East Flatbush homeowners to solicitors: Leave us alone!
Lawmakers push for approval of Brooklyn cease-and-desist list amid aggressive solicitations
Trisha Ocona has removed most of the “We Buy Houses” signs she’s seen in her East Flatbush neighborhood. The ones that remain are out of her reach, Ocona explains, high up on the city’s street lamps or telephone poles.
A lifelong resident of the community, Ocona is particularly bothered by the signs, which she thinks are predatory and take advantage of people, especially those who feel like they are out of options. “All those signs, they don’t mean well,” she says. “There are people who scheme and scam their way into getting people’s properties.”
Though plentiful, the signs are relatively benign compared to more aggressive solicitation tactics homeowners in the area have faced. Long known as a community made up of many single-family homes and longtime homeowners, East Flatbush has become a new development frontier recently, leaving some locals feeling forced out.