How to wrap my head around a cross-country move & Boston rental market?
May 10, 2019 7:57 AM Subscribe
How do I navigate the rental market in Boston without losing my shit?
So I've been offered and accepted the best job of my life. Yay! Now I have to think about how I'm going to relocate from Arizona to the Boston area. My new job will be in Jamaica Plain and I would like to secure an apartment in JP or Roslindale.
Complicating factors: budget for rent ~$1500, two pets (one small bird and one 50 lb. well-behaved cattle dog mix), I'd really like to avoid roommates (I'm middle-aged and don't have the bandwidth for people and their issues)
I've been checking out Craigslist and other sites, which is fine. I just don't have experience navigating big-city expensive tight rental markets. Especially when I live 2500 miles away.
Mefites of the Boston area, am I worrying too much about this? Is this just part of the suckiness of relocating long-distance? Am I going to be able to find a place that meets my needs? Any ideas other than Craigslist for find places in JP and very close by?
Thanks for your help.
So I've been offered and accepted the best job of my life. Yay! Now I have to think about how I'm going to relocate from Arizona to the Boston area. My new job will be in Jamaica Plain and I would like to secure an apartment in JP or Roslindale.
Complicating factors: budget for rent ~$1500, two pets (one small bird and one 50 lb. well-behaved cattle dog mix), I'd really like to avoid roommates (I'm middle-aged and don't have the bandwidth for people and their issues)
I've been checking out Craigslist and other sites, which is fine. I just don't have experience navigating big-city expensive tight rental markets. Especially when I live 2500 miles away.
Mefites of the Boston area, am I worrying too much about this? Is this just part of the suckiness of relocating long-distance? Am I going to be able to find a place that meets my needs? Any ideas other than Craigslist for find places in JP and very close by?
Thanks for your help.
Best answer: $1500/month without roommates and with a dog is probably a stretch in JP, but should be very doable in surrounding neighborhoods (Roxbury, Roslindale, Newton). If you're going to be relying on public transportation, you definitely want to stay close to a train line, even if it's a commuter rail stop somewhere south of the city. Unfortunately proximity to train line is a big predictor of price, so you may have to compromise somewhat on what you're looking for. If you plan to drive, that opens up neighborhoods further from public transit (much of Newton, the parts of Roslindale that aren't near the commuter rail, Mattapan, etc), though you'll want to consider that parking will either be on-street (think free-for-all when it snows) or an additional monthly cost.
Craiglist is a stone-cold bastard, but I'm not sure I have any better advice for places to look for apartments. I've had some luck with NextDoor postings for friends, but you have to know someone in the neighborhood who can post on your behalf. (Hello! I live in JP, feel free to MeMail me) I've had two friends find success through NextDoor postings where they met someone living in a big ol' single-family house that has quintupled in price in the last 20 years, who now rent out the top floor to cover the taxes and utilities. That's a possibility for you, though the circumstances have to be just right.
Do you know anyone in the city who can be your boots on the ground? When you do find a listing you like, you probably don't want to sign a lease without someone scoping out the place to check for, e.g., mice or proximity to loud music.
My only other piece of advice: if at all possible, avoid a lease that starts on September 1st. That's the day that the entire city turns over its leases for students, and the ensuing chaos makes the place nearly unnavigable for the day.
Good luck, and sorry this is all so stressful. Boston really is a lovely place once you get past the bit about finding an apartment.
posted by Mayor West at 8:20 AM on May 10, 2019
Craiglist is a stone-cold bastard, but I'm not sure I have any better advice for places to look for apartments. I've had some luck with NextDoor postings for friends, but you have to know someone in the neighborhood who can post on your behalf. (Hello! I live in JP, feel free to MeMail me) I've had two friends find success through NextDoor postings where they met someone living in a big ol' single-family house that has quintupled in price in the last 20 years, who now rent out the top floor to cover the taxes and utilities. That's a possibility for you, though the circumstances have to be just right.
Do you know anyone in the city who can be your boots on the ground? When you do find a listing you like, you probably don't want to sign a lease without someone scoping out the place to check for, e.g., mice or proximity to loud music.
My only other piece of advice: if at all possible, avoid a lease that starts on September 1st. That's the day that the entire city turns over its leases for students, and the ensuing chaos makes the place nearly unnavigable for the day.
Good luck, and sorry this is all so stressful. Boston really is a lovely place once you get past the bit about finding an apartment.
posted by Mayor West at 8:20 AM on May 10, 2019
A lot of places will be four months at once - first, last, deposit, and broker fee. Also there are so very many scam postings on CL. Finding a place in metro boston suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. Good luck
posted by turkeybrain at 8:20 AM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by turkeybrain at 8:20 AM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yeah, seconding that $1500 will likely not get you your own place in JP (even without the dog issue). And I agree that coming in person to try and sign a lease soon is an excellent plan....it can be really hard to get a sense of a place (or determine if it's a scam!) via the internet.
