Lesley and Ula are really helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. My boyfriend and I found an apartment in Williamsburg online that we wanted to view and we contacted Lelsey who was able to show the apartment the same day. We applied, got approved, and signed the lease in a span of about 48 hours. Finding an NYC apartment is always a hectic process and we're thankful we had Lesley to move everything along smoothly! read more

I met with Lesley a few months back to see an apartment. Despite a list of things I was looking for, Lesley took me to see a place that was completely off the mark (she told me later that was her first time seeing it). Lesley as a person is fine. Not too warm, not too cold. Her personality didn't really matter to me. I would have continued to check out her listings, but she didn't follow through with anything else. Luckily, I bagged a great apartment through a friend. I like the idea of supporting a local business which Ula's is (a mother/daughter operation). But unfortunately, there was just an absolute lack of professional follow through. I think it'd be great if brokers (Ula's and otherwise) would recognize that they are being paid for a service, and would actually work to earn my business. Instead, so often they just want to convince you a crappy apartment is gold, and sign on the dotted line. Oh, and honestly to Lesley. Nastily responding to someone else's post and giving yourself 5 stars undercuts your own professionalism, and only reinforces the previous bad reviews. read more

Called four times about an apartment. No returned call ever. Went to the office on a Saturday. Closed. I'm not sure how these people stay in business. read more

Terrible. Called Lesley about a great-looking apartment on a pretty, historic street in GP in our price range. She said we would be the first people to see it in a few days. On the day of the appointment, I called to confirm, and Ula demanded to know who I had made an appointment with and told me that she didn't have the keys yet, but would have them in a week. I left a few messages, which were never returned, and finally reached Lesley again to set up another appointment the next week. The day of that appointment, I called once again to confirm, and Lesley said the apartment had already been rented. WTF? I had been on this woman for a solid two weeks trying to see this place, and she couldn't care less. Thank god, because we got a great place through an, ahem, totally professional local broker, and I'm just glad I never had to pay these women some crazy broker fee. Seriously, don't waste your time with this operation. Go to Greenpoint Properties and support a way more professionally-run local business. read more

Called and asked to talk to someone about finding an apartment. After explaining we're looking to upgrade our living situation after staying in the same apartment for 15 years (higher budget, more space for WFH, expecting child...) she asked me we don't just stay in our current apartment LOL. Even with our budget being 1k more a month.. I immediately hung up. Don't waste your time with this old cranky lady hahah. read more

This might be the best review I ever wrote. And the memory holds up but I also forgot to add the part about the bathtub up against the wall...in the kitchen! read more

Leslie really helped me find my dream one bedroom in greenpoint. I never had to look for an apartment by my self before and I was worried about my credit but leslie really helped me out and vouched for me to the owner. Plus the whole process went really fast! I had the lease signed and keys in my hand a week after seeing the apartment. I really could not be happier with leslie and have handed out her card to all my friends. When i picked up my keys I got to meet her mother who was incredibly sweet to me. She helped me by giving me numbers and advice to getting the gas/electric on, she also called the owner of the building to my new apartment so I got to get some "face" time with her. I was so floored with how kind everyone was. Ula's Real Estate was truly a god send for me. I am ecstatic with my new apartment and how a new local company that knows me. read more

Some of the previous reviews on here are a little crazy, so I figured I'd write a positive one since there seems to be a lot of negativity. I think some people have absolutely no clue what real estate in NYC is like. I viewed an apartment with Lesley on the 24th, put down a deposit on the 26th, signed the lease on the 29th and moved in on the 31st. This was the quickest move I've ever experienced in Brooklyn. There were no games like other offices I've dealt with. I found out approval status pretty much immediately which was great. Anyway, I would recommend this office to a friend who was considering moving to Greenpoint. read more

Lesley did a fantastic job in finding me a fantastic apartment. Having worked with her twice in the last few years couldn't recommend her anymore! read more

Such a great experience with this Ula's Real Estate company! Super friendly stuff and very helpful people. Lesley is very professional and real sweetheart. She helped me to find my studio in Greenpoint. She was on time and on point.. after few hours I got my studio without spending an extra time like usually! I liked it their service so much that I decided to use their company for my Flower business. Very happy with the results as well! These days it's so rare to find people that can just help and have a good heart. Lesley does have a good heart and she still understands what is good values in life. This is so rare! Very recommend their service!! read more

