Working with Destination Real Estate and Lawrence was amazing. Lawerence made my first time apartment hunting seamless and made me feel comfortable. He was able to help me get approved for the apartment all within a day and couldn't be more grateful for that. He was knowledgeable and addressed any of my concerns. If you are looking for a realtor Lawrence is your guy to go. Just signed my lease today all within a 2 day closing process! read more

My boyfriend and I were very interested in an apartment that they were leasing. So we desperately applied without having viewed the space yet, it took a couple days until we could view it. Everything went smooth, we viewed it, the apartment was empty, and then they ghosted us for over a week. I followed up and was told I needed to give them a yes or a no to move forward, even though I did not have a confirmation that I was approved. Interesting. We never got confirmation after another week. I emailed and called, no response.... Don't waste your time. read more

Lawrence was amazing. After a brief visit and discussion of our search criteria, he was able to show us several locations. His effort is exactly what you look for in an agent. And he even drove us around on a freezing cold day! What a guy! If you're serious about finding a new home, reach out to Lawrence at Destination real estate. - jay read more

I was running around like a madman the past 2 days looking for an apartment and Lawerence did a fantastic job helping me find the right place within my Budget. He was accommodating, fair and made the whole process very easy. I Highly recommend him and Destination when looking for an apartment. read more

REVIEWS ARE FAKE! PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU'RE SEEING A PROPERTY WITH THIS COMPANY. I've never felt compelled to write a review before because I usually want to give anyone who works a business the benefit of the doubt. If you are reading this, please know that the 5-star reviews for this business are fake by multiple accounts with only one review under their profile - scroll around the reviews and you'll see what I mean. I've dealt with difficult NY contractors who are old New Yorkers and they are rough - this is the nature of my practice, but Lawrence is the most incredibly rude, shady, aggressive, unprofessional person I have ever had the displeasure of talking with in my life. I truly pity someone who conducts themselves in such a way. There is absolutely NO WAY the descriptions on the other reviews are reflective of how these crooks actually work. 1. When asked what internet company was available on the property, he kept yelling at me to: "google it". I wish I could make this up. 2. When told he had to waive my application fee because I already have a recent credit score report, he kept rudely and loudly insisting until I told him it was ILLEGAL (per RPP CHAPTER 50, ARTICLE 7 (b)). 3. When I reached out to a current tenant to gain insight on how it was to live in the building, he yelled at me and wanted to intimidate me on how I could not talk to the tenants of the building. 4. The process for meet-up is shady (he was late, too). You get contacted by a system, they don't tell you the name of the broker, and you have to meet at a designated 'spot' (you then walk to the actual property). 5. He asked for a good faith deposit and threatened to affect my application if I didn't do it. Good faith deposits are ILLEGAL per Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. 6. If you call NY Department of State and you ask them to look up this company, they will tell you they have received MULTIPLE complaints already. 7. Their broker's fees are VERY high. Yes, it is their legal right to do so - but it is worth noting that because most broker's only charge a month of rent. The listing I saw keeps going back and up and down to hide the fact it's been up for 3 weeks. It's no wonder no one will take it with such awful business practices. If any listing in Brooklyn shows up under Destination Real Estate, I HIGHLY implore you stay VERY FAR AWAY from this place and if you have dealt with them, file a license complaint on DOS and look elsewhere. read more

hi all just to let u know to avoid these at all costs they are con artists just evicted my disabled mum and dad from there property they have had since it was built didn't inform them of rent arrears and took them straight to court I've advised my parents not to be paying g any more rent on the place now and they can jog on and I'm going to now make sure that house is not worth living in w.n.k.r.s!! read more

We were looking for an apartment in our neighborhood and were about to give up until we got in contact with Destination Real Estate and Lawrence. He helped us get the apartment almost instantly, and through all needs with the application process. Thank you Lawrence & team, we appreciate it! read more

They will bait and switch you. They will do anything in their power to try to intimidate you, and they will try to trick you into making mistakes when you're desperate. Avoid at all costs. read more

After a really bad experience with a realtor from Nooklyn, I was huffing and puffing searching for a new apartment before the end of the month. Thankfully, Lawrence was wonderful to work with! A cut and dry, no-nonsense kind of guy and is an OG New Yorker who has lived in Brooklyn since the 70s. After I decided to apply for my apartment, he even offered to give me a personal tour up Court Street and gave me a lot of great recommendations for restaurants and bars! The closing process for my apartment was simple and quick, and was able to get my keys in no time. Thank you Destination Real Estate and Lawrence for helping me find an apartment without any stress! read more

Shout out to Lawrence, for going out of way to give us as many options as possible inside our budget. We went to tour one apartment and he gave us four. We had our place picked and lease signed within the week. It would have been faster but our employer is a little slow on the paperwork. My only gripe is the amount of personal information we had to divulge to the landlord. We're pretty private people so this made us nervous. But all's well that ends well. Thanks again Lawrence. We look forward to enjoying the wine in our new living room. read more

