St James Realty Co

St. James Realty, in my opinion, is an extremely frustrating and unreliable agency.

I rented an apartment from them in Brooklyn, and time after time was treated rudely and with condescension by the head realtor there. As a first time renter, I had little experience knowing what to ask during the apartment viewings and what I should have had appended to the lease.

I was mislead on a number of occasions, particularly when I was promised that a new kitchen counter would be installed (there was no counter space in the apartment). Foolishly, I did not have that put in the lease, and so I only had the realtor's word that this would be installed. Every week I would call to ask about the status of the counter, and every week I would receive the same answer, that they are still working on it. After about a month and a half, the head realtor tells me that the company they had asked to install the counter somehow went out of business. It sounded like a ridiculous, shameless lie. He proceeded to tell me that in the basement there was a counter that I could use instead. When I went to look at it, what I found was an extremely old, dirty, and dusty counter that wouldn't even fit into the open space I had in the kitchen. I gave up after that.

The heat would not work in my apartment for weeks, and I had to turn on my gas stove, spend my own money, to heat the place most of January. I left a number of messages on the machine that I had no heat, but did not receive any calls back. When my heater was finally fixed after someone had reported him to 311, it still turned only twice a day for a couple of minutes, and provided as much warmth as would a single candle. I gave up after that too.

If you want to rent from someone rude and unpleasant, who treats you brusquely, trying to intimidate and bully you into doing what he wants or needs, then go to this agency. If you want to receive your security deposit 6 weeks late, go to this agency. I haven't had experience with too many landlords, but I honestly can't imagine that anything can, or ever will be worse than this.