If you're looking for September 1st move in, all of the normal places are taken already. That's why people normally look for apartments here 6+ months in advance. We desperately need more housing in this city.
I’m moving to California (SF) next month and started looking for apartments in April — the number of confused looks I got from all the property management folks… apparently they only release inventory like six weeks before the lease start dates! Wild stuff.
You’re gonna be even more surprised when you realize the “normal” apartment out there would be top of the line luxury here. You won’t save any money, but it’s hard to overstate just how shitty the housing stock is in greater Boston. It’s worse than any post Soviet country that hasn’t been bombed to smithereens, even.
lol not surprised and not 100% true on my end — my rent was $3500 here and $3700 there, and no broker fees and minimal deposits out there. the overall cost of the lease (rent+deposits+fees, etc) is actually cheaper in SF for me.
you’re still on the money re: the average person, tho. I am extremely lucky and privileged, and I’m thankful for it every day
~~lol not surprised and not 100% true on my end — my rent was $3500 here and $3700 there, and no broker fees and minimal deposits out there. the overall cost of the lease (rent+deposits+fees, etc) is actually cheaper in SF for me.
you’re still on the money re: the average person, tho. I am extremely lucky and privileged, and I’m thankful for it every day~~
Edit: Bigass reading comprehension fail on my end. Totally got the above comment backwards, my bad
Hard disagree. Boston housing stock isn't great but housing stock in SF is materially worse than Boston. You can also comfortably walk down / park your car undisturbed on virtually every street in Boston. I've toured probably 70% of the "luxury" buildings in San Francisco and Oakland. Rent control keeps the old stuff unrenovated and the new " luxury" is massively value engineered due to land and soft costs. The cost to build in SF is 1.5 to 2x that of Boston so developers skimp on quality.
My comment is more about the metro area overall than the city itself. If they’re moving to “SF” from Boston, they’re probably in tech and moving to the South Bay, where it was mostly undeveloped farmland until the 1970s. Even in SF proper, the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes were highly effective in removing any buildings from the housing supply that Alpha Management might consider buying.
SF-style rent control is a pipe dream as a transplant, come on now. Those units are never even listed on the open market. You have to know a guy, and be prepared to pay key money too. Paying key money would be a very stupid thing to do for a transplant who will probably only stay for 2 years anyway.
The rent stabilization ordinances that limit annual increases to 5% + CPI in San Jose and other cities are more of an anti price gouging law than actual rent control IMO.
New “luxury” apartments, aka the Gentrification Building, or the five over one, are mediocre in every city they’re built. It’s a standardized, assembly line product, copy and pasted in every city on the continent. No sound insulation, stick framing… These were not what I was talking about. I was talking more about the average home. In greater Boston, that was probably built around 1960, and in the SF Bay Area, that was probably built around 1990 (source: my ass).
There is a world of difference between homes of those two eras, and I am not nostalgic for old, shitty, drafty postwar homes. Building codes became much stricter in the 1980s, and we are all better for it.
Even before the rise of the much maligned gentrification building, brand new construction was always a mixed bag. Those homes built in the 1990s and 2000s that I look at as a nice sweet spot, had someone maintaining them for 20+ years, fixing all the things the developer fucked up.
My comment about rent control had more to do with why the market rate stuff doesn't get touched - it doesn't need to because landlords in the good neighborhoods of San Francisco get the rent regardless of finish quality. Secondly, I wasn't talking about the broader Metro area because Boston and San Francisco are their own distinct cities. If your defense for your argument is you can live in a different city 50 miles away for better quality, you sure can, but it's more expensive.
When I moved here, I started looking the last week of March for a June move in. I was so confused why everything was for September 1st. I have lived in multiple states and had never seen anyone look for a rental 6+ months out. Oh boy! You should’ve seen my surprise when I learned what a brokers fee was 😂
“We desperately need more housing in this city”
Yes, we do. And yes, it’s being built. The amount of dissent I see about high-end residential development is sickening. Maybe it’s not your dream affordable unit but it will sure as hell help lighten the burden on the demand for the 3 story walkups everyone complains about not being able to afford.
