BLIND ITEM....WHICH LOCAL REAL ESTATE AGENT....

Now, a thread on TAL's story
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44730&start=0

hmmmm.... is making thousands of dollars by convincing people to rent in a building you know (but they don't) that they're likely to leave very soon, giving you another chance to show and rent the same apartment and make thousands more dollars from another set of people you've convinced of the apartment's wonderful qualities immoral or only amoral?

commonsense wrote: i don't know. It is apparently you and others on this board who are the ultimate arbiters of morality. Please tell me what to think. Oh, and could you please also definitively inform me - and everyone else, for that matter - as to the moral guidelines around villifying a person on a blog rather than discussing a percieved problem with that person face to face? Many thanks.

Marjorie Thompson's unprofessional behavior has been the subject of many complaints by numerous individuals here (use the search function). She clearly has no shame, so at least publicly posting this information may warn people who are thinking of doing business with her what they'd be dealing with.

Do you really think it's morally ambiguous to fail to disclose a problem like bedbug infestation when charging people money to help find them an apartment?

so... do you have any 2 br's i could look at?

I kind of see both sides. I mean if a broker walks people into a building and has to walk by mattresses and stuff outside of that building, isn't it kind of up to the prospective tenants to take notice? I do think it's unethical to charge a fee for an apartment that is infested. Also though, many people don't understand the horror that is bed bugs until they have lived it so this broker may just think it's like roaches.

how many units are in the building? Is every unit affected?

commonsense:

when i pay a broker a fee to help me find an apartment, that broker is acting as my agent and has a responsibility to give me information in good faith, and not to withhold information even if it is profitable to do so. that's what i'm paying for. the broker doesn't own the apartment; s/he can get my money perfectly fairly by showing me a different place that i end up renting. failing to disclose something like a widely-known bedbug infestation (and at least according to TAL, they're in the WALLS of that building and have been a problem for years), is failing to act in good faith as my agent, which amounts to robbery.

the end.

oh, and the broker named here -- whom i don't know but had heard plenty about before now, little of it making me doubt this story -- isn't my child, and i'm not responsible for reforming her behavior, any more than i'm responsible for talking to, i don't know, bush or spitzer or barry bonds about their misdeeds before decrying them.

that said, i of course have no way of knowing whether the broker business is true, and you'll note that i didn't post the accusation or the name. but if what is said is true, then, to address your original question, yes; i think there's wrongdoing on her part.

just one clarification: i didn't know the name of the broker, or anything about this story, prior to reading this post. i admit i had a guess about the name when the story came up, but it was only a guess, and a poorly educated one at that, so it would have been completely irresponsible -- even by my own lax standards -- to have mentioned it.

sweet tea: I too know no facts about this story, basic facts like how many units there are in the building, how many are affected, if there's an exculsive broker for the building. What bothered me is that I haven't found any factual answers from reading this post but I have nonetheless read a lot of rather incendiary opinion based, it seems, on a lot of other people's incendiary opinions, and it just didn't sit right. That's all. Thanks for engaging me in this. You made me work to figure out what point I was trying to make, and what was bothering me. More full disclosure: I have a passing aquaintance with the studiously unnamed broker and felt somehow personally upset by the tone of this topic. Also, I can't remember the last time I was viewed as being capable of moral ambiguity: I mostly ride around on a high horse :?

sweet tea: I don't want you to be right (that's my job), but ok, all right, you do make a fine point... and that's all I'm going to say. For now.

commonsense wrote: More full disclosure: I have a passing aquaintance with the studiously unnamed broker and felt somehow personally upset by the tone of this topic.

It was kind of obvious before, but I applaud you for admitting it.

maybe we need to erect giant signs that say DON'T MOVE IN HERE - INFESTATION!!! that way it informs the blissfully ignorant realtor, and warns the prospective tenants who are about to spend first/last/security on a rash of new bugbites, that there's a nasty bug situation beyond the scaffolding?

WHO'S WITH ME?

Thanks for filling us in, greenearth, and thank you for being clear that you're a representative of your business. Too often business owners try to post about their work while pretending to be satisfied customers, so transparency is always appreciated.

It's too bad that they took that step only after the "This American Life" story, but it's neat that they chose an eco-friendly company and I hope for the long-suffering residents of this building that it works!

Did a little Googling on Green Earth, in case anyone is interested:

Interview with the owner of Green Earth:
http://www.mypmp.net/pestcontrol/Q&A+Around+the+USA/QampA-Around-the-USA-Josh-Alpert-Green-Earth-Pest-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/528879

Here's another building getting bedbug work done by Green Earth -- no follow-up, unfortunately:
http://bedbugregistry.com/location/NY/11218-3316/Brooklyn/730-Beverley-Rd/

Thanks for your help Josh. Now Kill Some Bed bugs! Make them suffer!

:twisted:

The 349 St Johns Place Bed Bugs have no idea what they are in store for. Have no fear, the Green Earth man is here!