Boston Homes

I’d give one star only if I didn’t feel so badly for the particular representative of this company… but my goodness.
I canceled another appointment with another company because I thought that this person could show me multiple apartments, while the original appointment only was for one apartment.
I answered a craigslist ad for a one bedroom apartment. I made clear what my upper limit was for rent and stated that while we would like to have a pet, we do not currently own one and were willing to live in a place that did not allow pets.
This realtor got back to me and said that the apartment in question did not allow pets, but he had other properties that would. We set a time for an appointment.
At his office, I filled out a form and listed the upper limit I had for rent.
We got into the company car and started driving to the apartments he would show. We were halfway there when he asked my price range. When I told him, he said that two of the places he was planning on showing me was $ 100 above what I quoted and one was $ 50 above what I quoted. He could still show them to me if I wanted. I told him I wasn’t interested. He said why not. I said they were above my price range. He asked why I couldn’t go higher. I said that my fiancé and I had sat down before looking for apartments and came up with an upper limit of what we could afford, and agreed to go no higher than that. Showing me those apartments would be a waste of both of our times. He said «Well, most people can afford a little more over what they they say their price limit is.» I said I wasn’t most people. I found it rude and a little intrusive that he questioned why I couldn’t afford the apartments. Obviously I’m not going to rent something that I cannot afford.
I was disappointed that this person did not respect my budget. As we headed back to his office, I mentioned that I needed to be finished at a certain time, since I had to go to work after the appointment.
We spent another few minutes at his office while he found apartments actually in my price range (leaving me wondering why we hadn’t started with these in the first place?) Away we went again.
In the middle of the drive, he pulled over and conducted a personal phone call. After he knew my time constraints. I understand this was an overseas phone call, but he could have said ‘Hey, I’m with a client, can I call you back in a half hour when we are finished?‘
We went to the next apartment. The building quality was terrible. There was open wiring above the apartment door and a bag of garbage just sitting in the hallway. I was nervous to see the state of the apartment inside.
Of course, I couldn’t see the apartment. The current tenant had not been contacted to see if we could stop by. The Realtor claimed he did not have the tenant’s phone number, and that the company that manages the building said he did not need to make appointments with current tenants. Whether that was true or not, common courtesy of course demands you at least try to contact the tenant before parading a stranger into your apartment. A five minute heated discussion ensued as I stood awkwardly to the side.
So, the Realtor and I headed back to the office. I outlined my schedule for the week, and we planned to touch base for a potential appointment. As I was about to say goodbye, he asked about the timing of the appointment. I told him it would have to be after work. He suggested something during the day. I said no, I had to work. He seemed confused at that statement, and said that my time was too late for him.
Aren’t Realtors expected to make appointments based on the clients’ schedule? I mean, clearly its over the top to expect a 2 AM appointment, but if you want to rent to someone who has a job, you need to expect that they respect those work hours and need to schedule things around them. This isn’t a doctor’s appointment.
It was just a very frustrating situation. Again, I felt badly for the guy, but after being a Realtor for a year you would think he could have had the foresight to ask about my price limit and call a tenant ahead of time.

I found two apartments on two separate occasions that I liked on their website. I called each time, left my number and e-​mail with the secretary, and received no call backs, no e-​mails.
Do these people even want to find anyone to rent apartments? However, my experience with all types of Boston apartment realtors is terrible… everyone I’ve dealt with could care less, so perhaps Boston Homes is just representing the average rather than the bottom of the barrel.

I just wanted to add a review, because this may be a hit or miss place. There are only poor reviews so far, but we had a really great experience this week and I’d like to Unilocal about it.
We dealt with Ed, he’s been doing this for a while and knows some of the landlords that we met. He had about 6 locations lined up for us and all of them were fantastic and met the criteria we requested. In some of the neighborhoods it was nice that people walking by recognized him and gave a «Hey Ed!» shout. He was very professional, very laid back and everything went very smoothly. This was the 3^rd realtor we have met with and worked with here in Boston. We had different but pleasant experiences with all of them, but Ed was definitely the more seasoned and knowledgeable one. The other two were very friendly and did a fine job but were a little new and green.
We ended up signing for a place in Beacon Hill that I love. It has 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, eat in kitchen, working fireplace, hardwood floors, great windows and views, and lots of great storage and closet space. I had never thought we would find that for $ 2,200 a month rent. (heat and hot water included) (and cat friendly) (common laundry)
We met the superintendent of the building as well, and since we decided same day (this is after a couple of weeks of looking at about 20 different places in all different Boston neighborhoods and almost signing a lease once before — we knew what we wanted by now!) Ed had all the paperwork done that day for us and we went back in to review and sign the lease. We only had to pay half the finder’s fee and our first month’s rent was pro-​rated. We are able to move in this weekend.
We are thrilled. I don’t know if this difference in experience is due to changes that were made in staff or management in the past year or so, or if we got lucky with Ed, a good realtor, versus the women that were reviewed previously. I am super thankful though. I will Unilocal again if anything comes up that tarnishes the experience!