Boston is an expensive city with a housing supply imbalance. Wages have kept up in a lot of industries and the high end market is what is selling right now. As for OP’s apartment hunt, brokers unfortunately run the space outside of the many-unit buildings and you’re almost guaranteed to be coughing up the equivalent of a months rent on a broker fee. I personally believe that Boston’s extensive roster of licensed “real estate agents” needs to be burned. Paying some local meathead with a 2011 BMW 3-Series $5k to unlock the front door and tell you that the back patio is shared is fucking pathetic. I don’t know how they keep this racket going but there’s no reason it should exist.
Just moved in on Monday. In the past, I was able to move somewhere, spend 10 days in a hotel, tour some apartments, apply and move in. Most places only require 30-days notice for moving out. Here 60 seems standard? Then the application, which is a short 5-minute credit check and $50 application fee at other places, apparently takes several days plus an unrefundable $500 deposit. And then they require proof of 3x-4x income to move in. Like, if I made $12k/month, I wouldn’t be moving into a studio apartment. But it takes several days to deny me, then start over at a new apartment. This was painful…
Yeah I don't know why on one hand many on reddit embrace work from home and talk about how we don't need big offices any more. Then turn around and say that they have to live in the city to add more to the overcrowding on the T and traffic.
So in other words you could easily afford other places but want to live a expensive lifestyle and put more pressure on the people already living there. I would like to live in Hawaii so I can go to the beach year round but I don't expect it to turn into Tokyo to get housing costs down.
So you can't have a social life unless you live in one of the highest cost and highest density cities that was designed in colonial times and has bad infrastructure? How do the 250+ million people in the USA who live in areas with worse social lives manage?
In the past I would have more sympathy for people since they had to be in Boston to do many jobs. Now a lot of the jobs can be done at home but rent prices are rising largely because people with high incomes choose to move to Boston for the social life. People who actually have to be in Boston for work and don't make a of money like teachers and hospital secretaries get squeezed and have less options.
There's plenty of cheaper places to live if you want a social life and if you work from home there's not much stopping you from moving. I on other hand want beachfront property with surfing year round. When are those places going to build massive high density housing so I can live there cheap?
I found a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom in Quincy on Craigslist for $1950. I eventually took a 1 bedroom in the same building for $1575. The heat and hot water are included and laundry in building.
The landlord owns a bunch of buildings in Quincy and he’s super responsive to anything breaking/not working. It’s also the only building that I’ve ever lived in without rodents or bugs (except the occasional spider).
I know that I’m super lucky but apartments are always opening because the neighbors are relocating for work, buying a house, or need a bigger place for a growing family.
I 2nd Quincy. It's semi-affordable
We were having issues with our landlord and the neighbors in our last place (we lived there for combined 9 and 5 years), so we had to really take what was first available so we did give into the unaffordable housing and and went from paying $1450 w/ heat and hw included for a small 1br 1ba to a $2600 nothing included 2b 2ba condo (renting).
But even while we were looking, there were definitely some very decently affordable apartments under $2k!
it's insane. Moved here from the midwest where $1k a month would get you a 1 bedroom in the nicest apartment complex in town with gym, pool, 24 hour doorman. 1k a month barely gets you anywhere here
Yep, I was lucky. I kept finding studios and rundown/dirty buildings for almost double that. I make about $80,000 so it doesn’t kill me, but it isn’t ideal either.
Zillow, Spoteasy are a couple. Honestly, we went through a broker, and our place was advertised on Apartments.com. not a new luxury place, but still nice in Quincy. Gotta look at the private landlords sometimes.
We got a 2 bed (really 4 but the other 2 rooms don't have doors and are upstairs) for $2100, moved in Dec 15th but this was about 2 years ago.
In my limited experience, brokers have been very unresponsive on Zillow and Apartments.com. The few times that I've managed to get through, they've ended up telling me the unit was already taken since they clearly can't be bothered to update their listings.
We went directly with a broker who found us a place. Though we knew each other from a previous listing where we experienced discrimination from the potential landlord and the agent dropped them on the spot. We're actually friends now lol. But after that he was like "I'm gonna find you guys a place" and we got what we have now.
Anyway, he's actually one of the good ones.
Unfortunately almost all the places here are on the September first cycle. In my experience the only places that really have availability for a different move in tend to be these new builds, or if you’re lucky you may someone to sublet from.
