The Apartment Hunt: The hard sell
We're both pretty convinced about this now. This evening Tammi went back to get a better look at the place. She shot some more photos of it and looked at the basement. She's sold. I'm sold. So why is the real estate agent still shoving it down our throats?
This is the first time I've dealt with corcoran and I have to say it's not something I hope to do again. The apartment is all we could have asked for, we're ready to move along with the process, we're filling out the applications. Yet every interaction we have with the broker, we're reminded of how desirable the apartment is and that other people are still seeing it.
Never mind the 12% broker fee(!), that's irritating enough. So are all the references and extra information that we're required to provide. But the incessant scare tactics and bullying piss me off. You don't get to work at the biggest brokerages in the city by being passive, but this is too aggressive. Now that Tammi's sold on the place, she's afraid that someone is going to jump in and scoop it out from under us, because that's what our broker has been not-so-subtly hinting.
(rant continues after the jump)
As far as I can tell, a 1 week turnaround between seeing the place and signing a lease is pretty quick, but we're still being told that it may be too slow. When Tammi wrote to schedule a second visit, the broker wrote back, "When do you want to get back in?? tonight??" When we told her that I was out of town, she said she was going on vacation in two days, so we'd need to deal with this quickly.
I'm generally disgusted by the approach, if not particularly surprised. I want the place despite the hard sell, not because of it. Honestly, it makes me think that I can live without it. I'm still going ot try to get this place because it's got some much going for it, but I'm already planning alternatives in anticipation of getting screwed over. I just don't think it makes good business sense to alienate your customers that way.
::c::
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