Modern Real Estate

Very Poor and unprofessional communication. Obviously a scammy operation. Inquire on a listing and they’ll hedge on you regarding its availability and when they do respond they’ll just dig for your personal info. Avoid.

I had a great experience! Awesome people and always there to help. Whenever I had an issue of a question it was handled immediately. Definitely recommend!

I would have given modern a 5 star rating if it weren’t for the false promises made by the real estate agent. When we saw the place, it looked like it had been attacked by a pack of wolves. Everything was broken, the walls were heavily stained and had paint splotches. We were promised everything would be fixed and the apartment would be painted. Post moving in, the landlord refuses to fix half the things and paint the place. Modern made false promises to make a quick sale. Now my roommate and I are stuck in a shithole for 11 more months.

This is nothing against the realtor that showed us apartments, it was not her full time job and some of the issues we experienced were not her fault, but I was not pleased with my experience with Modern Real Estate. What it might come down is the fact that my boyfriend and simply do not fall into their target demographic of renters, which seems to be age 19 – 21. I am 29 and he is 37, and believe me, 90% of the places we were shown were not even appropriate for people in their mid 20’s.
It started off well, our realtor picked us up near my boyfriend’s office and brought us to a gorgeous building with a wonderful apartment in Brookline. If the kitchen hadn’t been too small, I might have wanted to take it. After that we were taken to places in Brighton/​Allston that not only didn’t meet our requirements, but barely looked fit for habitation. One apartment, occupied by two students, didn’t have furniture, was filled with plastic bags of clothes, had sloping floors, missing tiles and ceiling panels. you get the picture.
The second time we went out with our realtor, she showed us another apartment in that first building, but it was an August lease and we were looking for September. So it didn’t even matter that it was what we were looking for. Then she took us to a building complex with several apartments she wanted to show us. One had to be opened up by the building’s surly maintenance man. It was garden level and was a one bedroom that had been converted to a two bed. Exposed pipes on the ceiling, warped floors, disaster of a kitchen. The next apartment, she was not given the keys for. This happened a few times, so when we were told we would be seeing 5 apartments, sometimes we only saw three.
The third time we went to see apartments, we saw one that will haunt my nightmares. The building reeked of weed. The apartment’s front entryway was filled with dog shit. The apartments smelled like shit, rotten food, stale beer and perfume. When we went into the bedroom, there were prescription bottles and tall boy beer cans on every surface. Our realtor had to excuse herself because she couldn’t stand to be in the apartment. I wanted to steal the little Chihuahua that was shaking and ignored in the middle of this mess and give it a bath.
The fourth time, my boyfriend didn’t even want to go, but I dragged myself out and we finally saw some places that were O.K. Nothing great, but nothing terrible. Places I wouldn’t have minded living at 25, but not at 30. So two stars because our realtor was very nice and professional, minus three because half of the properties are not fit for habitation.

Finding a good real estate agent in the Boston area can be notoriously difficult, but we had a great experience at Modern. Our real estate agent was incredibly knowledgeable and really listened to what we were looking for in an apartment. They definitely made the entire process, from viewing the apartments to moving in, as easy as possible. If you’re looking for a new place in the Boston area go to Modern and ask for Matt Scott!

Surprised by the 1 stars here.
My three roommates a great experience with Modern Real Estate, with Realtor Jeff Block. We were looking for a four bedroom apartments, with very specific requirements, Jeff was able to show us an array of places all meeting our criteria.
I’ve lived in Boston for a few years now, and understand the hectic nature of the rental market, Modern Real Estate was able to help my less experienced roommates get all their appropriate forms in, and was able to secure my current apartment.
Highly recommended, very helpful and professional staff

Wayne is a very friendly and service oriented broker. We really enjoyed going out with him and he was very accomodating to or request.
We would recommend him as a trustworthy broker.

My roommate and I rented an apartment through Modern last year. Needless to say, we are excited to move out later in the year!
The guy showed us two places that we really liked. We put a deposit down on one, and spent a long time at the realtor signing papers, only to find out the next day the place was already off the market when we had viewed the place. Apparently the landlord had been waiting on the renter to provide a co-​signer, which is why we thought it had been available.
The same agent showed us a couple of more places. We eventually settled on a place and our offer was accepted. My roommate (who has a cat) were told multiple times by this agent that cats were allowed. We confirmed this multiple times, and were told we did not have to sign any forms. One day I happened to be speaking to the landlord on the phone about the pet policy, and he said no cats were allowed. I am not sure if he was referring to a different apartment or if we were given the wrong information by the agent. Lesson learned to get these things in writing.
At the time, there was a deal on Unilocal to receive a discount on the finder’s fee with mention of the ad. When we mentioned it, he pretended he had no idea what were talking about, but fortunately the deal was honored in the end.
The landlord is difficult to deal with and only provided us with one mail box key. Then it was up to ME to get the key from the previous tenant, despite frequent calls to the landlord and management company. But that is another story. Yes, I know it is the responsibility of the tenant to communicate with the landlord (if you read on, you will find out why this wasn’t possible at first). The fact that this company does business with this landlord is upsetting, as the landlord is irresponsible and tries to put responsibility on the tenants who technically are not responsible for certain situations. Additionally, he never even sent us our lease.
What did make me angry though is that Modern Real Estate provided us with incorrect landlord information. For weeks I had been calling this one number to obtain a mailbox key. Meanwhile, our mail person was leaving us notes to please empty our mailbox. I contacted Modern Real Estate multiple times but did not hear back. Finally I heard from our agent who said he had contacted the landlord the previous week, and the landlord was supposed to take care of the situation. Yeah, thanks for letting me know. And thanks for providing incorrect information to begin with.
Would not rent from here again.