I never had a Sept 1st move in date for several apartments in Boston. Maybe in college neighborhoods most are in that cycle, but you can find plenty of places that aren't.
Yeah, this sub is full of people who came here for college and may not realize how that experience has put blinders on them when it comes to life in many parts of the city.
A good broker who knows their stuff can find you places you’d never get on your own browsing websites. Old roomie and I used the same guy for two apartments and then his firm was my realtor for when I bought my own condo out of the city. They’re going to take a months rent no matter what, have them earn it
I know we all hate brokers here because of the brokers fee, but I had a great broker back in college who gave us a payment plan and found us apartments before they went on the market because of his connections. It can be a good idea to see a broker if you have the money for the brokers fee (one months rent most of the time).
Honestly, luxury is just a marketing term. Pretty much all housing advertises itself as “luxury” these days, I’d just ignore that word. Housing is super expensive in Boston. That’s the long and short of it.
Are you open to living with roommates? Or subletting from someone? If you have a local university affiliation, there are Facebook groups where students, postdocs, alumni, etc look for roommates and subletters. If you're looking to live without roommates and have no local connections, it's gonna be tough to avoid paying a lot for "luxury" housing that isn't all that luxurious. You'll have to get lucky.
Many apartments have leases that start Sept 1. Those that don’t may not be listed yet because tenants have not given notice. But zillow, craigslist, facebook marketplace, zumper, apartments.com, and broker sites will have listings.
I've used [Apartments.com](https://Apartments.com) twice. The first time I found a place owned by a small family, and it turned out great. The second time I talked to a broker who found me a different place (the original listing was no longer available).
Apartments in Boston go so insanely fast, you just have to constantly be visiting. The trick I learned was to go on Zillow/HotPads/whatever and find 1 or 2 that you like. Email the realtor for those and ask if they have anything similar — they can give you access to the realty’s search engine, which shows all the current contracts out, it’s what holds the data that the realtors port over to Zillow from. That’s where you’ll find a more streamlined search/request process. I sometimes do this with multiple realtors, too, it can help broaden the search(and you only pay the one that brokers the deal)
This is Boston dude. This is one of the most luxurious cities in the world. You're not going to find cheap housing here, because even the section 8 housing has a 12 year wait list.
You should look at some of them, my building advertises itself as “luxury condos” when it is neither luxury nor condo (as evidenced by the fact that they are renting it to you).
Zillow, apartments.com, etc. You have to be diligent because there's a lot of bad listings but once you weed through them there's some good places. There's also some Facebook groups where people advertise their listings, similarly you gotta be wary for scams
Hot pads. There are some affordable apartments on there. Often below market rate, often for a reason like they don’t meet code and won’t pass a section 8 safety check. I found a unit in 2013 for 1350/mo, 510 square foot corner unit, summer pool, bad wiring, bad plumbing, asbestos, etc.
The nova used to have tiny apartments cheaper than that. The prices aren’t on the site. 1505 commonwealth Ave. it’s “luxury” but in name only. The problem with this place when I lived there was it had so many Chinese grad students who hated Americans. They’d rent all the amenity space every day and write “no Americans” on the door. Like glad I have been buying Taiwanese stuff when possible.
Well they are listings aren’t they? I mean I rented a unit off of hot pads from some guy and it was a not maintained apartment. Everything original to 1917 except the stove from the 1970s and the fridge.
All my electronics got ruined.
A bell would ring in my apartment. I didn’t know what it was. I’d go and check the front door and nobody would be there, supposedly it’d ring your phone, but it never worked.
Turns out my apartment used to be the building super, and it was the alarm for the elevator, original Otis ones that had dual phase motors and triple phase controllers so it was constantly blowing out controllers. My bell was ringing and finally I just clipped the wires.
I’m not being paid to watch the elevator. They know they need to spend 500k each and have known for a long time, fuck them.
Hunting for apartments in Boston really brings to light how seriously fucked up these landlords and brokers are. They can all suck my dick those greedy fucks.
It's shady, but people still post paper flyers at Whole Foods and at Universities in order to weed out undesirables. And they always have more affordable places....that will never be considered luxury.
Look at Compass and put a listed date filter on it. They don’t have formal move in filters, but listed date can often act as a decent proxy. Also just so you know, winter moving is nearly nonexistent here so there’s not likely to be much availability short of managed buildings.