Lesley is great and has the hookup on all the authentic, real, proper apartments in Williamsburg & Greenpoint. Very attentive and down to earth, kind and knowledgeable, easy to work with. 10/10 would recommend working with them for rentals and sales. read more

this place is lame. after calling up about craigslist ads, i was told i'd have to go to the office to register in their system. i did so with lesley, who said there was one apartment that matched my needs and that she'd call me the next day. she never did. the office was supposed to call with any new listings as well. they never did that, either. being a proactive girl, i took matters into my own hands and called about several ads. i don't know who ula is, since all ads say to ask for lesley. i'm sorry to say, but this woman is really bizarre. she either needs to be on meds, needs to be on more of them, or i really don't know. she has negative energy and it seems like speaking takes too much effort. her sentences all trail off and she seems seconds away from passing out. after finally setting up an appointment with her to see an apt, the apt turned out to be awful. it reeked of cat pee as soon as i walked into the front door, there were holes in the hallway walls, and the door of the apt was busted. basically, it was a crackden and i didn't feel safe there. after we left, she asked me what i thought and, trying to be diplomatic, i said it wasn't in very good condition and i was having trouble envisioning what it would look like post-cleanup. she got offended by this and said she didn't know if she should show me anything else if i would have trouble picturing what it would look like after it was cleaned up. she was supposed to call me about 1-2 other apts the following day and, of course, she didn't. so basically i feel like you're not allowed not to like what you're shown here and you should not bother unless you're willing to pay the ridiculous broker's fee while doing all the legwork yourself. i continued to see ads that looked interesting or promising but preferred to take my business elsewhere. read more

I recently found an apartment through Ula's and found the whole process really nice. Lesley walked me through all the steps and made it as painless as possible. They seem to have connections to good neighborhood landlords here in Greenpoint. read more

Lesley is an absolute gem. She is sweet and lovely. Be patient and she will find you the perfect apartment. If you are looking for real estate in Williamsburg or Greenpoint this is truly the only brokerage worth using. You will not find their properties anywhere. Ula and Lesley have long term relationships with the entire neighborhood and it shows. I will be using Lesley as my broker for the rest of my life. read more

Lesley did a wonderful job of setting up our appointment and walking us through the property. She advocated for us with the owner and ensured we were able to get an apartment that my girlfriend absolutely loved. She was extremely easy to work with and the entire process was painless. I would easily recommend her to anyone who is currently in the market for a new place. read more

TLDR: Ula's Real Estates partners with local landlords to subvert laws concerning broker fees which means that they are, essentially, breaking the law if you did not explicitly reach out to them and ask them to be your agent/broker and they charge you a broker fee. They tried to force me to pay a broker fee for services I never asked for because they feel they are above the law even after NY State issued new guidance for brokers and landlords on 04-Feb-2020. On Thursday, 06-Feb-2020, two agents that work for Ula's indicated they knew of the guidance but still tried to have me pay a fee for services I didn't use. I'm including information to file a complaint with the office in charge of monitoring real estate license and information concerning the tenant courts located in Brooklyn if you experience similar problems with Ula's. I'm also including a link to the guidance issued by the New York State Government on 4-Feb-2020 and a link to contact info for the NYC Tenant Court. Link to Complaint Form: https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/complaint_links.html Link to Guidance: https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/pdfs/DOS-Guidance-Tenant-Protection-Act-Rev.1.31.20.pdf Link to Tenant Court Information: https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/housing/ Hello! My name is Evan Sergent. I normally don't write reviews, but I had an exceptionally bad experience at Ula's Real Estate. The New York State Supreme Court issued further guidance on 4-Feb-2020 for landlords and brokers saying that it is illegal for landlords to pass on broker fees to tenants that rent their properties based. This was a response to the fact that landlords still charge people for broker fees despite the fact that New York State laws passed in June 2019 and August 2019 limited how much a tenant can be charged for a broker fee to $20 dollars a person for the credit check. All of this being said, my partner and I have been living in a sublet on Clay St. in Greenpoint the past 6 months. Our lease is up soon and we didn't want to leave the neighborhood because we like being in Greenpoint due to both the location and our love of the neighborhood. (I work in Washington Heights and they go to grad school at NYU so North Greenpoint has been great for us). We were trying to move into a unit on Huron Street. I found the apartment on StreetEasy and sent a message on the site to the person in charge of setting up showings. What I didn't know is that by setting up a showing, I was also signing up to have Ula's Real Estate be my broker. My partner and I were in the process of signing for the aforementioned unit when the new guidance concerning the 2019 laws were issued on 4-Feb-2020. We brought the new guidance up to the brokers when we were finalizing paperwork on 06-Feb-2020 for the apartment that, as of that morning, we were approved to rent. We had already received confirmation that we had the credit and income required to rent the place. Once we brought up the fact the landlord was supposed to pay the fee, we were told by the agents that we didn't want to apartment anymore because we challenged them to comply with the law. After 15 minutes of arguing with two different brokers at their office of Leonard St., they voided the check we gave them for the security deposit (despite the fact it was not made payable to Ula's) and we were told to find a different place. I recognize that Ula's is a local business that is imbedded in the community, but that does not mean that they are above the law. I am strongly pro-labour and feel that every working person should be paid for the work they do, but based on the law as is it explicitly interpreted, tenants should not be forced to pay a broker fee or lose their apartment. The brokers at Ula's that we interacted with, Lesley Doukowetsky and an agent that never introduced themselves, were more concerned with having us pay the fee than they were with following the law. I am calling them out here, and any other public forum I can find, to hold them accountable for the laws they tried to break by forcing us to either pay them a broker fee or lose the apartment that we were already approved to move into. If you, or anyone else, is forced to decide between paying a broker fee for a broker you didn't explicitly hire and losing your apartment, there are resources you can use to fight back. I'm including information for the Kings County Tenant Court and the URL for the Complaint Form for Real Estate Brokers. You do not have to pay the fee unless you went to the broker first and asked for their services. Don't let landlord's and brokers make your life even harder by forcing you to pay the broker fee the landlord should have to pay. read more

