Apartment questions - Finding an affordable apartment in Back Bay?

[WannaGoHome]

hey there. It depends. The streets from Public Garden go in alphabetical order. It tends to be more quiet from Arlington to Dartmouth. From there to Mass Ave. are louder only because they tend to become mixed used on the residential streets (Marlborough and Comm Ave.). try and find out the cross street and I'll give you a better idea. ;-) I can always walk up the street and let you know if you're serious about it. You're not in the area right?

[HoneyRyder]

Hey...thanks so much for the reply. I live in suburban Rhode Island.

[WannaGoHome]

Cool. If you wanna message me with any prospects, I'm out of work (on purpose) for a while and love going around the new neighborhood to look at things. I can always look at the intersections for you to tell you what it's like. And I always have my camera on me :-) Just holler if you need any help.

Cheers!

[sue629]

Need to address the person who says they would not rent an apartment from a real estate agency if the landlord is not willing to show his/her own apartment because that landlord will be a "hands off" landlord . sorry to say but you are sorely out of touch. Many landlords in Boston have multiple units they have to rent and find it easier, and less time consuming to utilize the services of agencies to do so. It is in no way a sign that the landlord is lazy, or will be hands off and that is a really poor generalization on your part. The larger landlords, 20 units and above, most likely will have a maintenance crew, property manager etc who they hire to take care of problems in the apartments. Some show their own units as well as give them out to the agencies, others will not bother to show but not cause they are lazy, there are lots of reasons a landlord will not show his own units.
Using the services of a real estate agency is not a terrible idea as they have a database of apartment listings that are exclusive to them which you would never know about or are open listings to all agencies but the landlord is too busy or has too many units to rent to advertise them, to go and show one unit 10 times before he finds a good tenant or someone willing to take the unit, which happens. Tenants are extremely fussy and sometimes act as though they are buying the place and not renting it for a year.
Also the apartment market in Boston has picked up over the last two years. Vacancies are down and rents have gone up- there is alot of demand and rentals that come up, if they are decent, go quickly. A few years back people had the luxury to go and see 10 and 20 units, wait to make a decision and go back to rent one of the first ones they saw. that is no longer the case. In this rental the market, if you see something that fits 75% of what you are looking for, you should take it, cause it won't be available if you wait and go back. Using a rental agent, if they are good, can help in pinpointing what you want, matching what they have and can sometimes make a good deal for you, get the apartment put on hold etc There are advantages to using an agent.
As for the Back Bay question- $800.00 Back Bay 1 beds are pretty non existent
$800 studios, maybe a few but they will be the size of a closet, maybe not in the best of condition etc. you will need to increase your budget by about $200-$300 a month. In this case, the person looking for this should go visit an agency who specializes in Back Bay rental and will educate you as to what is out there and at what cost. By all means, if an agent goes out of his/her way to spend time with you, show you multiple units, drives you around, sets up appointments, waits until after work hours to show apartments, stick by them, rent an apartment from them. Most will have the same listings as the others and there is no reason to jump from one agent to another.

[HoneyRyder]

I want to recommend Boston Realty Net. I found a great apartment that I am very happy with through this company. The agents there know what they are doing and do not want to scam you. Their apartments are nice and in good areas, and are not overpriced. DM me with any questions!

[holden125]

Originally Posted by HoneyRyder

Hey everybody....thanks for all of the tips. I am looking at an apartment I found on craiglist which is in a brownstone "centrally located between back bay proper and kenmore square" - is this a good location for professionals or do you think it will be rowdy with all college students?

Glad you found a place.

Just for the record:

I take "Back Bay proper" to mean Arlington to Mass. Av. That sounds like it might be around Charlesgate. There are some BU frat houses in the general vicinity but it's not the rowdiest. Not as rowdy as the Berklee area and Hemenway, which I'm not sure I'd include as part of the Back Bay since I too stop at Mass. Av.

A linguistic quibble:

My whole life I have referred to "the Back Bay" and not to "Back Bay." I suppose the origins of this are that it was actually the back bay before it was filled in, and people used an article in referring to the common noun "back bay" rather than treating it as a proper noun like "Lexington." To this day I'd no sooner say "I live in Back Bay" without the word "the" as I would say "I like the festivals in North End" or "I had dinner in South End" without saying "the."

What do people think on that? Usage on here seems to be split, but the whole family has said "the Back Bay" going back to the potato famine, if not to the Mayflower.