As a renter I had a great experience finding an apartment in my budget in Brooklyn. Lawrence took his time showing me options and was helpful throughout the application process. Would definitely recommend! read more

The Destination Real Estate team provided me an excellent experience and a great apartment in Brooklyn, NY. From finding the place to facilitating the application process, Lawrence and his colleagues were a great help! read more

I had a wonderful experience working with Lawrence. He found me an incredible deal on an apartment in the neighborhood I wanted to relocate to. He has answered every question I have had promptly and has gone above and beyond to ensure the move has been seamless. He has also been extremely kind and helpful and I have felt comfortable trusting him with such a big move. I can't recommend Lawrence and Destination Real Estate enough! read more

Again Lawrence has come through for my family! He found us a perfect spot to open our new business. He was able to make the process quick and easy. He got us a price we could work with to open our business. Call Lawrence for all your realtor needs, he really likes to help people. read more

Lawrence was a pleasure to work with. He was punctual and clear with us. We appreciated that he felt like an honest guy. We would be happy to work with Lawrence again in the future. read more

After looking on street easy for a while, using Destination Real Estate and Lawrence was amazing. He was fast, communicative, and we got an apartment we are super excited about. Overall 10/10 experience with DRE and the team. read more

We were shown an apartment by a man from Destination Real Estate, who notably never gave us his name. He was very short with us the whole time, seemed annoyed whenever we tried to ask a question about the place, and didn't seem to even want to talk about it in earshot of the building. He seemed annoyed that we even wanted to look at the bathroom? He then told us we would have to give him $20 cash per roommate and per guarantor right there on the spot if we wanted him to send us an application to fill out. We said we weren't comfortable with that and asked if we could just send the application fee at the same time as the application itself. He basically told us to pay up or forget it. We left... a few hours later, we also found the same place listed on a different site under a different real estate company name, saying that as of today, the place was taken? Why were they even trying to take our application fee if the owners were hours away from closing with someone else? The whole thing was weird, deeply unpleasant and felt more than a little like a scam. read more

Very odd... We were shown a place on Ocean Ave in June by Lawrence two apts 1st one I wasn't crazy about but 2nd had potential. We sent the ppwk and were approved, but were told in order to even see the lease we would have to submit the "good faith deposit" aka 1st months rent. We also even though the rent was 2300 and me and my brother make more than 40x the rent, we would need guarantors. No other place we were approved for where rent was even more than 2300 ever asked us for guarantors, but this would have been our 1st apt. Anyway after waiting a couple days we got lease, but it asked us that besides renters insurance we had to obtain this rhino insurance policy which I had never heard of. And then in the lease it mandated that unless we paid rent electronically, our rent would be raised even if the rent was paid on time. I looked into this, and several other people we spoke said this didnt sound legal. Needles to to say we did not proceed further with the apt, but also lost $$ thanks to "good faith deposit" language. SO I would not recommend these guys. read more

Highly Recommend Destination Real Estate. Lawrence was the absolute best, I was looking for a three bedroom apartment by myself using street easy for over two months and couldn't find anything. After contacting Lawrence I signed a lease to an awesome 3 bedroom in just 2 days! He was fast, reliable and funny!!! Highly recommend hiring Destination Real Estate!! read more

These people are the worst. The apartments are nice but they are dishonest, attempt to add fees, and flat out lie to you in violation of NYC housing laws. I have over a decade's worth of experience with them in a single unit and I cannot recall a single good interaction I've had with them. Read your lease carefully and never listen to what they say. Edit: They are the ones who handle the contracts and lie about things like additional prepaid last month based on rent increases in the intervening time (not legal) as well as requiring electronic auto payment (not legal). They are scummy. Hope that helps you Ken. read more

Yeah - this is not about NOT getting the apartment. That happens, and I'm not bitter about it. My review was about how you conduct business. You only "discussed" our application with us once I posted my first review. Not when we requested information after being rejected. And it DOES matter that you hold THOUSANDS of dollars hostage while taking your time processing people's applications. Additionally, mentioning that I need "credit counseling" on a public site really speaks to your unprofessionalism and proves my point. (It's STUDENT LOANS, dude.) Grow up. read more

They are scammers who urge people to place "good faith deposits" in order to get better chances of applying for apartments, and then they keep the deposits if the deal falls through. That is literally the opposite definition of good faith. They use legalese to scam the money from people. Luckily they are about to be shut down for this. read more

