Linnaeus Group

I met with Jenaveve Hunter and found her to be totally helpful, professional, and knowledgeable. She was early for our appointment, was *incredibly* nice to my dog, and had some good tips for finding a dog friendly apt in the area. I’d definitely work with her again!

If only Unilocal had an option to leave a Negative 5-​star rating…
AVOID Linnaeus Group!
I saw an apartment and was told I had to leave a deposit to hold it. I didn’t move into the apartment, and they (owner Dan Schwartzman and sales agent David H.) refused to return my deposit. By the way, NY Law states that any deposit a broker takes from you is to be kept in an escrow account until the transaction is complete, and you have the right to ask for that escrow information. When I asked repeatedly for this information, it was ignored.
This has been going on for two years. They offered to find me another apartment, but pulled me out of work to show me a crappy apartment that was WELL over my price range.
I’ve tried to settle with them, but to no avail, and now I’ve had to file a motion with Small Claims Court.
If you have any questions regarding my experience with Linnaeus Group, please feel free to contact me at
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AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
I ended up in small claims court with the owner of this company after he kept a deposit I gave him at an application signing and then didn’t take the apartment. Legal battling went on for 8 months before a settlement was made. Needless to say, I do not at all recommend Linnaeus Group.

Great experience with the Linnaeus Group. We were relocating from Chicago to Brooklyn and had limited time over one weekend to find an apartment. We worked with Julia who quickly found us a place that met all our requirements and that we were really excited about. We were also able to get all the paperwork done that weekend and returned to Chicago with peace of mind about our new living arrangements. Reasonable fee for great results; definitely recommended.

thats right, five stars, «woohoo! as good as it gets!»
Let me take you on a little journey through the roller coaster ride that was December 2010 for me. I spent the whole month going back and forth with an extremely unprofessional, inexperienced, and downright rude realtor/​landlord duo. ugghhhh. they wanted a list of things from us about as long as the torah. and to make matters worse, they kept losing the documents we were giving them. then they more-​or-​less did not accept my roommates guarantor because she was a woman. this went on for weeks and weeks: complying with everything they were asking us, and it still not being good enough. We had the lease signed, and were waiting to give it back to them, when they decided they didn’t want us to live in their apartment. this was on the 29^th of december, THREE DAYS before we were supposed to move. They told us that they ‘got a better offer from someone with better credit”…after literally 4 weeks of dealing with them… a knife in the back.
Devastated, betrayed, angry and three days away from being homeless, we somehow encountered ALAN. It instantly went from the most horrific NYC apartment hunting experience to the best ever. We explained to Alan our situation, and right away he took this on as his personal mission to get us into a place by January first. The beautiful Greenpoint 2.5 br that I am writing this review from today was exactly what we were looking for. It is actually nicer, more spacious, and a better price than the spot we got screwed over on days before. Alan showed us the place on Thursday afternoon, and we signed the lease and had the keys in hand by 5 pm Friday (nye). Alan is just a straight up cool dude. He made us feel totally at ease, which we certainly were not feeling prior to getting involved with the Linnaeus Group. Once we explained to him our occupations and financial standings, he knew we would be qualified to live here, and he told us to rest assured that he would make this work for us. He drove us in his car to his office, we took care of all the paperwork on the spot, and within 12 hours we had the keys in hand. Alan worked up to 5pm on new years eve just to make sure we had an apartment. Aaaaahhhhhhh… what a relief. Alan, you are truly a lifesaver. We nearly had our new years eve plans and living situation both ruined, but Alan pulled through in the eleventh hour. Alan is not only a professional, friendly and speedy real estate broker, he is also an unbelievably kind-​hearted person who didn’t rest until my friends and I had the keys to our new apartment. Alan — hats off to you. We really owe you one.

Excellent brokers. David is super attentive and smart. He helped my girlfriend and I find an amazing apartment. Thank you so much!

I’m a new addition to Greenpoint, via Albuquerque. Alan was extremely helpful, patient and professional in his quest to hunt down an apartment for me. He found me one within my asking price, and in an area that I love. Throughout the process, at no point was there any pressure for me to take an apartment that I was less than thrilled with. Alan would never leave out any unpleasant details about any listing of interest. I am beyond pleased with my experience with Alan and would use him again in the future.

What a surprise– and we lucked out– David– is like a breath of fresh air in a profession (real estate) that gives humans a bad rap.
We haven’t found our dream place yet, but we can’t say enough to compliment this guy’s helpful, informative– yet non-​BS manner. WOW is that hard to find. :)
Hearing we were new to the area, first he gave a quick overview.
David also dealt with the owner/​contact people nicely, which made us comfortable. Five Stars for Linneaus!

I started talking to Amanda last summer about relocating to Greenpoint/​Williamsburg area. I phoned her, and she told me about the area, what kind of people lived there, what the price range for apartments was like, no bs just her opinion. Later, in September i came to NY to look for an apartment. I went to another company and they screwed me. messed up my appointment, treated me like trash. I called Amanda and that same day she had 3 great apartments to show me. I fell in love with one but unfortunately couldnt commit to it because of the price tag. My mom, meanwhile was with me, and she had hurt her foot. Amanda took us everywhere by calling a car to pick us up it was really classy of her.
A couple of months later, I called her up again and she took me out to see some new apartments. When we got to Greenpoint, we saw one apartment that I had to jump on. The building is not great. But the apartment is gorgeous– a 2 bedroom with a spacious kitchen in the middle and serviceable dining/​living space as well. for 1800 a month on a great block one block away from the subway and one block away from the grocery store.
These guys are not pushy, theyre not BS’ers and they know the area. they have great apartments for people looking for a place on a tight budget. they dont try to upsell you either like other realty places. I told them my budget and they worked with it.
if you are moving to greenpoint or wburg, take a look with Linnaeus, its worth it for sure.

