Screenshot of Prudential Douglas Elliman Broker-Associate Janet Corona’s personal harassment of the editors of this website.
Taking pains not to be libelous, I will use quotes, paraphrases, and links to describe the completely incorrect claims of Prudential Douglas Elliman Broker-Associate Janet Corona of the firm’s Flushing, Queens office. I will also document all of her ridiculous threats against me and this website.
It all started quite innocently when I posted about the new condo being currently built out at 326 Melrose Street here in beautiful Bushwick. Commenter Jimmy Legs summed it up: the post “reported the fact that the listing is on Trulia, the links don’t work to PDE [Prudential Douglas Elliman], and that when somebody called the listing agent office they were informed the property was sold out.” (We have since found out that the development is called Lumbini Garden…for some reason.)
But the comments descended immediately into farce when Janet Corona wrote in, in a businesswomanlike ALLCAPS, claiming among other things that an “ugly investigation” has begun. In a later comment, she threatened to file complaints at the Realtor Board, an organization with which this website has no affiliation, and the Department of State. The charges? Unauthorized real estate advertising. Janet Corona makes this outlandish accusation throughout the comments thread, seeming not to understand that this is not the website of a real estate agency. Frankly, there is nothing at all in the post which could lead a sane and reasonable person to believe such a thing. It is clearly NOT a real estate listing and certainly NOT an advertisement. That costs money, Janet honey.
Janet Corona showed up over the course of the day to berate and insult the commenters, one of whom I happen to know may have been a client. This is not the way to win friends and influence people. The fact that Janet Corona — after several of these insulting, baselessly accusatory posts — asked potential clients to call her demonstrates her seeming complete disconnect from reality.
Furthermore, since there was no commercial purpose to the use of the artist’s rendering of the building, its inclusion in the main photo constitutes fair use. Even if this were not the case, we are certainly within our rights to use a photo taken by my own camera — a right which Janet Corona disputes.
The only question left to ask is what kind of developer would hire such a person to represent their property to the buying public? The answer is North Star Enterprise NY, LLC. If they are interested in selling this apartment, they need to find someone who attacks her potential clients — and makes an embarrassing spectacle of herself in public — a bit less.
Know what might have been nice, Janet? If upon finding this post, you had posted or emailed something like:
“Hi! My name is Janet Corona and I’m the listing agent for this property. I’m sorry about the confusion you encountered trying to find information on it. Can you let your readers know they can contact me if they have any questions? Thanks!
“Janet Corona
NY Broker Associate, NJ Realtor
Prudential Douglas Elliman
Direct: (917) 957-9961″
Yes, that would have been quite nice indeed. This website would have complied with cheer!
Instead, Janet Corona upped the nutso ante by sending an email full of threats, indecencies, and questions about our honesty (not to mention more unstable allcaps, excessive exclamations and misspellings) to BushwickBK.com, which I will now quote in its entirety:
“YOU GUYS ARE IN HEP OF POOP
“YOU WERE NEVER GIVEN PERMISSION TO ADVERTISE MY EXCLUSIVE LISTING WITH OUT MY CONSENT OR THE OWNERS. YOU NEED TO REMOVE 326 MELROSE FROM YOUR WEBSITE A.S.A.P. THE COMMENT MADE ABOUT THE PRUDENTIAL AGENT WAS INAPROPIATE.
“IF ANY ONE NEEDED INFORMATION ABOUT THESE UNITS THE AGENT WOULD ( IF YOU CALLED A PRUDENTIAL DOUGLAS ELLIMAN AGENT) YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN REFERED TO ME!!!!! THIS LISTING IS AN EXCLUSIVE LISTING FOR MY OFFICE AND I’M THE EXCLUSIVE AGENT SELLING THESE CONDOS.
“Janet Corona
NY Broker Associate, NJ Realtor
Prudential Douglas Elliman
Direct: (917) 957-9961″
Janet, my darling, your career, full of “inapropiate” screeching at potential clients, is in a “hep” of OVER. “Refere” that to the Realtor Board.
petebfd July 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
hahaha,seriously, what a joke that whole exchange was. and is that her email signature or her myspace photo? its always funny to watch a person who feels their job makes them really important is forced to operate outside of that context and just can’t handle it. they always make these ridiculous, idle threats. but hey, once you start being harrassed by crazy randoms you know your blog has made it!
jessica July 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
poop?