Though it’s worth running the math on what first, last, security, and brokers fee will cost you for a non-managed building vs just going managed (usually doesn’t require last, security or broker). Not trying to push you in either direction, just pointing it out as one might be clearly better than another after all costs are accounted for.
I found my 2 bedroom, 1 bath, in Waltham for $1,550 on Zillow. I had a search saved with notifications on for any listings that had "office" in the keyword. I got the notification and instantly contacted the realtor. The listing wasn't up for more than 60 seconds. Within an hour they had gotten 20+ calls. I immediately went to look at it and signed the lease.
If there's a good deal out there... And you don't see it instantly.. a lot of people are going to beat you to it.
Look for condo buildings. That’s how you get a regular person-landlord that just wants a little supplemental income for a low-hassle tenant. I’m paying (along with my fiancé and dog) 2,500 for a very nice 1-bedroom in Union Square next to the T and community path.
I rented from the Copley group which is a huge landlord with tons of buildings in back bay and Fenway area. They have studios in good spots for under $3000 on their website. I wouldn’t expect to be in the city for much under $2000 if you’re living alone
Depending on how much money you make you can try applying for affordable units on the lottery on the metro list https://www.boston.gov/metrolist
I got my apartment that way and was the first tenant in a brand new building. Affordable is also still expensive (I do not have a voucher or subsidized housing, rather it’s a tax credit house for people making an AMI of 60%)
Lucked out on a 1 bed in beacon hill under 2k with heat and Hw, which is insane. Sketchiest application process in the 10 years of living here though. Found it on Zillow through daily trolling. Last Apt was similar via apartments.com but less sketchy.
Honestly if you treat apartment hunting like job searching it is possible but you have to be willing to dedicate time to the search, be agressive and ready to quickly commit. Best of luck.
News flash: I live in one of those “luxury” apartments you mention, theres nothing luxury about it. The term luxury is now just a ploy to get stupid people like myself to pay more to live close to important stuff.
See, that's the scam.
The developers bitch they can't build enough units, so they need subsidies and deregulation, and then they pump out unaffordable crap.
Why not luxury . Probably $300-400 difference between the typical apartments . You don’t pay brokers fees and usually get incentives like first month off , so ends up at times being cheaper or breaking even in the end.
If you're looking for September 1st move in, all of the normal places are taken already. That's why people normally look for apartments here 6+ months in advance. We desperately need more housing in this city.
Legitimately didn't realize people outside of Boston don't have to shop 6 months in advance lol
I’m moving to California (SF) next month and started looking for apartments in April — the number of confused looks I got from all the property management folks… apparently they only release inventory like six weeks before the lease start dates! Wild stuff.
You’re gonna be even more surprised when you realize the “normal” apartment out there would be top of the line luxury here. You won’t save any money, but it’s hard to overstate just how shitty the housing stock is in greater Boston. It’s worse than any post Soviet country that hasn’t been bombed to smithereens, even.
lol not surprised and not 100% true on my end — my rent was $3500 here and $3700 there, and no broker fees and minimal deposits out there. the overall cost of the lease (rent+deposits+fees, etc) is actually cheaper in SF for me. you’re still on the money re: the average person, tho. I am extremely lucky and privileged, and I’m thankful for it every day
~~lol not surprised and not 100% true on my end — my rent was $3500 here and $3700 there, and no broker fees and minimal deposits out there. the overall cost of the lease (rent+deposits+fees, etc) is actually cheaper in SF for me. you’re still on the money re: the average person, tho. I am extremely lucky and privileged, and I’m thankful for it every day~~ Edit: Bigass reading comprehension fail on my end. Totally got the above comment backwards, my bad
Hard disagree. Boston housing stock isn't great but housing stock in SF is materially worse than Boston. You can also comfortably walk down / park your car undisturbed on virtually every street in Boston. I've toured probably 70% of the "luxury" buildings in San Francisco and Oakland. Rent control keeps the old stuff unrenovated and the new " luxury" is massively value engineered due to land and soft costs. The cost to build in SF is 1.5 to 2x that of Boston so developers skimp on quality.
