Female Tenants Beware of 493 Pacific Street!!! I am writing this post to warn prospective renters about 493 Pacific Street in Boerum Hill Brooklyn. I rented from this property for 2 years. Allen Barcelon of Boerum Hill Realty is the broker and super of this building. In my 2 years at this apartment, my husband and I regularly paid our rent on time. This August , however, after my husband and I separated (on good terms), my husband informed Allen that he would be moving out and i would be staying and wished to renew our lease, Allen informed me he would not be renewing the lease for "repairs" and upgrades to the apartment. Allen failed to provide me with 60 days notice of the non-renewal of the lease as required by law. When I reminded him of this, Allen responded to me in a text message "here is her reply, a real c*nt." (See screenshots). When i told Allen he sent the offensive text message to me, instead of apologizing, he replied "Ooops!" This is not the first time Allen has acted this way towards me. Earlier this year- without notice- Allen shut off the water to our shower to do a routine/ NON-emergency repair. Our shower was shut off for two days during the work week and we could not use it. When i politely told Allen that he should have given us notice and should at least pro-rate my rent, his response was to call me over the phone and yell at me saying "Are you f**king serious??" In general this behavior has been consistent from Allen. He also typically tried to only communicate with my husband, rather than me, even though I was also on the lease. He also refers to roaches as "palmetto bugs" - we have notified him several times of roaches in the building and as a result he sends in monthly exterminators but downplays the problem by refusing to acknowledge they are actual roaches. Absolutely unacceptable behavior. I wish I had looked at prior reviews of Allen Barcelon and his realty company (Boerum Hill Realty) before I rented from him, on help (see screenshots). They are an accurate depiction of my experiences with him. read more

Boerum Hill Realty - screenshot of the text message Allen Barcelon sent me calling me a "real c**t" for asserting my legal rights. He did not apologize - Real Estate Agents Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

We rented through Al, just moving to Brooklyn. He was responsive and a fair dealer the whole way through. Renting in New York is tough, obviously, but working with Al was easy and there weren't any surprises or gotchas. read more

I have lived in Boerum HIll for 30 years and had the misfortune of having the repair, on my brownstone, done by ALLEN BARCELON, the so called owner of Boerum Hill Realty. He is a despicable human being, a cheat and a liar. He lies so well you believe him. I wouldn't give him one star if that were an option. He came to do some work on my Brownstone and destroyed the facade around the window to the point, that now it needs extended work to repair, which, of course, he wanted to fix for a large fee. Now the entire length of the window has a 1" gap that allows wind and dust to come into my house. He set me up and is dishonest and a fraud. According to him he acquired a brownstone at well below the market price from someone who was not aware of the value of their property. From the way he talked, he was proud that he mislead them into selling to him. He was laughing at how stupid the people were. Avoid him at all costs. He serves OUR community so I thought he was honest, but he is a con artist with no morals or ethics. Unbelievably, two people gave him 5 stars. The reason he did a decent job for them was because he was going to make money on the deal. Any suggestions about my legal rights would be appreciated. I do not wish to attach photos for fear of retaliation on his part. BEWARE!!!!! read more

DO NOT TRUST AL BARCELON. DO NOT RENT FROM HIM! He's a liar, duplicitous and deceptive! I wish I had seen this review another review wrote because it's ABSOLUTELY ACCURATE - "Al may come off friendly but do not let your guard down. He will lie, be sneaky and...will side with the landlord if there's any issues" I rented a 1 bedroom from him in Jan 2016. He was very accommodating with scheduling a viewing, he only charged a month's rent fee (which is rare) and chatted me up for nearly 45 minutes assuring me he's wasn't the typical scumbag broker and the landlord, which he's known for 20 years, wasn't a slumlord. I would've never anticipated the shitshow that was to go down 24 hours after moving in! He epitomized SCAMMER! I moved into this SHITHOLE 2 days before a major snow storm that shut down the city for 3 days. Within hours I realized there was NO HEAT OR HOT WATER! I alerted Al and NASSAR QATABI, the landlord. The landlord ignored ALL MY CALLS and TEXTS and only directed replies thru Al. Al's ONLY resolution was to move me into a new apartment that was $200-300 more expensive per month elsewhere!!! No broker fee refunded or even offered. read more