The process of finding and moving into my new apartment through Ula's Real Estate has been, frankly, hell. Our broker, Lesley: -speaks to landlords in Polish in front of you so you have no idea what is being said -never makes appointments on time, despite our reminding her numerous times -never tells us what we need for an appointment and we often end up needing to go back to Greenpoint 2 or 3 times for the same purpose -does not know how to communicate (seems spacey to the point of medicated at all times) -trashes current tenants to prospective tenants -smokes cigarettes in your face -is often MIA ...just to list a few. Please, do yourself a favor, and find a different broker - regardless of how nice the prospective apartment is. read more

I called Lesley after seeing one of their ads on craigslist. That apartment wasn't available but she said she had something else that fit the criteria. Went to see it the next day and signed a lease a couple days later! She even negotiated the rent down since it was $100 out of my range. I think a lot of the negative reviews say more about the overall stressful and demoralizing process of apartment hunting in NYC than this specific business. I was persistent with calling back and made myself available to see the place right away, made up my mind quickly and signed the lease ASAP. I wouldn't describe Lesley as pushy but I definitely felt that she doesn't have patience for indecisive people. read more

Lesley is extremely helpful and professional. We lived out of state, so she provided a video of the apartment we were interested in. The application process was a breeze even though our credit was not so good. Additionally, she met us when the office was closed so we could sign our lease and get the keys. I would recommend Lesley to anyone trying to rent an apartment in Brooklyn. We have been looking since the end of the summer and no other broker could secure a place for us. Thank you, Lesley!! read more

My wife and I were moving from Virginia Beach to New York, and it was so difficult to get showings for anywhere that was within our price range and in a good location. We found a place on Craigslist that we thought might be a good fit, and the listing was through Ula's Real Estate. We dealt primarily with Lesley, and she was great to work with. She has a pleasant, mild personality. She's not extremely outgoing, nor is she introverted. She's kind of right in the middle of the spectrum, which was perfect for us. We had experienced other realtors in New York who were nice but simply didn't work with our situation (specifically in regards to the difficulties that come with moving across states). Lesley, however, was willing to work with us from the beginning, and she got us into an amazing apartment on an incredible street. Given our situation, we couldn't have gotten a better place, and we mostly Lesley to thank for it. read more

I reached out through a StreetEasy posting about an apartment. I had a question about confidentiality. Ula completely blew up. Yelling, telling me I'm lucky she found the place and to just give her the information. She was inconsolable, interrupting and screaming. On the posting, it said the contact was Lesley, but she screamed at me because that was not her name. Completely unprofessional. She ended the call by hanging up. read more

i am surprised by all the bad reviews here. i called Ula's to find an apartment when I recently moved back to NYC. I had used her about 10 years ago and the everything went fine both times. She and/or Leslie showed me 5 or 6 apartments this recent time. They were on time to each appointment, and they were not pushy. They are mother and daughter and i think they have a good vibe. They returned my calls every time.. Eventually I found a place through them and I did the paperwork at her office. All went smoothly. Looking for places is never very fun and it is stressful in NYC. They did as good a job as any solid realtors I've known. read more