One star is way too much for this place.
The office I went was on Dartmouth.
We had the most unpleasant experience dealing with agents here.
The broker was very nice when she walked us to the place which is a quite nice place. We asked if we could negotiate the price and move-​in date with the landlord first. but they told us, we must fill out an application form first. And we were asked to give them a check for one month rent which is normal to us. We’ve moved so often and know the «usual» drills. However, the agent was not friendly at all when we were trying to fill the forms. She was very picky about how things should be addressed. We got a bad vibe then. It was around 6PM when we handed in the form.
After we slept on the idea of paying more than we expected, we decided to withdraw our application. We called them first thing in the morning (9AM) and were told by the broker that we had to talk to the manager who comes in at 10:30AM. We told her we’d like to withdraw the application and asked her if the owner had been informed. She said she knew nothing and we must talk to the manager.
This is where the nightmare started. According to the fine prints (ok, we really didn’t read it thoroughly), they get to keep half of the fees since it’s CLEARLY indicated on the application form. My husband told them that first of all, we’ve never heard that brokers can still make money when there’s no deal. Second, we were just negotiating the terms not about signing. The manager called my husband many times to harass him and was rude as hell when he went to pick up the check. They got into a big/​loud argument. (We found the owner of the company and got words from him that we can get the money back but the manager didn’t want to give up)
I wish we had read all the previous reviews before filling out the application there.
DON’t use this company — to them, it’s not about service but $$$$$.

If I could give this company no stars, I would. I feel like everyone has the same horror story… mine is similar to the one above. Luckily, my boyfriend and I got out of their office lickety-​split when things began to go south with a certain representative. Of course, however, this was after she refused to give us our checks and personal information back. And continued to refuse until we placed a call to my boyfriend’s aunt (a litigator). Afterwards, she left me a voicemail telling me that my boyfriend’s mother was a word that I would not like to taint Unilocal with.
And PS, we called the litigator from their office… they seemed to think this was normal behavior for her clients and no one offered any apologies or help.
I don’t know what gets me more… the fact that she was obviously only out there for the dough or the fact that she tried to rent us an apartment that wasn’t even vacated or destined to be vacated. Or maybe because she/​the website said it was no fee and then she asked us for full fees made out to her personally.
In short… there are other fish in the sea. Stay away from this piranha! STAY AWAY!

There are about 20 different real estate brokers on newbury within a block or two of BH — and all seem about the same.
I discovered them through a CL listing, a lowball price on a place that was pretty awful (read: bait). The big draw is always «no-​fee» listings. The woman we worked with came off very nice, but when money changed hands the story changed completely.
Even before we found a place we liked well enough she was negotiating against us – the key is that she works for the landlord not you (no matter what they tell you!) She was telling us that we were lucky to be able to pay $ 250 for parking, and we may not get the apartment. She also made undefined promises that the fee may be split with the landlord (that was before the deal was closed).
We signed in early June and ended up fighting through who was going to pay the broker fee — we of course had to pay despite her earlier comments. Just a couple weeks before out move in, we stopped by to size the place up. Lucky for us the tenant was already out — except for a bed and the random crap people never want to pack away. At this point our broker said she would be happy to work with the landlord to get it ready for us in a couple of weeks. A couple of follow up emails were exchanged with the same confident «I’ll take care of it».
The day we went by to get the keys and prepare to move in nothing had been taken care of.
Old mattress — still there.
Three broken lamps — still there
Garage on the fire escape — still there
Basically it needed a cleaning crew and someone to move the last load out.
When I talked with agent she wasn’t even sure when our start date was and certainly hadn’t tried to get anything taken care of in the past three weeks. When I confronted her that she was happy to cash my check but wasn’t doing anything to help me, she reminded me that she works for the landlord — not me ($ 2000 doesn’t get you much anymore). Additionally she never called me back when she said she would (after the fee had been paid). I ended up taking it up with the landlord (who was indifferent to the situation).
My final conversation with BH representative ended like this:
Me: «So are you going to do anything for me to get this resolved»
BH: «I’ve told the landlord»
Me: «She says she first heard about this this morning — are you going to do anything for the fee you charged me?»
BH: «I don’t have take this, goodbye»
Thanks, GFY
Stay away, stay far far away