Apartments near BU (Boston, Brookline: to rent, neighborhoods, college)

[useyourbrian]

Hey all,

I'm graduating from college in a few months and plan to get an apartment with my boyfriend in Boston, somewhere near BU since he will still be going there for 2 years after I graduate.

I have been looking and have a list going of *potential* apartments, but its all a bit overwhelming, as I'm not that familiar with the different areas of the city.

What I'm looking for is:

Rent: Preferably less than or around $1700/mo (with utilities)

Location: BU/Fenway area. A little ways away is fine, but not too far as my boyfriend will have to commute almost every day to BU.

Size/Layout My hope is for a 1 bed/1 bath ~700sq ft. Is this reasonable for my price range? I feel like its not, so someone please slap me with reality.

Side note: I would rather have a smaller, nicer apartment than a big sh*t hole.

Any thoughts on areas I should look at or even specific buildings/complexes? Any help would be much appreciated!

[eevee]

pretty reasonable, so long as you aren't expecting state of the art amenities. you could even afford a place in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline. it's very close to BU and the Fenway area w/o being in the midst of them. not sure if you wanted to be surrounded by undergrads, but the Allston-Brighton area is swarming with them (though there are parts of Brighton that are pretty quiet). do a search on CL, you'll find quite a few possibilities

[useyourbrian]

Thanks for the response; I should have mentioned that in my original post. I would really like to avoid areas taken over by college students, mainly to avoid parties and loud neighbors.

Good to know that what I'm looking for isn't completely unreasonable.

[ogre]

In addition to Coolidge Corner, another neighborhood in Brookline you might want to check out is Brookline Village. Both areas have commercial districts with a generally upscale character, small shops, local eateries, etc. From these areas you'd be a short ride on the T from nightlife in Boston, and to BU, but you would not be surrounded by noisy undergrads in your immediate neighborhood. One point to keep in mind about Brookline is that there's no overnight parking allowed, so if you'd have a car, you'd need to live in a place with off-street parking, or be prepared to rent a parking space.

You may also be interested in checking out Jamaica Plain. In some neighborhoods in JP there's a young professionals scene, and JP is another area with T access to BU. I don't know JP well enough to give you a street-by-street rundown on the area, but if you look there, you want some good info on the neighborhood you're considering, from someone familiar with the area, as JP can vary in the character and safety of its neighborhoods. The areas with concentrations of young professionals should be fine as far as safety goes, so long as you follow the usual precautions for an urban area.

In order to avoid lots of noisy undergrads, the areas where you DON'T want to live are: The Fenway; Kenmore Square, including the far west end of Back Bay; much of Allston, particularly several blocks either side of Mass. Ave.; and Brighton along Mass. Ave. and in the Cleveland Circle area.