JStan July 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hep? She means heap, right? Whatever happened to proofreading your threats before you send them out? And “poop”? Was this supposed to be a family friendly email by not using the word “shit”?
Jessica Elsas July 18th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
“hep of poop”= best birthday present ever
carrie anne July 18th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
lol @ aol mail address
this lady will be eaten alive by the internets!
Manuel Lora July 18th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
zOMG CAN I HAZ REEL ESTATE 2?
Armstrong July 18th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
wow~!
habitat67 July 18th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
hope some of the other sites pic this up as well. what a fun read! thanks!
parma30 July 18th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
It’s people like her that ruin a neighborhood! It happened in Williamsburg and now in Bushwick!
mopar July 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Made my day. Thanks, Jeremy.
Ingo Hart July 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Wow. I think she might have thought this site was Weichert Realtors because of the ad at top right. Either way, she’s dumb and nuts.
JANET CORONA July 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
HOW DARRE YOU PUT MY EMAILS ON HEER THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM FOR YOU. MY COMPANY IS PUTTING ITS FULL AUTHORITY ON SHUTTING YOU DOWN. THIS IS MY TURF AND DO YOU LIKE MY PIC? MUST BE D/D FREE, AT LEAST 6.’
jw July 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I’d throw a D in her probably but she’s obv. townie scum.
happierman July 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
This made my day. Carrie Anne’s dead on. Internets=1 / Janet Corona=0.
namewithheld July 18th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
now shes a big time broker!
i say keep an eye on her profile page, these antics wont keep her at PDE for long!
Becky July 18th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
This might be my favorite post ever. Hep of poop + !!!!! = comedy gold. Can Janet have a weekly exclusive real estate column?
Xander Crews July 18th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Prudential D.E is a hep of poop.
Victor July 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
“Can We All Get Along?”
I believe mocking Janet Corona is inappropriate and should be stopped immediately. It’s very unprofessional.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that the #1 reason to have a blog is the ability to freely promote other people for FREE. When people start understanding and executing on that simple concept, then the world will be a better place and you will network like a superstar.
Be friendly and always look out for the best interest of the media you’re promoting.
Sincerely,
Victor M. Jaramillo
SVP
United Capital Lenders
petebfd July 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
is victor for real? personally, if i had any interest in being professional i wouldn’t be blogging. nobody is promoting any media (that i know of), we’re just talking about stuff that goes on in our neighborhood. janet corona being an awful real estate agent is something that is happening in the neighborhood, so we’re talking about it.
“network like a superstar” hahaha, go back to jersey!
(if your comment was satirical, i apologize, and kudos because that was amazingly done)
Jeremy Sapienza July 18th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
What? Victor, you sound like a short-circuiting real estate robot showed up spouting random industry words: “executing concept #1 promote free and freely! unprofessional inappropriate network superstar! FREE!”
I’d like you to explain exactly how anything said here is unprofessional. I will help you out: none of us are posting here in our capacity as professionals of any industry, not that you could possibly know what the profession of each commenter is, anyhow. That would whittle your possible explanations down to exactly zero. Run along now. *butt pat*
PS: Sorry I nixed the long list of products you offer and the contact info you included in your comment, but as I told Janet, you gots to pay for an ad.
ricmac01 July 18th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Gosh. Prudential Douglas Elliman must be desperate. However, if “ANY publicity = good publicity” then Janet Corona has trumped our dear Big George Rosario in tasteless self-promotion.
Dresden July 18th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Wowzers – crazier than I am.
I’m a broker in the city and I have to come down hard one people sometimes, even sue people sometimes…
Give her some slack. She’s young and doesn’t understand the industry.
carolita July 18th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I have to say this is not the first nutty real estate broker I’ve heard of. I actually got left multiple messages, in increasing degrees of ire and bile from an agent I had called once about an apartment (a no-fee one from Craigslist), along the lines of “I guess you’re too good to give us a call back, which would be the polite and proper thing to do, and in your interests.” That was a Century 21 dude.
