If you had told me a year ago that I would be moving again, after having just moved into an apartment that year, I would have slapped you. Well, not really, but I would have at least laughed in your face. Similarly, if you had told me a year ago that not only would I be moving again, but I would be paying a broker fee to move again, I really would have slapped you AND laughed in your face. Unfortunately, shiz happens and when I say shiz I really mean poor neighbor relations to put it mildly. So, a year later, there I was moving again and after attempting to scour through craigslist for the perfect apartment to no avail, there I was using a broker again.
Numerous people had recommended a website (http://myastoriarealestate.com/) and a broker (Peter Horowitz) to me. After consistently looking at the website for a week or two, I contacted Peter to see what he had available to show us. We were looking for a large one bedroom or a two bedroom. We met Peter at his office for the first time on a Saturday - it was pouring rain. Immediately upon meeting Peter I was relieved to find out that he appeared to be a) normal; and b) driving to the apartments he would be showing us that day. In past experiences with brokers, for whatever reason, they are always kind of awkward to spend time with and when that is added onto the stress of trying to find a place to live, it is just not a pleasant experience. On that particular day, Peter showed us some great apartments. These apartments just were not exactly what we were looking for and we communicated that to him and he said he would be in touch with additional apartments. Both of us agreed that we would continue to work with Peter not only because he seemed normal and drove to the apartment viewings in the pouring rain, but because he seemed like a genuinely honest person to deal with and was extremely humorous as well.
True to his word, Peter contacted us with some additional apartments that he wanted to show us. We scheduled an appointment and went to see the apartments. We immediately fell in love with one of the apartments, but it was a bit out of our price range. We went back and forth with Peter and expressed our concerns. Luckily for us, Peter has a great relationship with the landlords he deals with and also has his clients best interests as a priority. Peter was able to get us the apartment we truly wanted for a monthly rent that we were willing to pay.
No one is going to deny that paying a brokers fee is not fun, but to be honest, if it has to be paid, there is no one I'd rather pay it to than a broker like Peter Horowitz. I would highly recommend that anyone looking for an apartment in Astoria go to Peter's website and contact him. I can almost guarantee Peter will find you what you are looking for or at least make a 110% effort to do so.
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