I found a great apartment in Williamsburg online and I contacted Lesley who was super helpful. She was extremely nice and informative. I ended up putting a deposit down and getting it! After a few days I noticed I forgot to take pictures of the apt so I texted Lesley and she sent them right over. My experience with Ula's Real Estate was just an easy, quick process. Thank you. read more

I used Ula's twice in the past 7 years. Ula definitely has the hook up when it comes to finding affordable apartments in Greenpoint, but I agree with the other comments that she can be a bit pushy. They have a very fast turn over, and don't deal well with people that are on the fence or need time to think things over. Luckily, both times we found great places (one with an amazing landlord, and one with a CRAZY landlady). I would probably use her again. read more

Amazing! The only place in Greenpoint that actually called me back with an apartment.

I was shown an apartment by Leslie a few weeks back, while Leslie seemed nice enough, her demeanor was weirdly off. She didn't introduce me to anyone we were in conversation with, had no idea where the apartment was, and seemed very unfocused and confused about simple tasks. Unprofessional to say the least. Pretty bizarre experience and I definitely recommend that everyone avoid this company. read more

Ula was very friendly and quickly helped me get an apartment that I'm happy with. When working with Ula's, keep in mind that this is not your usual real estate office, but I prefer the more personable experience of working with a small mother/daughter business. You may need to make a trip or two to their office, but it is definitely worth it based on the apartments shown to me by them versus other companies I was in contact with. They are part of the Greenpoint community and have a good rapport with apartment building owners. Also, Ula and Lesley run an extremely busy office and the apartments they show go quickly. I'm happy with my experience working with Ula and I'd recommend the company as a good source for apartment hunting in Greenpoint. read more

Absolutely horrible! Beware! Ursala and Alex will act like your best friend to get you to rent from them, but will turn on you the SECOND you sign the lease! They are known for making up crazy reasons for keeping security deposits. The first day we moved into our apartment, our neighbors warned us about them, telling us Ursala, Alex and Leslie completely screwed the last tenants that lived in our apartment. We laughed it off and figured the last tenants must have been a-holes. A few months later our neighbors moved out and we saw the real Ursala, not only threatening our neighbors with violence but also keeping their security deposit AND suing them for even MORE money. We then became extremely nervous and felt very unsafe in our apartment after this incident, but we planned on resigning the lease just because we did not want to move again! Ten days before we were supposed to re-sign our lease, Leslie Ursala and Alex sent us a letter informing us that they will be raising our rent 13%. Because our neighbor literally got shot a few months before about 15 feet from our front door and our apartment was in Ridgewood, Queens, raising the rent 13% was just ridiculous because the area nor the apartment were desirable places to live. We quickly found a GREAT broker who found us an amazing apartment with a great landlord, and we got the heck out of our old apartment and our security deposit is still no where to be found. They are continuing to ignore our phone calls and avoid us when we show up at their office. Ursala Leslie and Alex are not only greedy, unintelligent landlords, they are scam artists. Trust me when I say, they do NOT deserve one cent of your money! read more

We contacted the agency on very short notice on a Saturday desperate to see a listing that same day. Although Ursula was unavailable to show us herself, she was able to recommend a second listing as well and give us Lesley's cell to set it up which I greatly appreciated. Lesley was able to accommodate us on short notice and show us both listings. The listing recommended by Ursula was amazing. Lesley was very nice, professional and not pushy at all. It was cold out and she even was kind enough to drive us to the second listing to stay warm. We ended up falling in love with the listing we originally wanted to see and let Lesley know later that night. Although we were unable to put the deposit down same night, she took our word and made sure no one else would be able to view it. She even came into work Sunday (her day off) just so we could put down the deposit and sign the lease. She was very efficient and helpful and working with her was a pleasure. Thanks to Lesley and Ursula my husband and I have a fabulous 2 bedroom that we cannot wait to move into! I would highly recommend Lesley! (Side note, she also does interior designing and my husband and I are hoping to work with her for help setting up our new place!) read more