent from them!

I can’t speak to the entire company, but Holly is the best broker my wife and I have ever worked with in New York. She was honest, attentive, responsive and professional. (We’ve moved 9 times between the two of us so we have some experience with this process).
She listened to us when we explained what we were looking for, and she made every effort to show us accommodations that met our needs. (She did not try to push stuff on us that we weren’t interested in). It’s worth mentioning too that she was on time to all of our appointments and easily accessible by phone and email when we had follow-​up questions. Her answers were always timely and forthright. All of the properties she showed us were high quality and in demand, but we never felt like we were being pitted against other renters, as is often the case.

My wife and I used these guys a few years ago for one of our first apartments in the neighborhood and they were very upfront and helpful…
So… five years later, we looked with some of the other brokers around Williamsburg and decided to work with Select again.
They continue to be the most helpful from start to finish when they were helping us look for apartments and they were constantly on the lookout for our wants and needs in a new place. They’ll call or email you if something comes up when they think it might fit you and your lifestyle and don’t hesitate to take a look with you when it fits your schedule. They were very accomodating. There are some shady and/​or slick brokers around (we met some of them, yikes), but these guys aren’t like that at all. Glad to work with them again!

What ever you do watch out for Kristi!!! She showed me a first floor apartment on Grand, and the rudeness that oozed out of her body was truly something to beware of.
When trying to get in the front doors of the building she seemed like she was having quite a bit of trouble with the key and I remarked that seemed like a bad sign. She squawked back: «No actually it’s a good thing because they are re-​doing the place!»
She didn’t actually mention the remodel going on during the block walk over to the building.
You walked in the door and there was duct tape on the floor looking as if it were holding a pipe together. Quite lovely right? Above the duct tape was a window that pretty much looked out onto the apocalypse, otherwise known as the backyard. When I said that it looked a little rough out there, she said that they were cleaning it up during the renovation.
My mother who was with me asked if the landlord was going to put bars on the windows being that it was a ground floor apartment. She said that she didn’t think so, that there wasn’t any need for it, and that nobody had complained about it before. My Mom replied with, «Well, do you think the landlord would put on bars if we asked?» Kristi, with some amazing attitude said «Well, why don’t you decide if you like the apartment first before you start bothering the landlord with questions!»
Wow!
Okay, so when I walked into the kitchen there was a pretty scary hole caused by water damage in the ceiling and we asked if that was going to be repared. In an awesome sarcastic tone Kristi says «No, they’re just going to leave it there… Of course they’re going to fix it!»
Right then and there, I said to my Mom that we were getting the you know what out of there. We couldn’t get out the door quick enough.
If you want major attitude showing you a scummy place to live, go with Select and for sure go with Kristi. But, if you do not wish to subject yourself to such craziness I would get yourself back on your computer to view other available abodes on the good olé Craig’s List.

Completely inhumane people. I lived in one of the buildings that the owner of this corporation himself owns for a couple of years. Despite that building being under 10 years old it had a myriad of issues, most of which I had to call people to fix them myself because Select either didn’t get to it fast enough, or their «jack-​of-​all-​trades» handyman did a quick fix that soon later failed. The windows were single-​paned and wind blew through the cracks. No insulation and old appliances kept utilities high, which we had to pay for.
The day before Christmas Eve at 11pm I couldn’t get into the apartment my key wouldn’t open the deadbolt. $ 500 later I had a locksmith get me in and replace the lock. I got Select a new key and asked if we could share the cost. I was yelled at and had to eat the $ 500.
The majority of the time I was there a serious leak was growing mold through the bedroom. I could have withheld rent at this point due to the obvious health issue, but I am a very reasonable person. After about 9 months they decided to fix this. During this point my lease was about to end and told me I could decide to sign the lease after the repairs were made and be a month to month tenant until the repairs were complete. I decided in the end to stop giving money to landlords and buy a condo. I asked them if they would let me keep staying month to month until my closing. They decided to harass me and my roommate almost dail despite us already being month to month and having a perfect track record of paying. They wouldn’t even sign an interim lease. They threatened us with legal jargon that the many lawyers I am either friends with, or are in my family dismissed as total B.S. In the end I moved out and Select kept a portion of the security deposit for services and repairs that they couldn’t provide invoices for.
In the end they like to threaten and scare you, when you have the upper hand of the law and do everything in their own best interest. Sure being a landlord is a business, however good business is when both parties benefit, which never happens with Select. There are landlords and management companies that actually see their paying tenants as people. It would have been nice to have been treated like one. It is not like I was a deliquent tenant.
In rough economic times apartments are a dime a dozen. You don’t need the hasstle of being treated like Select treats you. Dealing with this building and company gave me the incentive to save up and buy my own place. There is that old saying, «Don’t shit where you eat.»

Select Real Estate is part of a group of companies owned by one individual, who also owns the management companies who manage the buildings Select Agents show you. Said individual is a scumbag. Repairs are never made (even for potential gas leaks), there is a high turn over of employees because they have so much trouble working with the owner, dealing with any financial matters is useless, and they will take a portion of your security deposit regardless. When resigning, they presented us with an illegal lease. They treat tenants poorly and will not listen to reason or housing laws, even when presented with their legal obligations stipulated in their own lease. Also, despite paying on time every single month, in our second year we were threatened immediately with eviction when a check got lost in the mail. These people are completely indecent human beings.