RUN FAR AWAY. This is a very shady business, criminal perhaps, although they try their best to give it the feel of legitimacy. Lawrence showed us an apartment that we found on Street Easy. We were pressured many times to provide a full month's rent for deposit to secure a chance at the apartment although it is illegal to charge more than a $20 application fee. I regret that we sent $3000 as a "good faith deposit" because we wanted the apartment so I figured it would be fine. However 24 hours later, and before we were accepted by the landlord, we realized there was no dishwasher in the unit and did not want to rent it. It was a mistake on both sides, although I feel the agent and the listing should have been clearer, but instead of gracefully returning our deposit and offering to help us find a place we like, we learned it was not refundable "under any circumstances." Keeping a deposit when we were only in the application process is fraud, pure and simple. Money was taken as a good faith deposit, but no service was rendered yet they refuse to return it. And it's not a small amount. I was told by Lawrence to write to an office email to request a refund, but no names are provided - all emails are signed "DRE Team." However, Lawrence is listed in New York State as the owner of Destination Real Estate, so it is all dishonest. He acts like he works for "the office," but yet is listed as the owner. There is no transparency and no honesty here - do not use them. When I wrote to say I would be pursuing legal action and reporting them to the State, their email response was: "please be aware that escalating this issue may result in financial implications beyond the forfeiture of the good faith deposit." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Fortunately I did not provide my banking information when asked on the application. (Why did they want that, I wondered at the time?) When I wrote back to say I did not appreciate their threat, the response was "We apologize if our previous message came across as threatening, as that was not our intention. We simply wanted to inform you of the potential consequences of escalating this matter." You can see how some very ugly practices lay under the veneer of a civil business. So now we have fraud AND extortion. Check out the other reviews on this business (the positive ones seem manufactured) and save yourself a lot of problems. Plenty of other, honest realtors out there. read more

Lawrence, Steve and the DRE were all great. They were very transparent about related fees and terms. Process was very straightforward and simple, they provided clear answers to all our questions and were very patient. read more

If you can avoid this company, avoid. If you do sign a lease with them, make sure the checks you write out are to your landlord and not to Destination Real Estate. Otherwise, they might try to swindle your landlord out of a month's rent, and you could be responsible to help fix their mess. Lawerence would not let me speak to my landlord until the day before we moved. This caused confusion with my landlord and me. I continued to call Destination's office to get my landlord's contact info, but they withheld it until hours before our move. Days went by with no response, and their office receptionist refuses to give any information. This was extremely stressful, because we planned movers for our first day of our lease. It seems like they're pretty active in responding to bad Yelp reviews. It would be good if they gave people the same respect and attention during the leasing process. read more

Working with Destination Real Estate and Lawrence was great. The team was very responsive to questions and made applying easy. Lawrence even showed us multiple different units that were great. I would recommend. read more

AVOID. Wish I could give them negative stars - beyond shady. You never know who you are talking with because they refuse to share any names or information about themselves. They require a deposit upfront and demand it be sent through Zelle, which has to be the most inconvenient way to pay a large sum of money. The entire business is a racket. The broker, Lawrence, made me feel like every single question I had was a major inconvenience and was consistently rude to me throughout the process of my application. read more

I just worked with Destination Real Estate on a move to Brooklyn. Destination handled everything with a "hurry up and wait" mentality. They would not respond for days at a time in the two weeks before my move, and then I'd finally get an email with an "urgent" request to reply ASAP in order to "not hold up the process." The biggest issue came with move-in. Destination did not give me any information on how to pick up my keys until literally hours before my movers were scheduled to arrive. The apartment was unfinished when I arrived. Turns out the building super was never even told a tenant was moving in this weekend. This resulted in having no heat or hot water for almost five days as everything had been turned off and a pipe burst, resulting in a flood. I reached out to Destination who was slow to respond and did not address my question of why the super was not informed of my move-in. It took many attempts to finally get the phone number of the property manager so I could sort out this and several other issues directly. I've worked with NYC brokers in the past and Destination was the least helpful and least responsive I've ever dealt with, on top of being the most expensive. I would avoid, if possible read more

Looking for an apartment during the pandemic was extremely stressful, but they made it as seamless as possible. The text confirmations were a nice touch up until my appointments. Lawrence was wearing a mask and taking protocol, which I appreciated. The confirmations even reminded me to bring mine! The application process was easy to follow and organized. Everything after that went smoothly and I am very satisfied with my apartment and the service I received. read more

Have so far had a really positive experience, Lawrence was very helpful and answered my questions quickly and informatively. Was my first apartment in NYC and it was a much more painless process than other realtors I had worked with. DRE has remained responsive so far when I had follow-up questions about my new place and I appreciate the patience and care read more