They must be getting a little desperate in these hard, economic times and taking everything and themselves a little bit too seriously!
kevin July 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/07/18/selling_bushwick_you_guys_are_in_hep_of_poop.php
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/18/extra_extra_946.php
its now on heps of nyc blogs
Janet Corona July 18th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin Backmann July 18th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
What a freakin’ hoot. I would find it hard to take seriously anyone who has two right everything in capitol letters, and who apparently doesn’t own a spell czech application.
Janet Corona July 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
COOL, MAN. CAN YOU DIG IT? I’M HEP!
Xander Crews July 18th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
No Janet, you can not haz cheezburger.
F July 18th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
This woman is a moron… Who in their right mind would buy property through her?
daveffreep July 18th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Wow! I’m on the phone with her now.
I should’ve ended the conversation with “Does it come with a ‘HEP OF POOP’?”
Jessica Elsas July 19th, 2008 at 12:55 am
The importance of proofreading threats can not be underestimated. Especially when this comment box has built-in spell check.
C129 July 19th, 2008 at 6:07 am
Not so much aware of all internet traditions.
Whippets Darwin July 19th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Janet Corona? from Flushing, Queens? Oh, I get it. That can’t be a real name. Why do I get this feeling “Janet Corona” is really a big, fat, guy named Abe that has a bunch of other tacky apartments he wants to sell you. By the way, my band ‘Hep of Poop’ is playing tonight at Lambini Gardens around 10pm.
Michael July 19th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I’m wondering how many comments are from the Bushwick neighborhood? These rants and teases come across as a fairly poor representation of the community, and not at all inviting to anyone considering a move into the area. Perhaps Bushwhacked is a more appropriate moniker.
daveffreep July 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am
I totally ratted myself out by posting here. She called me back 15 minutes later and told me we were all cruel.
Jeremy Sapienza July 19th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Buchwhacked!? OMG Michael how did you ever think of that? Aren’t you just the cleverest!
You’re right, Bushwickers hate stupid people. So you and your tortured logic stay the fuck out.
Michael July 19th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Mark Twain said to never argue with a fool, so I’ll stop
Dresden July 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
The language she used – it’s reminiscent of Mormon culture’s dedication to not cursing.
I love what Lewis Black has to say about that:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uFr6P2BtE3k
linda July 19th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
you have taken this to far.
there are some many better things to blog about and you guys are hurting a person who was just maybe trying to do her job.
talk about the real shit that counts.
gossipbitch July 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
hey guys
this is crazy.
you have taken the time to bash some one over not wanting there listing posted. come on! you should have taken it down. it would have been her lost anyway. you don’t even know if she has kids and is trying to make a decent living. you know if she said you were cruel. you are!
blog about real shit!
linda July 19th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
OMG. is this for real. your bashing someone because she wanted her listing taken down. that makes no sense. all because of your pride. you must be desperate that you can’t find real stuff to talk about.
eagle July 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
i can not believe you have taken this matter so far.
FormerRidgewoodite July 19th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
The sad thing is that, instead of a nice little “free plug” about her alleged exlusive listing (which she would make money on no matter who sells it, and here she is getting a little plug on a neighborhood website – that before she made a total moron out of herself was the only realtor broker company mentioned)….instead, she really messed that up, and made a complete fool of herself on same neighborhood website.
Yeah, that’s a great way to build your business, and practice “professionally”.
By the way….doing a google search using her name, and “Bushwick” (the neighborhood she is selling, so that would make lots of sense), brings you RIGHT to this page. Isn’t that sad? She had a gifthorse, and instead, became nasty, and this is what happens.
By the way, in said google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bushwick+janet+corona&btnG=Google+Search
Dresden July 19th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
think this one’s been beaten to death?
icarus July 19th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Prud. Douglas Elliman is now hiring pieces of wood for brokers. This is a great example.PDE’s new philosophy seems to be that brokers don’t need to be able to speak English in order to sell in NYC. I have often encountered my exclusives on bottom feeder agency sites like Domain and one or two others. You just suck it up as part of the skullduggery of real estate and ocasionally you call the manager of the agent advertising your exclusive on his page. Going after a blog, as if they’re trying to usurp your exclusive is so clueless it boggles the mind. And heap is spelled, well, “heap”!
$ries July 19th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Is “HEP OF POOP” the newest and bestest bushwick meme or what?!