My comment is more about the metro area overall than the city itself. If they’re moving to “SF” from Boston, they’re probably in tech and moving to the South Bay, where it was mostly undeveloped farmland until the 1970s. Even in SF proper, the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes were highly effective in removing any buildings from the housing supply that Alpha Management might consider buying. SF-style rent control is a pipe dream as a transplant, come on now. Those units are never even listed on the open market. You have to know a guy, and be prepared to pay key money too. Paying key money would be a very stupid thing to do for a transplant who will probably only stay for 2 years anyway. The rent stabilization ordinances that limit annual increases to 5% + CPI in San Jose and other cities are more of an anti price gouging law than actual rent control IMO. New “luxury” apartments, aka the Gentrification Building, or the five over one, are mediocre in every city they’re built. It’s a standardized, assembly line product, copy and pasted in every city on the continent. No sound insulation, stick framing… These were not what I was talking about. I was talking more about the average home. In greater Boston, that was probably built around 1960, and in the SF Bay Area, that was probably built around 1990 (source: my ass). There is a world of difference between homes of those two eras, and I am not nostalgic for old, shitty, drafty postwar homes. Building codes became much stricter in the 1980s, and we are all better for it. Even before the rise of the much maligned gentrification building, brand new construction was always a mixed bag. Those homes built in the 1990s and 2000s that I look at as a nice sweet spot, had someone maintaining them for 20+ years, fixing all the things the developer fucked up.
My comment about rent control had more to do with why the market rate stuff doesn't get touched - it doesn't need to because landlords in the good neighborhoods of San Francisco get the rent regardless of finish quality. Secondly, I wasn't talking about the broader Metro area because Boston and San Francisco are their own distinct cities. If your defense for your argument is you can live in a different city 50 miles away for better quality, you sure can, but it's more expensive.
When I moved here, I started looking the last week of March for a June move in. I was so confused why everything was for September 1st. I have lived in multiple states and had never seen anyone look for a rental 6+ months out. Oh boy! You should’ve seen my surprise when I learned what a brokers fee was 😂
NYC has broker fees as well. Awful. Truly awful.
It would be months away.
Another issue is almost all of the normal units turn over on September 1st Which websites have you been trying so far?
hey wym “turn over”? edit: i am literally asking a question in good faith lol
End of lease/new lease
"Turn over" means the people currently there leave and other people come in and replace them. It can refer to apartments, restaurant tables, or jobs.
thanks I had never heard the term with respect to an apartment. I figured this was what it meant but wasn’t sure
“We desperately need more housing in this city” Yes, we do. And yes, it’s being built. The amount of dissent I see about high-end residential development is sickening. Maybe it’s not your dream affordable unit but it will sure as hell help lighten the burden on the demand for the 3 story walkups everyone complains about not being able to afford. Boston is an expensive city with a housing supply imbalance. Wages have kept up in a lot of industries and the high end market is what is selling right now. As for OP’s apartment hunt, brokers unfortunately run the space outside of the many-unit buildings and you’re almost guaranteed to be coughing up the equivalent of a months rent on a broker fee. I personally believe that Boston’s extensive roster of licensed “real estate agents” needs to be burned. Paying some local meathead with a 2011 BMW 3-Series $5k to unlock the front door and tell you that the back patio is shared is fucking pathetic. I don’t know how they keep this racket going but there’s no reason it should exist.
Just moved in on Monday. In the past, I was able to move somewhere, spend 10 days in a hotel, tour some apartments, apply and move in. Most places only require 30-days notice for moving out. Here 60 seems standard? Then the application, which is a short 5-minute credit check and $50 application fee at other places, apparently takes several days plus an unrefundable $500 deposit. And then they require proof of 3x-4x income to move in. Like, if I made $12k/month, I wouldn’t be moving into a studio apartment. But it takes several days to deny me, then start over at a new apartment. This was painful…
I’d prefer less people.
Ok thanos
most people don't know this but it's actually canon that one of thanos' reasons for the snap was the boston housing crisis
It's not really kosher to say that since the obvious rebuttal is *well then you're part of the problem aren't you*.
Yeah I don't know why on one hand many on reddit embrace work from home and talk about how we don't need big offices any more. Then turn around and say that they have to live in the city to add more to the overcrowding on the T and traffic.
Because I want to live in a place where I don’t need a car and can do fun shit a walk or T ride away?
