Boston-Living Apartments

The worst realty agent ever!!! Don’t believe a word with this company! It’s just awful! I would give negative star if there’s one. Stay away from this company for your own good and save your time to find some better realty.

Marshall Realty (and its leader, Ed Marshall) is by far the worst property management company I have dealt with in Boston. My roommates and I signed a lease to move into a Brighton apartment on September 1, and when we arrived the day before to take some final measurements, the entire place was completely filthy. Ed Marshall did little to remedy the situation, forcing us to do the bulk of the cleaning by ourselves after the move. On the day of September 1, the prior tenants hadn’t even completely removed their belongings, and some of the doors remained locked until late that night! Furthermore, we didn’t even receive a complete set of keys for days later.
I can go on. I have maintained copies of all correspondence between us and Ed Marshall since the day we moved in. His inability to even reply to an e-​mail in a timely fashion is frustrating; imagine the difficulty in getting basic maintenance done. The bottom line is that even when all of the issues were brought to Ed Marshall’s attention, he did very little to help us, going so far as to turn off his cellphone during move-​in weekend. Absolutely unreal.
IN MY OPINION, YOU SHOULD NEVER RENT FROM ED MARSHALL OR MARSHALL REALTY!!!
UPDATE, 8÷16÷2014:
Last winter (Jan/​Feb, 2014) we had issues with our heat, which were brought to Ed’s attention. After much back and forth, I was forced to get Boston’s Inspectional Services to come and cite Marshall Realty for failing to provide adequate heat on the second floor of the unit. Once the city got involved, the issue was immediately addressed by Ed Marshall, but not until he was legally compelled.
Recently (July/​August, 2014), a bedroom had been suffering from a leaking ceiling, caused by clogged/​broken gutters. Additionally, the basement began leaking whenever it rained — regardless of the amount — due to the shoddy gutters and drainage near the foundation. Again, we were forced to get Boston’s Inspectional Services to come and cite Marshall Realty. Again, the issues were resolved following the city’s involvement, though the relationship between the tenants and Marshall Realty has obviously suffered.
If you plan to rent with Marshall Realty, be sure to be aware of your rights as a tenant, and what you can do to protect yourself from being taken advantage of.
The above link is to Inspectional Services. You can request an inspection of your unit at any time, free of charge. If violations are found, the landlord/​property manager will be forced to remedy them.
More info:

Let me first off say that «Eek! Methinks not» does not even BEGIN to cover the horrible experience I had with these people. Unilocal,can we please add a «No stars — these people are lying criminals who steal your money» rating?
To be fair, I’ll start with what I did wrong.
I had just come back from studying abroad and had re-​moved into my current apartment, so the mailbox still said the old tenant’s name. My father sent the check immediately, but it got sent back to California because of the mailbox. So my dad (who was in the middle of moving across the country) had to re-​send it after I had put my name on the box. This created a time lag for getting in the first and last month’s rent and security deposit. I was also having trouble getting a guarantor form, which was creating a time lag as well. Both my fault, both things I was assured we could find a solution for or deal with by the realtor.
Now, moving onto the juicy part.
My roommates and I had gone to Marshall Realty because a friend of a friend recommended one of the realtors. I had been abroad when my roommates chose the apartment, so the realtor (who out of the kindness of my heart will remain unnamed) knew right away that I wouldn’t be able to sign anything until a bit later than my roommates. When I met him, I recognized him immediately as that creepy kid who had followed me around at a BU party once.
Anyway, they chose an apartment. The realtor called and asked me to come in to sign the lease, so I immediately did just that. Then he told me I needed my guarantor form and first and last month’s rent, so both he and I contacted my father to do so. Naturally, I wanted to see my own apartment, but after walking there from the Marshall Realty office, the realtor realized he didn’t have a key to the front door. Very professional if you ask me. So I wasn’t even able to see my own place.
What happened next was appalling.
After a week or two I got a frantic call from the realtor saying something had «gone wrong» and the apartment had never been taken off the market. The realtor was quick to blame the landlord, who by the way I also think is a scheming, dirty pile of you-​know-​what, but let’s be honest here: the realtor SCREWED UP ROYALLY. So, after signing a legal document (the lease) we were told we had to participate in a bidding war with some other girls who wanted the apartment, and that if we wouldn’t pay an extra $ 150 above what we had SIGNED A LEASE FOR we would basically have to sleep in a box on Comm Ave. Good times, good times.
After realizing they were actually this dim and sleazy and were trying to pull this on us, I decided to find another realtor at another company (who is FANTASTIC — I’ll write about him another time, but to keep him and myself safe will conceal his name for now as Ed Marshall tried to find out our new realtors to further screw us over. What a swell guy). In the meantime, Marshall Realty had DEPOSITED our checks, even though they’d given our apartment away. The realtor said the money was in an «escrow fund» and that we would get it back soon. My two roommates had given their checks earlier because of the whole mail mix-​up, so they got theirs back in about five days. Mine, however, I was told was being kept until the end of the week — «to see if the check clears.» So these crooks were trying to accuse me of being a cheat.
I went in and asked for my check, and Ed Marshall (the owner of this dirty, dirty company) claimed my check had bounced and asked for proof that it had gone through. I was outraged (my dad had just told me he saw it clear on his online bank statement) but promptly had my dad scan and send a copy of the check and proof that it had gone through without any problems. I paid to print it in the UPS store, walked all the way back to Marshall Realty, and was greeted by the realtor, who said his boss was out of office until the next day. I told him I would call the cops if he didn’t give my money back, because they were literally trying to steal my money at this point.
Literally shaking in fear, the little guy called Ed Marshall and said I could come in the next morning to pick up my check. I did, and like my roommates, I was given $ 50 less than I’d paid them. They claimed this was for an «application fee» that was never mentioned.
Throughout this process, I realized that the realtor had no idea what he was doing, that his boss (the owner) is a thief, and that I had been robbed of $ 50. When I said I would write a Unilocal article, Ed Marshall threatened to sue me for «libel and slander.» This is pretty funny as first off, I’m not stupid enough to publish lies about someone online, and secondly, you can’t «slander» someone in writing…
Classy. Intelligent. Legal.
Not words to describe Marshall Realty.

be really carefull about using this company, they will steal from you, crooks!!!

Horrible experience. I had plenty of warning signs during the process but for some reason I stuck it through. Don’t waist your time.