Andrew Ian Luftig

I had a somewhat terrible experience working with Andrew as first time condo purchaser. A few caveats upfront: (i) it was complicated transaction, (ii) it was more than a year ago That being said the behaviors he exhibited I tend to think of as structural, AND (quite unfortunately) one of my ...good friends from college also used Andrew and had similarly terrible experience (I feel very bad about not warning him beforehand - and this is why I have decided to write this review) I won't get into all of the nitty gritty detail but I would highlight 3 elements that made working with Andrew particularly unpleasant. 1) Initial discussion with him went well - he is sharp and nice enough. As soon as I signed the retainer with Andrew (i.e. paid him) though he completely changed personality. From there on, he was very difficult to get on the phone, and whenever I was talking with him he was incredibly rushed and impatient. I literally started writing down my questions and asking them verbatim on the phone calls so I didn't get hung up on 2) His motivation was very clearly just to get the deal done irregardless of the risks he exposed me too. On one level, I totally understand that as time is money for him (literally), but on the other level he was supposed to represent my interests - and he very clearly wasn't. Once this became apparent, I had to ask another real-estate lawyer to help me understand what was normal in the market (he did it for free because he felt bad for me), and then armed with that knowledge - I would go back to negotiate against Andrew. Example dialogue: Andrew: "you are being unreasonable" Me: "No - this is normal course and I know that because i asked another lawyer" Andrew: "ok fine" It was extremely frustrating and time consumptive on my end 3) He charges 2x above market (I know that because i am buying another apartment now - using the lawyer that had given me good, free advice)... Also at a certain point he starts farming out work to his associates who are just as disagreeable but less knowledgeable than Andrew. One illustrative point (this is 100% true), is that one of said employees, showed up to our closing -- without a pen. Literally- all you do at closing is sign documents.. Anyway you get my drift. Now I feel less bad about not warning my college buddy.