There are lots of (semi-soulless, but clean and new) apartments and condos being built in JP, especially around Forest Hills or on Washington Street. Some of these are aimed at a luxury market but some might be smaller and cheaper (really have no idea if any of them will allow dogs, with that angle you might be better off with Craigslist).
posted by Bebo at 8:50 AM on May 10, 2019
There are lots of (semi-soulless, but clean and new) apartments and condos being built in JP, especially around Forest Hills or on Washington Street. Some of these are aimed at a luxury market but some might be smaller and cheaper (really have no idea if any of them will allow dogs, with that angle you might be better off with Craigslist).
posted by Bebo at 8:50 AM on May 10, 2019
Best answer: Hi! I literally just completed this process last week (just not in JP). Here are the things I found out through a lot of stress and lost sleep, so my goal now is to save as many other people that time as possible.
-Craigslist is almost next to worthless, especially if you don't know the area. Most of the really good places aren't on there anymore, and the ones that do look good are almost certainly scams.
-I used a combination of Hotpads.com, apartments.com, and trulia.com. Hotpads lets you put in where you need to commute to and will pull data from Google Maps to give you transit times. Apartments.com will take the location you need to commute to, how long you want your commute to be, and draw borders around the areas where this is possible. The thing about Trulia that's probably most useful for someone coming in from out-of-town is that it does a neighborhood breakdown.
-If a place has a rental price that is way lower than the nearby places, your first thought should be "scam". The second is "what is wrong with it". (I saw postings for so many rentals saying that they had a 1bed, all utilities included, AC and newly renovated next to somewhere like Central Sq...for under $1000. That is a no.)
-You can get phenomenally lucky. Just be cautious if something looks too good to be true.
-It is very hard to find "no fee" apartments. I found it a lot easier to swallow the broker fee that I was going to have to pay anyway by finding a broker and making them work for it. There are some very, very good ones, and since there are a lot of kids coming for college, they are used to working with people out-of-state. Yelp is good here.
-If you can avoid the Sept 1 move date, do so. It is insane. However, a lot of places have that date. Aug 1 is difficult, but not impossible. Jul 1 is easier. I don't know when you have to move, but that's what you're working with.
-I'm a dork and made a spreadsheet of a few places I liked vs the things that were "nice to have" and "absolutely mandatory". It helps you find where your lines are and what you can flex on. Be ready to flex on something, but know you might not end up having to do so.
-I carried my checkbook with me every time I went to visit an apartment. As soon as you find something you like a lot, be ready to ask for an application and put down some money. It feels stressful, but the last few times I've had to do this, it actually ended up that I just knew "yes" within five minutes. You can stress a lot, but when you find your place, it becomes a really easy decision.
Again, I wasn't searching in JP (I was in Cambridge/Somerville), but if you want me to elaborate on anything or have any questions, feel free to MeMail me.
Good luck and welcome!
posted by ultranos at 8:55 AM on May 10, 2019 [6 favorites]
-Craigslist is almost next to worthless, especially if you don't know the area. Most of the really good places aren't on there anymore, and the ones that do look good are almost certainly scams.
-I used a combination of Hotpads.com, apartments.com, and trulia.com. Hotpads lets you put in where you need to commute to and will pull data from Google Maps to give you transit times. Apartments.com will take the location you need to commute to, how long you want your commute to be, and draw borders around the areas where this is possible. The thing about Trulia that's probably most useful for someone coming in from out-of-town is that it does a neighborhood breakdown.
-If a place has a rental price that is way lower than the nearby places, your first thought should be "scam". The second is "what is wrong with it". (I saw postings for so many rentals saying that they had a 1bed, all utilities included, AC and newly renovated next to somewhere like Central Sq...for under $1000. That is a no.)
-You can get phenomenally lucky. Just be cautious if something looks too good to be true.
-It is very hard to find "no fee" apartments. I found it a lot easier to swallow the broker fee that I was going to have to pay anyway by finding a broker and making them work for it. There are some very, very good ones, and since there are a lot of kids coming for college, they are used to working with people out-of-state. Yelp is good here.
-If you can avoid the Sept 1 move date, do so. It is insane. However, a lot of places have that date. Aug 1 is difficult, but not impossible. Jul 1 is easier. I don't know when you have to move, but that's what you're working with.
-I'm a dork and made a spreadsheet of a few places I liked vs the things that were "nice to have" and "absolutely mandatory". It helps you find where your lines are and what you can flex on. Be ready to flex on something, but know you might not end up having to do so.
-I carried my checkbook with me every time I went to visit an apartment. As soon as you find something you like a lot, be ready to ask for an application and put down some money. It feels stressful, but the last few times I've had to do this, it actually ended up that I just knew "yes" within five minutes. You can stress a lot, but when you find your place, it becomes a really easy decision.
Again, I wasn't searching in JP (I was in Cambridge/Somerville), but if you want me to elaborate on anything or have any questions, feel free to MeMail me.
Good luck and welcome!
posted by ultranos at 8:55 AM on May 10, 2019 [6 favorites]
- regarding websites: I liked Padmapper when I looked last.
