B’klyn realtor won’t serve blacks: lawsuit

by amy zimmer / metro new york
JUN 27, 2008
A Brooklyn real estate agency systematically denied service to black people — going so far as to ask on the phone whether one prospective renter was Jewish — according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday



The pattern of blatant racial discrimination the suit alleges first came to light in April 2007, when Vanessa Lee, 43, called Bais Seller Real Estate in Midwood looking for a $1,250 Ocean Parkway two-bedroom rental. Lee, who is black, was told by a representative that a “nice” listing was available, the suit alleges — and then was asked if she was Jewish. After responding “no,” Lee waited for a promised call-back that never came.
Feeling something was amiss, Lee told the Fair Housing Justice Center about her experience. The nonprofit conducted a four-month investigation, sending African-American and white testers wearing recording devices to the firm.
The four black testers were asked to fill out forms and told they would be called back. The calls never came. The four white testers, on the other hand, were given solicitous service. A Bais broker, driving one of the white testers around Bensonhurst, allegedly remarked that it was a nice neighborhood because it had “white people” and there were “no drugs, no crimes, no nothing. Mostly Italians and Russians and some Jewish people.”
Lee returned to Bais five months later. A realtor told her about an apartment on Avenue O, then failed to call her back. That same day, a white tester asking for the same type of apartment was shown two, the lawsuit states.
Lee “was treated dismissively, like she wasn’t a human being,” her lawyer, Mariann Wang, said.
Though Bais broker Yury Skalet hadn’t yet heard about the lawsuit, he denied allegations of discrimination to Metro.
“It’s impossible someone did it here,” he said। “I don’t even know who Vanessa Lee is