Jeremy Sapienza July 20th, 2008 at 1:55 am
dj alex, linda, eagle, gossipwitch and gossipbitch are all Janet Corona, posting with the same IP — as if we didn’t realize each of these posters all make the same dumb ho misspellings and come to defend her several times in 5 minutes.
Nobody is sticking up for you, Janet. Deal with and learn from your mistakes instead of trying to paper over them with further mistakes.
FormerRidgewoodite July 20th, 2008 at 8:38 am
What’s even more childish and embarrasing is that someone would come and post with multiple names, to make it sound like other people agree. Sad!
Learn from your mistakes, and know that you not only blew your free publicity (originally good publicity) for your listing, helping to get it sold (by you!), instead, you made yourself look like the laughing stock realtor of all of Bushwick, perhaps even NYC, as a google search of your name, even without Bushwick included, brings people to this professional display you put on here.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=janet+corona
natalie July 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
she did the same thing over at curbed.com… 9 comments from her “friends” in less than 15 minutes.
Janet, it’s not our fault that you’re giving us way too much material to make fun of!
electricgreek July 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am
http://wireless.go.com/wireless/abcnews/section/topstories/5406538_1?&page=2
Dresden July 20th, 2008 at 11:16 am
NPR had something on this today. AP sued a website owner with links to AP news – basically saying AP has a stake in Yahoo! News and the local papers.
It settled out of court.
Here, we’re not dealing with anything remotely close to the link you indicate.
And like I said on the 326 Montrose blog – it isn’t like using a Beatles’ song to sell hotdogs. It’s a neighborhood blog talking about the neighborhood – and there’s no course of action here for Janet or Elliman.
Karin July 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am
@electricgreek
Nice try but as the criteria for falsity and unpriveleged publication are not anywhere applicable here, any attempt to litigate this as a libelous action would only serve to bring additional unfavorable attention to herself.
Having said that, GO FOR IT! It would be really fun to watch!
FormerRidgewoodite July 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Natalie, here’s the link to the curbed article you mentioned:
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/07/18/selling_bushwick_you_guys_are_in_hep_of_poop.php
Notice between 4:21 and 4:35 on July 19th, “someone” made comments just about every minute in that stretch, all of course in support. Janet, honey, if you are going to use multiple names or posts to pretend like you are different people responding – next time, please do yourself a favor and be smart, and wait at least more than a minute between posts making other posts pretending to be a whole bunch of people. All it does is make you look more foolish, and especially in the unprofessional things you said in those comments.
I really feel for you, as this is a horrible thing to have happened to you, but know, you did it all yourself. You should have just come and said originally, “Hi, my name is Janet, and I am the exclusive listing agent for this wonderful property. Please contact me if you have any questions about this great project, and I will be happy to show it to you if you would like to make an appointment…here’s my contact information….”
Think of all the FREE advertising, and free POSITIVE publicity that would have brought you, and the customers you could have potentially gained from that….a real shame.
Phoebe July 20th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m thinking that someone needs to put “HEP OF POOP” on a t-shirt!
I’d wear it, just so I could walk around in delicious anticipation of having Janet Corona attack me and try to force me to take it off!
“HEP OF POOP” could be the new black…
Joso-Horney July 20th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I had sex without a condom,I’m in a hep of poop.
Dresden July 20th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I saw a teenager in a hep of poop on friday – he had had a bullet enter his skull.
Seriously – on my way back from home depot:
http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Bertrand%20Jocelyn
petebfd July 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am
wow, that really escalated over the weekend, huh?
petebfd July 21st, 2008 at 9:57 am
queens crap and the real deal picked it up as well:
http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2008/07/illiterate-flushing-broker-threatens.html
http://beta.therealdeal.com/articles/broker-lashes-out-at-blog
DyingLaughing July 21st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Ok, so I’m a little late on this one, but I’m moving to Bushwick next week and I just found this site. This post is fucking hilarious. I’m going to email her immediately and ask her about the ‘hep of poop’ for sale in Brooklyn. Not the funniest email ever, I realize that, but I’m counting on Janet to bring the lolz.
BTW, my vote for #1 comments:
‘I had sex without a condom,I’m in a hep of poop.’
‘zOMG CAN I HAZ REEL ESTATE 2?’ (perfect)
Wow! I’m on the phone with her now.