I can only speak for the experience my boyfriend and I had, which was with James. From the very start he gave it to us pretty straight, and I always felt like he was on our side. We were seeing places with about about eight different agencies, but most of the places were charging 15% of the yearly rent as a fee -- which is, frankly, insane in this market. Those that weren't were charging 12%. And a lot of those apartments were real stinkers. James was flexible with the fee, and helped us find our dream apartment. He really had to fight for us because the owner was not dog-friendly, but eventually he was able to talk the owner into accepting all three of us. We are thrilled with the apartment and also so grateful that James charged us an incredibly reasonable broker's fee. So, thanks a bunch. Check out Boerum Hill Realty and talk to James -- he'll show you some great apartments that are in your price range. read more

We worked with Al and he was not a turd. The guy is friendly, did chat with us a bit and didn't do anything shady that we know of. I feel like after reading some of these reviews a few of them seemed like things the landlord is more responsible for or I just didn't really care tbh. I'm a female, my roommate is male and he was in contact with both of us equally so not sure about the sexist review on here.. Personally, my realtor can be as sexist as he wants if I get the apartment. I could pretend I'm a man for that. We didn't get the apartment very sadly but he was kind enough to get us our credit reports which we can use for another 3 months and wished us well. No realtor I worked with has ever done that, and he didn't need to offer but did. read more

There are so many reasons I'd recommend Al, the main one being that he's probably the most ethical broker out there. Al showed me the apt of my dreams and made sure I was first in line for it. Not only that, he also didn't even bother to keep advertising the place b/c he knew I'd take it. I signed the lease shortly thereafter and it was all set. About a month later my job offer was rescinded just before the move-in date, and I needed to get out of the lease. I was so upset. Al refunded my entire broker's fee and I didn't even need to ask for it - it was basically the first thing he said to me. And on top of that, he offered words of comfort and advice!! He is really just a good guy who I'd recommend so highly to absolutely anyone who is looking in the area. On top of everything else, he has amazing listings and he walks you through every step of the process. I had such a good experience with Al from the very start to the very end, and I can't emphasize his honesty enough. read more

Be forewarned: The owner/broker, Allen Barcelon, may come off friendly but do not let your guard down. He will lie, be sneaky and despite you, being a potential tenant who is paying the fee, will side with the landlord if there's any issues. Don't let his friendly demeanor fool you. He's not what he seems. He's 2 faced. Also, don't use his Contractor/"Friend", Robert whom he recommended to refinish the available apt's wood floors . He'll rip you off. He charges more than 50% what others will charge, is not even licensed or insured yet Al recommends him....can you say, "kickback?" And, he doesn't use the proper coverings to protect the place from dust. You call that professional work?! You have been forewarned. read more

Five stars for the quality of the places we saw and having a lower fee than others, one star for ignoring the female half of the couple and for not telling us about other listings. I made contact with Al, and his agent showed us two apartments, both of which we liked. We submitted applications, and from then on, it was like I didn't exist. All emails and phone calls were directed towards my male partner --- even the ones to MY cell phone started out "Hi [his name]". Would it be so hard to say, "Hi [his name] and [my name]"? They did not make eye contact with me or speak with me unless I asked a question. From this treatment, I felt like I was a child out shopping with my parent. What year is this? If they are attempting a business transaction with only my male partner and not me, why are they submitting my income and bank statements to the landlord? And even if I had no income or assets, why would they ignore me? We had a 2 day wait to find out whether we were accepted, so we had to keep searching for other places. They had lots of listings in their window and on their website, but they said that they didn't have anything for us. We saw other places with other agents [including one of the evil 15% commission ones] and put in another application. Afterwards they said that they could have shown us that place, but it was too late now. Yes, because you hid that apartment from us when we asked whether you had similar units. read more

My girlfriend and I were searching for weeks for a place to live and Al from Boerum Hill Realty was one of the very few real estate brokers who was genuine and really wanted to help us. He showed us a few properties over the course of that time, including one that was quite large for a low price. His broker's fee is very reasonable (one month's rent) and he is quite honest with the search process. Even though we did not get an apartment with him in the end, I would recommend him highly. read more