My roommate and I found our current apartment through Modern Real Estate. During our initial search, we were shown apartments by two of their agents. Both were perfectly friendly and didn’t appear to be shady or desperate to force a deal. However we did notice some unprofessionalism on their part on a few occasions.
For instance, one agent was almost an hour late to an appointment we had scheduled with him previously to go over some documentation. Mind you, this was at night when they wouldn’t be doing any showings, and as I mentioned, we had already agreed to a designated time when we would all be meeting up.
Furthermore, during one of the apartment tours, the agent simply had the landlord show us around the building. The landlord did a perfectly good job with the tour, but the entire time our agent had his nose in his phone and did not add any incite into the apartments we were thinking of renting. Basically, the only useful function the agent provided was pointing out the correct building when we met him in the area.
Modern Real Estate did manage to give us a discount on the finder’s fee, but it wasn’t until later that I realized their promised 10% discount had actually been 9%. That doesn’t seem like huge difference, but I was trusting them to be honest and professional with us. I don’t believe for a second that it was a mistake.
Honestly, we would have preferred to find a place directly from the owner/​landlord, but that doesn’t seem to be the norm in Boston. We never found a single apartment listing during our search that was «by owner». In fact, the listing that brought our attention to Modern Real Estate was through the craigslist «by owner, no fee» listing section (what a joke…).
I wish I had checked out their rating on Unilocal prior to working with them.

Since posting my last review of Modern, the company has been in touch with me and wrote me a check for the money I was owed.
Better late than never, I guess.

I had a great experience with Modern Real Estate. They simultaneously helped me get my old apartment rented and helped my wife and I purchase our condo in Cambridge. Being first time homebuyers, we were a bit wet behind the ears and didn’t really know what we were doing. Our realtor, Josh, was incredibly reliable, punctual and professional. He helped us understand the process and navigate a couple potential situations with ease. 3 years later we’re still in the same condo and absolutely love it. If and when we need to move again, Josh will be the first person I call to help us sell or rent our condo again.

I will start by saying that I am only giving this review one star because I don’t have the option of putting zero. My roommates and I had a very negative experience with Modern Real Estate and I personally found them to be unprofessional, condescending, and unaccommodating. We excitedly began looking for our first post-​college apartment in the city and the search started off really well. We contacted Mike Blake from Modern Real Estate and he took two of my roommates to a few different apartments in the Brighton/​Brookline area. When he took my two roommates to the apartment we now all live in, they loved it so they decided it was worth showing me and our other two roommates. I’ll give Mike credit for helping us find an affordable, five-​bedroom apartment that we were looking for, however, the minute we signed the leases and he got our checks, it was like all ties were severed. As move-​in day approached, we began calling Mike with logistical questions in terms of how the day would proceed. Not only was Mike unresponsive to our calls, but the few times we were able to reach him he had a very condescending nature and was overall more of a hassle to deal with than anything. I had to call him three times to inquire about when cleaners for the apartment (that we paid for with a $ 300 deposit!) would be coming to the apartment. I received the same response every time: «Oh ya, I’m working on it, I’ll call the landlord right now.» After the third time calling him and getting an extremely condescending response, I called his superior because it was the day before move-​in and still no response. After I talked to his boss, of course Mike called immediately and gave me answers. In the process of these phone calls I also told Mike that the current tenants at our apartment were planning on moving out at 3:00 pm on September 1^st (when technically they are supposed to be out at midnight on August 31^st). He told me that was unacceptable and he’d call the landlord because it was neither his nor our problem to deal with them being in there still and they needed to get out. I showed up to the apartment on the 1^st at 5:00 pm to an apartment still completely filled with the old tenant’s furniture, food, and trash. Thanks for your help, Mike. Overall the place was not only messy, but just dirty; there was dirt and mildew all in the bathtub, stains all over the kitchen counters, and food spills all over the refrigerator. On September 2^nd the current tenants still had their stuff all in our apartment. I understand this might not have be Mike’s problem anymore, but don’t tell us that you’ll «take care of it» and then not and don’t promise things you can’t deliver. Another «surprise» we discovered was that all along Mike told us there was a washing machine and dryer in the building’s basement. The last time we were at the apartment doing the final run through, I specifically asked Mike to see the units and he said «They’re in the basement… but I don’t have the key, only tenants can have access.» When we moved into the apartment we asked the old tenants about how to get a key to access the washer and dryer and they laughed at us (rightfully so because we actually TRUSTED Mike) because there is no washer and dryer in the building. Mike blatantly lied to our faces about that.
Overall, I would not recommend anyone use Modern Real Estate. There are so many other real estate agencies out there and even if you just close your eyes and pick one, I’m sure you’ll have better luck than we had at Modern I’m glad move-​in day is over and I’m excited to live in this great new apartment, but most of all I’m excited to never have to deal with Mike or Modern Real Estate ever again.