Destination Real Estate's communication is always from an anonymous email or number. THEY DON'T EVEN PROVIDE AN ADDRESS TO THE APARTMENT LISTING beforehand, just request you meet an unnamed representative at a random CORNER. They do not indicate they charge broker's fees, even when the broker is asked directly. "Lawrence" wouldn't even admit he was a broker when asked to his face! They demanded a broker's fee after the lease was signed. Then they insisted (through threats and harassment) on showing the apartment months in advance of the lease ending, including on holidays and with no notice which is actually illegal. They repeatedly prematurely request reviews as many of the 5 star reviews here are prior to the reviewer actually completing the process. read more

I don't even have a yelp account and I need everyone to know the DRE is unprofessional and made my roommates and I feel uncomfortable for the last 3 years. The took thousands of dollars from us in brokers fees and 'good faith fee' and deposits that didn't even count towards security. They are slimy and I am so glad to never have to deal with them again. read more

This company will only respond to you if you continuously reach out to them. Pretty sure the apartment listed was just a front to collect application fees because the apartment is still listed, two months later, and we never would have heard from them if we didn't constantly chase them down. Beware this realtor seems very scam oriented. read more

First time renter. I was iffy about this place because, well you know, can't trust anyone nowadays. Thank God I was wrong. Not only did an agent named Lawrence find me a beautiful apartment. My fiancé loves it and now we are going to start a family soon and I have him to thank. Not only did he show me an apartment but, the area and neighborhood is amazing and close to everything. Took less than a week to process background check and whatnot, and within a few days I was officially in my new apartment. This isn't a fake review. I would definitely recommend friends and family to go here. All you have to do it pay 15% of the annual rent, brokers feee and that infamous security deposit. Thank you again Lawrence. You made a dream of owning an apartment, a reality. read more

I'm looking for an apartment in Brooklyn and Lawrence went above and beyond in taking me to several properties throughout the evening to get a good sense of what was out there for my price range. He was genuine about all the questions I asked, he listened to my needs, and he was open to my opinions about each property I saw. Highly recommended. read more

Update: DRE did reach out requesting a forwarding address a couple of weeks ago. However, there's no information regarding amount or addressing the details listed in my previous review. DRE, are you going to address these issue and also are you going take accountability for the set back and breaking the law in returning back the 2k security deposit and an additional 2K for BREAKING THE LAW OF NY by taking longer than 14 days to return the money? THIS IS RIDICULOUS DRE, the disappointment and how long you're taking to return this money is OBSURD! Please reach out immediately, people have bills to pay, there are genuine, honest, and hard working real estate agents and landlords that are waiting to be paid and you are holding EVERYONE back. Seriously, WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU? F*cling crooks that's what... I have to purchase an attorney, file police reports, and write yelp reviews for you to give me MY MONEY BACK?! Please fix this immediately. Give me an update and my money back PLEASE I want nothing to do with your shady shit after this! read more

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Lawrence was incredibly helpful and amazing with helping me get my first apartment! I found a listing StreetEasy.com and I met with Lawrence at the property (he was on time!). He got right to showing me the place. I didn't like that one, so he immediately showed me another place within my budget, bigger than I was expecting, and in my desired location! He introduced me to the landlord, had his office send me the application (which they did within 2 hours!) and I got a deposit down that day. The next day, I signed the lease and the apartment is mine! Everything happened so quickly, which I really needed, and I couldn't be happier. Lawrence is so helpful, quick, and friendly and I'm very pleased. By the way -- the DRE office staff is so fast and helpful! read more

These people advertised apartment unit's rent price above the landlord's monthly rent amount, and pocketed the difference directly from our bank account every month for a year. Landlord wasn't even aware. At the time of signing, we were too afraid to lose the apartment so even though that term looked fishy, we signed it, realizing what it meant later. Hope this helps other people, and if you do sign with them, read the lease very carefully. Like other reviewers said, Lawrence is a crook. read more

Just recently had the pleasure of working with Lawrence to find a new apartment with my partner in Brooklyn. He was very responsive, and punctual which made scheduling viewings a breeze. He took the time to truly understand our needs and tailor the apartments we saw to those specific requirements. Lawrence went above and beyond by maintaining open lines of communication, trying to get us a break when possible, and constantly putting forth new apartments to keep the search going. Destination Real Estate is very thorough with their listings and appointments. I can't recommend them enough if you're in the market for an apartment in NYC. read more

Stay far away from this company. At the viewing of an apartment, Lawrence informed us that there was no fee to move into the apartment. We signed the application, rushed to send a $1900 "good faith deposit," and waited a few days for a response. We get approved, and are sent a detailed list of cost due at signing. $3400 brokers fee was on the list and when we questioned it, they told us that we signed and agreed to it so we are required to pay. If we withdraw our application, our "good faith deposit" is forfeited. So they basically trapped us into stealing $2000 of ours. When I spoke to Steve(?) over the phone, he was extremely insensitive and ignorant to the idea that this will hurt us financially. Been 2 weeks and still don't have our money back..stay FAR AWAY read more