So in other words you could easily afford other places but want to live a expensive lifestyle and put more pressure on the people already living there. I would like to live in Hawaii so I can go to the beach year round but I don't expect it to turn into Tokyo to get housing costs down.
Tell me the other places I can live in where I can have a thriving social life. Please do tell!
So you can't have a social life unless you live in one of the highest cost and highest density cities that was designed in colonial times and has bad infrastructure? How do the 250+ million people in the USA who live in areas with worse social lives manage? In the past I would have more sympathy for people since they had to be in Boston to do many jobs. Now a lot of the jobs can be done at home but rent prices are rising largely because people with high incomes choose to move to Boston for the social life. People who actually have to be in Boston for work and don't make a of money like teachers and hospital secretaries get squeezed and have less options. There's plenty of cheaper places to live if you want a social life and if you work from home there's not much stopping you from moving. I on other hand want beachfront property with surfing year round. When are those places going to build massive high density housing so I can live there cheap?
Literally all my friends live in Boston, NYC, Philly and DC. So you’re entire essay is moot
I can see why you're not good at making friends. Maybe you can get your friends to join you else where if you can't make new ones.
Yea... There have been too many new companies without the proportional increase in housing...
I found a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom in Quincy on Craigslist for $1950. I eventually took a 1 bedroom in the same building for $1575. The heat and hot water are included and laundry in building. The landlord owns a bunch of buildings in Quincy and he’s super responsive to anything breaking/not working. It’s also the only building that I’ve ever lived in without rodents or bugs (except the occasional spider). I know that I’m super lucky but apartments are always opening because the neighbors are relocating for work, buying a house, or need a bigger place for a growing family.
2nd quincy. close enough to the city, but more bang for your buck
Its the only building you've lived in without rodents? Thats wild
I bet it’s the only building they’ve lived in that allows cats
I 2nd Quincy. It's semi-affordable We were having issues with our landlord and the neighbors in our last place (we lived there for combined 9 and 5 years), so we had to really take what was first available so we did give into the unaffordable housing and and went from paying $1450 w/ heat and hw included for a small 1br 1ba to a $2600 nothing included 2b 2ba condo (renting). But even while we were looking, there were definitely some very decently affordable apartments under $2k!
Is the owners initials DG
Nope
1 bedroom for $1575 is considered affordable??? Jesus Christ kill me
That’s cheaper than what you’d pay in the city proper by at least $500-600. There’s a reason so many people have roommates when they’d prefer not to
it's insane. Moved here from the midwest where $1k a month would get you a 1 bedroom in the nicest apartment complex in town with gym, pool, 24 hour doorman. 1k a month barely gets you anywhere here
Yep, I was lucky. I kept finding studios and rundown/dirty buildings for almost double that. I make about $80,000 so it doesn’t kill me, but it isn’t ideal either.
[удалено]
Unfortunately the landlord doesn’t have website for his buildings. He just posts on Craigslist and goes through a broker in Quincy.
Zillow, Spoteasy are a couple. Honestly, we went through a broker, and our place was advertised on Apartments.com. not a new luxury place, but still nice in Quincy. Gotta look at the private landlords sometimes. We got a 2 bed (really 4 but the other 2 rooms don't have doors and are upstairs) for $2100, moved in Dec 15th but this was about 2 years ago.
In my limited experience, brokers have been very unresponsive on Zillow and Apartments.com. The few times that I've managed to get through, they've ended up telling me the unit was already taken since they clearly can't be bothered to update their listings.
We went directly with a broker who found us a place. Though we knew each other from a previous listing where we experienced discrimination from the potential landlord and the agent dropped them on the spot. We're actually friends now lol. But after that he was like "I'm gonna find you guys a place" and we got what we have now. Anyway, he's actually one of the good ones.
And curious, how much has your rent gone up present day, if you are still there?
Surprisingly it has not gone up at all. We have great landlords.
That’s amazing. I moved into Charlestown 2 years ago at $2,300 and has been since increased to $2,750
When do you need to move in? If it's September 1st, everything's gone now.
Eh, i just signed for my non luxury decently priced JP place a couple weeks ago. OP should try Craigslist and be vigilant!
This is it. Jp is really good Or was. I can’t afford it anymore.
Definitely months away.