‘I should’ve ended the conversation with “Does it come with a ‘HEP OF POOP’?”’ – most lolz for me.
Andrew July 21st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Does anyone know if she’s been fired yet? I can’t believe Prudential Douglas Elliman want this kind of publicity for their firm. And it doesn’t exactly set the right tone for the condo development, either.
Jeremy Sapienza July 21st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Ugh, at this point I just feel bad for her. Being stupid is a handicap, too, after all. Right? *sigh*
Michael Anderson July 21st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
http://sadtrombone.com/
Matt July 21st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
YES!!! This frenzy is too awesome. Gotta love being away for a while and coming back to an entire novella full of innernet dysfunction. Just for my amusement.
Oh and thanks for watching the critter, jeremy. Owe you for that too!
icarus July 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 am
This incident with Janet Corona reminds me of the Jennifer Cristafulli affair. She was a Douglas Elliman broker who was on The Apprentice. Dottie put her on the DE website, so excited was she at the marketing potential of having a salesperson on The Apprentice. Well, Jennifer was part of a group trying to do a restaurant. She referred to one group of older women sitting at a table as “Jews”. She was INSTANTLY off Apprentice, her picture was off the site and she was fired. Dottie sent out a system-wide email denouncing Cristafulli’s language as incompatible with DE. I often wonder where she is now…
icarus July 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 am
Oh, here she is! It’s Crisafulli. Maybe she & Janet could start a comedy act.
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/apprentice-2-contestant-jennifer-crisafulli-loses-real-world-job-due-show-remarks-2951.php
FormerRidgewoodite July 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 am
Now this has gone a little too far. What she has done was foolish, unprofessional, and a little silly, but it doesn’t compare to something “racial” which was done on the Apprentice.
Janet’s actions are more from probably inexperience or unknowledgablility. I would just hope she learned from her mistakes here. I wouldn’t want to see her lose her job. She was wrong, but it’s not “that” bad.
Jeremy Sapienza July 22nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
She threatened and insulted potential customers — in fact, I only found out about this place because Jessica is in the market for a condo and was obsessed over this building, and that she couldn’t figure out who to contact. Now she knows who to contact, but you think she’s gonna call this dingbat? No. Sale lost. She SHOULD lose her job over this, it is FAR worse than mentioning in an unrelated context that two fat old ladies are Jewish because it reflects an inability to grasp basic concepts of legality, publicity, and especially customer service. If she sucks at her job, she should do something else — hopefully where she has no contact with humans.
icarus July 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
I don’t have a particular agenda for her to lose her virtual status. She doesn’t have a job at Elliman in the conventional sense. She is an ind. contractor. She doesn’t have a desk or a land line.She’s kind of like a cabbie. However, if I were her manager, I’d suggest she seek out another means of making a living. This affair was about judgement, and hers is awful. What I think is wrong is harrassing her at home on the phone. I can almost see calling her work line (her cell!) to see who this creature is, but looking up her home phone and invading her private world seems terribly abusive. Don’t forget though, Elliman employed Michael Shvo and a few other types that make up a sort of rogues’ gallery, so J. Corona is certainly not a first for that firm, any more than Crisafulli was.
FormerRidgewoodite July 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Yeah, I guess I do agree with both of the last two posts for the most part….both Jeremy’s points, but also the points icarus brought up too.
rotisseriestyle July 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
so i’m with the camp that thinks this is hilarious but is beginning to feel bad for the lady and her reputation.
That said, at phoebe’s brilliant request, i’ve been working up some HEP OF POOP t-shirt designs…assuming Jeremy will surrender any copyrights: is anyone set up for silk screening?
mopar July 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
This is just one of many such incidents I have experienced with crazy real estate brokers. It’s hardly atypical. I just wish they would learn to spell.
icarus July 30th, 2008 at 12:34 am
My Janet Corona jones is coming down on me. Must have more Janet Corona content. She puts the bush in bushwickbk.
Matthew July 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
HEPS OF POOP ARE A GROWING PROBLEM OUT HERE IN BUSHWICK. THANK YOU JANET FOR INFORMING US THAT WE ARE IN ONE. YOU ARE MY HERO.
icarus August 11th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
PDE brokers check Janet’s web page each day to see whether Dottie Herman has fired her yet!