We rented our apartment in Brighton through Alex at Modern Real Estate. We found Alex through a craigslist advertisement. Overall experience was good. Alex was very personable and worked very hard to get us what we were looking for. He was easy to talk to and communicated with us throughout the entire process so that we felt comfortable with the entire transaction. Customer service is still very important to us and we feel like we received it. Ask for Alex M. if you can.

BEST Realtor experience I’ve had in Boston (and I’ve lived in eight different apartments in the area). Elissa Webb was our realtor, and she was totally friendly, understanding, and fun. We have a dog and a cat, which severely limits our apartment search, since so many landlords won’t take pets.
However, Elissa showed us a ton of amazing places that really fit our needs, personalities, and budgets. She never tried to oversell us or make us try anything we weren’t interested in.
GO TO MODERN to find your next apartment. You won’t be disappointed!

I am really surprised to see this other negative review because my experience with Modern was fantastic! I guess things have changed from then till now. I was searching for places in Brookline for myself and my two other roomates when I came across an add on Craigslist. We really liked the place and the location was perfect, so we decided to give Modern a try. Our agent at Modern was Joshua Gorelick. He was awesome! He responded to our inquiry about the apartment right away, and told us he would look for more places in the same area for us to go and look at. Because there are three of us, it was hard finding a time where we could all go look at places together. Josh worked around our schedules and made time to take us to see the places. He showed us some great places in our price range including the one we had seen online. He was very honest and upfront about things that were included and any fees or costs. We also had a great experience with the office itself. If our agent was not in and we had any questions, they were more than helpful and we always had a call back right away. When it came time to sign the lease for our new place, they were very accommodating and brought them to us to sign. I have recommended this place and Joshua Gorelick to a couple of my friends and they have also rented places through Modern. Overall, it’s a great company with honest, hardworking people!

Incredibly unprofessional. My roommate and I signed the paperwork and put down the deposit necessary to take the apartment we wanted off the market to be blindsided a few days later that a girl we know had ALREADY SIGNED THE LEASE to our apartment a week ago. So I guess being a realtor doesn’t make finding the apartments that are actually available your priority?
And yet they STILL expected us to pay them their exorbinate fee for another apartment that was still available. What were we paying them for? We found the place on craigslist, we did all the research about nearby places. All he did was unlock the door to show us inside. Does that seem $ 2000 worth of work to you?

My roommates and I did not have a positive experience at Modern. Myself and two other roommates were recent transfer students to BU looking to move off campus. I’m not sure if my roommate contacted him or if they got his number somehow. Anyways we were dealing with Brandon Leitner who at first we thought was a cool guy. He was basically just playing us, trying to act like we were «his boys» and that he was «giving us a deal.» Anyways we told him our price range and what area we wanted to live in yet we kept getting shown shit holes on ashford etc. At one of the places we went to the people there told us they had gotten broken into over the winter break and had their laptops stolen.
Anyways we finally get settled into our apartment in january and a couple weeks later he is already calling us telling us that we need to get started on looking at a new place because they are going to fill up for the spring. Being naïve and new to boston we took the bait. We finally found a place we liked and wanted some time to think it over. We get a call saturday morning telling us someone else wants the apartment and we’ve got to come in now if we want it. This put us in a bad position because we weren’t ready to commit but we didn’t want to lose the apartment. We ended up signing the lease, the building was owned/​managed by alpha management.
Basically we had a ton of problems with alpha and every time we would call Brandon up to help us get things sorted out, he acted like it wasn’t his problem anymore and that he was too busy to help us.
I even went for a job interview at Modern in the summer of 06 and was shocked at how greedy and shady they were. When I was asked why i wanted to work in real estate I told them i enjoying working and developing relationships with people. they were like «we want someone whos priority is to make a lot of money.» They also alluded to «tricks» they use to get people to sign, like telling them that someone else wants the apartment and they better sign soon.(sound familiar).
Anyways I just found Modern and Brandon to be quite deceitful and unhelpful before, during, and after signing the lease. To me it seemed like just another «chop shop»