Dan and Zach and Doug are all awesome. My bus came in late on the day I was supposed to look at apartments but somehow Dan saved an apt that would have certainly gone in about 4 – 5 minutes under any other circumstances. Huge AND affordable AND good location. The trifecta on Berry St. Looked at it the next day and it was perfect, got all the paperwork done in the swank office and voila! Dan is a really busy guy but he put in all the extra effort I would never have expected from a larger agency. These are committed people, two thumbs up.

Forget everything you know about brokerages. The crew at the Linnaeus Group are not what you’d expect. And in the world of real estate that’s a very, very good thing. These guys are knowledgeable, friendly and efficient.
I worked with Alan Moretz, and he made the whole somewhat-​daunting process of renting an apartment in New York seem easy. He was always on time for our meetings (which, I know, should go without saying, but it was a first for me in my housing search), and he was comfortingly through when it came time to sign the lease (and throughout the process, for that matter). He was friendly and generally wonderful to work with.
Dan Schwartzman (the owner) was similarly helpful and personable. Very knowledgeable and accessible.
I can’t stress enough how great Alan and Dan were throughout the process. I’d 100% recommend Linnaeus.

I’ve had one experience, so far, with Dave and I have to say that he is the most honest and nicest broker i’ve ever dealt with. He showed me an apartment, we didn’t like it, he said, «yeah, it sucks!» Who else says that?! To me and for my money i don’t want smoke blowed up my a**. I’m calling him back today.

Zach Fried… what can I say. Nice guy. Straight shooter. Helps you when you’re in a bind, comes through for you when you need himto. Abs for ages!!!
When it came to getting me an apartment that ruled, Linnaeus managed with a flick of the wrist to conjure up a 3-​bedroom château off the morgan stop for WAY less than i thought i would have to pay for something of similar ilk. I now have an apartment that people are either giddy with joy over or furious with jealousy. I even got punched at our first party!
Dan is also a respectable business man. And has lovely taste in cuisine. Ask him about lions.
Jack-​of-​all-​trades, these guys. Put’er there!

Dan was highly unprofessional and inconsiderate. He called to confirm the appointment 10 minutes before our meeting, and when I showed up and called he directed me to a nearby bar because an earlier appointment was runnning 15 – 20 minutes late. 45 minutes later, he had neither showed up or called to check in. I had to call him to find out what the situation was. I already had misgivings about him, because when I told him my price range, he immediately came up only with apartments that were already at least $ 100 above what I wanted to spend.

I would not recommend this company to anyone for any reason whatsoever. Our transaction with Dan Schwartzman, the company owner, was one of the poorest examples of customer service I have ever encountered. He was rude, condescending, shady, and unprofessional. We paid an exorbitant 12% broker’s fee (over $ 3,000) and ended up doing virtually all the work ourselves. We had to call to see if our application had been accepted. We had to call to see if the landlord had signed the lease. We had to track Mr. Schwartzman down to get the keys and lease to the apartment – 2 days after the lease was to have started! – and he simply claimed to not have received our phone calls. We had to find out all the information about the apartment from the landlord ourselves, such as what type of heat the building had, if we could use the backyard, when all the renovations would be complete, etc. These are things I feel the 12% broker’s fee should have taken care of, but I guess I was wrong. I even wrote a letter to Mr. Schwartzman after the conclusion of our business detailing our displeasure with the company and with his service and never heard anything back. It’s hard to submit a complaint about a company in the hope of affecting change when the owner of the company is the one creating the problems. To anyone looking at listings through this company I would suggest checking out the apartment and then getting on the New York register of property deeds website and finding the landlord’s name and contacting him or her directly. You could even offer $ 100 or so more in your monthly rent to the landlord and save yourself the broker’s fee that you would otherwise pay this worthless company. In fact, we received such terrible service that I have a very hard time believing the high ratings submitted by these other reviewers. Very curious, to say the least. Anyway, save yourself the hassle and most of all save yourself the money. Linnaeus Group is not worth a second thought.

Both Dan and Emily were super helpful, friendly and attentive to our needs. They were both very knowledgeable about the area and the current real estate market. I would highly recommend them to any prospective renter in the Williamsburg area.

Both Dan and Emily were thoughtful, honest, nice and helpful. They never pushed us to apartments that we weren’t right for, they never tried to pressure us into apartments that was too expensive; they really understood the prospective tenant. It’s rare to find a real estate agent in Williamsburg these days that makes you feel comfortable and these guys are it. I highly recommend the Linnaeus Group.

The service Mr. Schwartzman provided was exceptional. He did more than find us a great apartment in our price range that had everything we were looking for. He went beyond the call of duty and followed up with us several times to make sure that we were satisfied and that our landlord was taking care of us, took a look at our lease to make sure it was standard and made sure the place was cleaned properly. We got more that just an apartment broker when we used LINNAEUS GROUP CORP. We made a friend. Thanks so much for taking care of us. Job well done! We highly recommend their services and will for sure use this service again.