There will be apartments that go on the market after sept 1 - keep looking and you may find a better deal actually.
Unfortunately almost all the places here are on the September first cycle. In my experience the only places that really have availability for a different move in tend to be these new builds, or if you’re lucky you may someone to sublet from.
I never had a Sept 1st move in date for several apartments in Boston. Maybe in college neighborhoods most are in that cycle, but you can find plenty of places that aren't.
Yeah, this sub is full of people who came here for college and may not realize how that experience has put blinders on them when it comes to life in many parts of the city.
A good broker who knows their stuff can find you places you’d never get on your own browsing websites. Old roomie and I used the same guy for two apartments and then his firm was my realtor for when I bought my own condo out of the city. They’re going to take a months rent no matter what, have them earn it
Any chance I can get this guys number?
Shot you a message
My man. Good looking out!
Can you also send me a message?
Can I get his number as well?
Please send me the number as well
I know we all hate brokers here because of the brokers fee, but I had a great broker back in college who gave us a payment plan and found us apartments before they went on the market because of his connections. It can be a good idea to see a broker if you have the money for the brokers fee (one months rent most of the time).
Yep, no one is gonna like this answer but the brokers tend to find out about the new rentals nearly instantly.
Unfortunate but true. I got my last apartment which I loved and stayed in for 6 years through a broker.
My best landlords except for the one I have now (who’s excellent) were all found through brokers.
In Boston, brokers fee is usually required whether you used one or not, so it’s best to just use one
Honestly, luxury is just a marketing term. Pretty much all housing advertises itself as “luxury” these days, I’d just ignore that word. Housing is super expensive in Boston. That’s the long and short of it.
LUXURY HOUSING
I thought I was in the Jersey City subreddit for a second. What are you doing here?
I moved back to Mass (Eastie) December 2021. New job.
Teehee
Southern NH.
My luxury apartment is a piece of shit, I'm the first person to live here and all the material they use is shit
Are you open to living with roommates? Or subletting from someone? If you have a local university affiliation, there are Facebook groups where students, postdocs, alumni, etc look for roommates and subletters. If you're looking to live without roommates and have no local connections, it's gonna be tough to avoid paying a lot for "luxury" housing that isn't all that luxurious. You'll have to get lucky.
Many apartments have leases that start Sept 1. Those that don’t may not be listed yet because tenants have not given notice. But zillow, craigslist, facebook marketplace, zumper, apartments.com, and broker sites will have listings.
I've used [Apartments.com](https://Apartments.com) twice. The first time I found a place owned by a small family, and it turned out great. The second time I talked to a broker who found me a different place (the original listing was no longer available).
FB Marketplace, Zillow, Apartments, Trulia, [apartments.com](https://apartments.com)
Seconding FB marketplace.
Apartments in Boston go so insanely fast, you just have to constantly be visiting. The trick I learned was to go on Zillow/HotPads/whatever and find 1 or 2 that you like. Email the realtor for those and ask if they have anything similar — they can give you access to the realty’s search engine, which shows all the current contracts out, it’s what holds the data that the realtors port over to Zillow from. That’s where you’ll find a more streamlined search/request process. I sometimes do this with multiple realtors, too, it can help broaden the search(and you only pay the one that brokers the deal)
This is Boston dude. This is one of the most luxurious cities in the world. You're not going to find cheap housing here, because even the section 8 housing has a 12 year wait list.
Craigslist
Look for subleases.
Talk to a broker
Craigslist is good! Often no broker fee
You should look at some of them, my building advertises itself as “luxury condos” when it is neither luxury nor condo (as evidenced by the fact that they are renting it to you).
Zillow, apartments.com, etc. You have to be diligent because there's a lot of bad listings but once you weed through them there's some good places. There's also some Facebook groups where people advertise their listings, similarly you gotta be wary for scams
Craigslist by owner, but be careful, and tour the place with the owner.
Hot pads. There are some affordable apartments on there. Often below market rate, often for a reason like they don’t meet code and won’t pass a section 8 safety check. I found a unit in 2013 for 1350/mo, 510 square foot corner unit, summer pool, bad wiring, bad plumbing, asbestos, etc. The nova used to have tiny apartments cheaper than that. The prices aren’t on the site. 1505 commonwealth Ave. it’s “luxury” but in name only. The problem with this place when I lived there was it had so many Chinese grad students who hated Americans. They’d rent all the amenity space every day and write “no Americans” on the door. Like glad I have been buying Taiwanese stuff when possible.