- regarding your apartment search timing: something like a quarter of Boston's rental market is college students, so lease availability is very much driven by the academic calendar. This means a really huge fraction of leases are Sept 1 through August 31, many people tell landlords if they're renewing in May, and May and June a lot of next school year’s leases get signed. The July and August pickings are slimmer but also sometimes calmer - there's less landlords listing, but there's less tenants still looking, so people might be more flexible and/or willing to take your application.
- regarding your move timing: it might not be possible or worthwhile to avoid a September 1 lease. It is almost certainly worth it to wait a few days and move before August 29 or after September 4. That block of time - Labor Day weekend - is a nightmare in terms of traffic, crowds, and chaos. It's not just the students, it's everyone else whose lease begins/ends then, and all the students' families. Many neighborhoods are packed with people who have never driven in (or possibly seen) a city before, assorted roads will be closed by the resulting accidents, and there's hordes of excitable youths debating their need for ironing boards, shampoo, and forks in the aisles of every store. Don't move, drive, or buy stuff that weekend if you can possibly avoid it; it is terrible.
posted by bagel at 9:50 AM on May 10, 2019
- regarding your apartment search timing: something like a quarter of Boston's rental market is college students, so lease availability is very much driven by the academic calendar. This means a really huge fraction of leases are Sept 1 through August 31, many people tell landlords if they're renewing in May, and May and June a lot of next school year’s leases get signed. The July and August pickings are slimmer but also sometimes calmer - there's less landlords listing, but there's less tenants still looking, so people might be more flexible and/or willing to take your application.
- regarding your move timing: it might not be possible or worthwhile to avoid a September 1 lease. It is almost certainly worth it to wait a few days and move before August 29 or after September 4. That block of time - Labor Day weekend - is a nightmare in terms of traffic, crowds, and chaos. It's not just the students, it's everyone else whose lease begins/ends then, and all the students' families. Many neighborhoods are packed with people who have never driven in (or possibly seen) a city before, assorted roads will be closed by the resulting accidents, and there's hordes of excitable youths debating their need for ironing boards, shampoo, and forks in the aisles of every store. Don't move, drive, or buy stuff that weekend if you can possibly avoid it; it is terrible.
posted by bagel at 9:50 AM on May 10, 2019
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your answers so far. It's becoming more evident to me that I'm going to have to have at least one roommate, which I'm not entirely opposed to. I've only had one roommate in my life and that situation was a disaster. I would just like to be able to find someone in their 40s, 50s, or 60s who is quiet, keeps to themselves, is mature, and low-maintenance. Ya know? Anybody know anyone that might fit that description? ;)
I am supposed to start work around the first week of July, fwiw.
Keep the ideas coming. Thx.
posted by strelitzia at 10:07 AM on May 10, 2019
I am supposed to start work around the first week of July, fwiw.
Keep the ideas coming. Thx.
posted by strelitzia at 10:07 AM on May 10, 2019
If you're interested in going out to Arlington, I do know of a place that will let you have a dog, it's on a bus line, and is less than $1500 monthly.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 10:09 AM on May 10, 2019
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 10:09 AM on May 10, 2019
In Seattle (and maybe Boston), Craigslist is no longer the rental advertising platform of choice. Zillow's rental thing and a few other sites are more typical. Padmapper is good because it aggregates many of them.
posted by k8t at 10:13 AM on May 10, 2019
posted by k8t at 10:13 AM on May 10, 2019
Best answer: I am currently working with a Boston broker whom I like, and I have a deposit down on an apartment, but I don't have a lease signed yet. Memail me if you would like his info.
posted by 8603 at 10:39 AM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 8603 at 10:39 AM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
Four-ish years ago, I worked with this broker:
https://www.apartmentrentalexperts.com
Their focus is Cambridge-area but they also have some Boston apartments. I didn't have any problems, but of course it was just a one-off transaction. They are, at least, not a scam.
posted by praemunire at 11:21 AM on May 10, 2019
https://www.apartmentrentalexperts.com
Their focus is Cambridge-area but they also have some Boston apartments. I didn't have any problems, but of course it was just a one-off transaction. They are, at least, not a scam.
posted by praemunire at 11:21 AM on May 10, 2019
FWIW I worked with Apartment Rental Experts over a decade ago when the Boston/Cambridge market was just as hellish (nthing that you will likely have to decide on the spot if you want the apartment you're shown) and they did a really good job for me, so seconding the rec.
posted by TwoStride at 1:43 PM on May 10, 2019
posted by TwoStride at 1:43 PM on May 10, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
Navigating the big-city rental market can be tough - but just be prepared to put down 3*monthly rent (broker fee + 1st month rent + damage deposit) and sign a lease as soon as you find something you like. We had a similar sort of experience when we moved here from Ithaca, NY. By the time we were looking a lot of the nice places in our budget were gone. So we ended up stuck in an OK-ish apartment for a year (which turned into two years, but that was our own fault). Sometimes it can be worth doing a summer sublease while you look at places with more leisure, but that's not always a guarantee you'll find something better, so you may just need to bite the bullet for one year. But you can always revisit the decision in a few months so don't feel bad if you first apartment isn't all you hoped for.
All the best! JP is a great area to live in.
posted by peacheater at 8:15 AM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]