Al was really nice and helpful! We fell in love with the first apartment he showed us... After talking to my boyfriend for awhile, Al had a good grasp on what we were looking for and didnt waste any of our time. All in all, I had an amazing experience working with Boerum Hill Realty! read more

I had a great experience with Al and Boerum Hill Realty. Very responsive, friendly, and professional. Al is an excellent communicator and was extremely helpful in answering every question I had. Would recommend especially if you are looking in the Boerum Hill part of Brooklyn. read more

You would be lucky to rent a property from Dakota at Boerum Hill Realty. He is courteous, patient and informative. When you need him, he is there. When you can't get ahold of him, he is quick to apologize. And above all, he recognizes that you are paying him a fee for a service, something I thought was lost in the real estate industry. He was never stuffy or presumptuous and actually listened to our needs. Having experienced the full spectrum of realty horror show (from scammers who tried to rob us, to general unresponsive laziness) my boyfriend and I were extremely cautious entering into a relationship with Boerum Hill Realty. Dakota set us both at ease, answered all of our questions patiently and thoroughly, and in the end, helped us find a wonderful place that we love. Dakota made what is inevitably a stressful experience so much more bearable by acting like a human. Seriously, after you sign your lease, you'll probably want to buy him a beer. At least I know we did. read more

From the get-go things were great with Michael Cohen as he was very responsive. However, things turned sour when he did not make it clear there was a fee for the apartment. Submitted an application (within hours after viewing the apt) for an apartment and were approved to take things to the next step. Met with the owner who was 20+ minutes late for the interview she required, which was on a Wednesday. (From my experience it is rare you interview with the owner when using a broker who pre-vets the tenants.) We were crystal clear from the beginning that one of us (we're a couple) was going on vacation the next day and would not return until the following Tuesday - no problem at the time with broker/owner. On Thursday, 1 day later, we were approved to sign the lease. My boyfriend went to handle everything on Saturday morning, having just Friday to get bank checks, etc. He delivered everything and was prepared to co-sign when he went all the way to BHR to drop off everything on Saturday morning and Michael told him the landlord was rescinding her offer because she had a "bad feeling" that we were going to "burn" her because we were "dragging" the process on. It had been 1 business day, no? Not to mention we told them from day 1 one of us could not sign until the following Tuesday but we had 50% of the 1st month's rent, full sec. deposit, and fee. Why would anyone be so daft to hand over the full amount without a legally executed lease? How the decision was determined is completely unknown despite our glowing landlord references, flawless renting history, excellent credit ratings, and great income/jobs. Ultimately Boerum Hill Realty did not advocate for us or do much of anything, including call the landlord to find out why, despite the fact we were about to hand them $2,000 in a broker's fee for doing next to nothing. Pros: Responsive, nice apartments, relatively "low" fee compared to outrageous 15% "standard" broker's fee in NYC Cons: Not clear with communication, especially regarding fees, do not advocate or help the tenants, side with the landlord despite tenants paying fee and doing all the work Looking for an apartment in NYC is hard enough and when you are often renting from psychotic landlords but when you add unhelpful brokers it definitely adds unneeded stress and frankly is a waste of time (and money). read more

We emailed John Rojas after finding a listing on craigslist. This guy gave days he was available for a viewing but when I asked for a specific time, he just completely cut off communication with no explanation. Terrible broker. read more

Although I usually avoid brokers, this can be a hard thing to avoid in this city. I had horrible weird experience after horrible weird experience, and then I met Al. Al was friendly, really understood what I was looking for, and thanks to him I now live in a gorgeous apartment in a wonderful neighborhood. He made the entire process easy and straightforward. Since moving into my apartment, I run into Al around the neighborhood as he lives here too. He's been in this neighborhood for years, and is a real good person, not at all what you would expect from a broker. read more

I had a great experience with Allen 10 years ago. I'm in the same apartment to this day. He helped me find a rent-stabilized apartment and didn't take a fee. He gave me advice about the neighborhood and soothed any anxiety I might have had about aspects of the apartment. read more

Al Barcelon was both our realtor and landlord and in both capacities he was fantastic. Knows Boerum Hill and everyone in it really well, and is honest and generous with his time. read more