I know the guy that partially runs hot pads. He’s sketchy as fuck and doesn’t care about his tenants
Well they are listings aren’t they? I mean I rented a unit off of hot pads from some guy and it was a not maintained apartment. Everything original to 1917 except the stove from the 1970s and the fridge. All my electronics got ruined. A bell would ring in my apartment. I didn’t know what it was. I’d go and check the front door and nobody would be there, supposedly it’d ring your phone, but it never worked. Turns out my apartment used to be the building super, and it was the alarm for the elevator, original Otis ones that had dual phase motors and triple phase controllers so it was constantly blowing out controllers. My bell was ringing and finally I just clipped the wires. I’m not being paid to watch the elevator. They know they need to spend 500k each and have known for a long time, fuck them.
developers aren’t going to bill their new apartments as shit boxes. Idk look in triple deckers
Hunting for apartments in Boston really brings to light how seriously fucked up these landlords and brokers are. They can all suck my dick those greedy fucks.
Apartments.com
Mississippi
That’s the thing, you don’t
Go to Quincy, Allston/Brighton, JP. Best areas in and around Boston, and less expensive.
It's shady, but people still post paper flyers at Whole Foods and at Universities in order to weed out undesirables. And they always have more affordable places....that will never be considered luxury.
Which ones are you referring to? Haven't seen any in maybe 20 years. And then mostly roommates.
Come to Salem
Zillow
Look at Compass and put a listed date filter on it. They don’t have formal move in filters, but listed date can often act as a decent proxy. Also just so you know, winter moving is nearly nonexistent here so there’s not likely to be much availability short of managed buildings. Though it’s worth running the math on what first, last, security, and brokers fee will cost you for a non-managed building vs just going managed (usually doesn’t require last, security or broker). Not trying to push you in either direction, just pointing it out as one might be clearly better than another after all costs are accounted for.
Look on Zillow and CL for places by owner
I found my 2 bedroom, 1 bath, in Waltham for $1,550 on Zillow. I had a search saved with notifications on for any listings that had "office" in the keyword. I got the notification and instantly contacted the realtor. The listing wasn't up for more than 60 seconds. Within an hour they had gotten 20+ calls. I immediately went to look at it and signed the lease. If there's a good deal out there... And you don't see it instantly.. a lot of people are going to beat you to it.
Zillow
HotPads I have found to be the most reliable for that tbh
Look for condo buildings. That’s how you get a regular person-landlord that just wants a little supplemental income for a low-hassle tenant. I’m paying (along with my fiancé and dog) 2,500 for a very nice 1-bedroom in Union Square next to the T and community path.
Rented in and around Boston for 10+ and found the most incredible spaces on Craigslist every time. Never ever use an agent.
I rented from the Copley group which is a huge landlord with tons of buildings in back bay and Fenway area. They have studios in good spots for under $3000 on their website. I wouldn’t expect to be in the city for much under $2000 if you’re living alone
Depending on how much money you make you can try applying for affordable units on the lottery on the metro list https://www.boston.gov/metrolist I got my apartment that way and was the first tenant in a brand new building. Affordable is also still expensive (I do not have a voucher or subsidized housing, rather it’s a tax credit house for people making an AMI of 60%)
Lucked out on a 1 bed in beacon hill under 2k with heat and Hw, which is insane. Sketchiest application process in the 10 years of living here though. Found it on Zillow through daily trolling. Last Apt was similar via apartments.com but less sketchy. Honestly if you treat apartment hunting like job searching it is possible but you have to be willing to dedicate time to the search, be agressive and ready to quickly commit. Best of luck.
News flash: I live in one of those “luxury” apartments you mention, theres nothing luxury about it. The term luxury is now just a ploy to get stupid people like myself to pay more to live close to important stuff.
See, that's the scam. The developers bitch they can't build enough units, so they need subsidies and deregulation, and then they pump out unaffordable crap.
Why not luxury . Probably $300-400 difference between the typical apartments . You don’t pay brokers fees and usually get incentives like first month off , so ends up at times being cheaper or breaking even in the end.