Bayside Realty

If I could give «–5» stars, I would. I tried to use their service back in 2011 and still have very bad memory about my experience. I needed to find an apartment for rent. Everything started great. I saw the place and I said right away that I am taking it. Put deposit check in the mail in less than 24 hours after seeing the place based on their rules. Then, a day later I received a call from the agent saying that the owner changed his mind and the place is no longer available. I felt like they wasted my time. I found place through a different agency and my experience was completely different.
I received a reply from the agency. Deposit had nothing to do with why place was not available. I was looking for rent in January 2011. The rents at that time were not that bad. The place that I liked and wanted to rent was $ 1300 per month.

Absolutely pathetic business practices. This company will never get a cent from me.
Scheduled a showing for a great looking apartment (spoiler: the apartment didn’t exist) with their realtor Ko today. Hands down the worst, least professional experience I’ve had (and I’ve been renting in Boston for 8 years).
Things immediately started off on the wrong foot — we scheduled a showing for 11:15AM, and I let him know we were running 5 — 10 minutes late. He then let us know he had to leave by 11:30 (he’d only set aside a 15 minute window?!), and wasn’t going to wait around. Given this, we had to switch to a cab and got there right on time.
He then took us to an apartment on a different street than the one we were supposed to be seeing. He said that the address on line was deliberately wrong to protect the property (immediate red flags). We didn’t even get to see half of the apartment, because he hadn’t gotten in touch with anyone who lived there — we had the always-​fun experience of waiting around while a couple of the tenants woke up angry to the realtor’s shouting, other tenants blatantly ignoring him and keeping their doors locked so we couldn’t look around, etc.
That by itself, whatever — it happens. But the apartment he showed us was absolutely nothing like the listing. The pictures were all of a different apartment, the listing said it had in-​unit laundry which it didn’t, other features were missing, etc.
As we left, we brought it up to him that the listing was incorrect. He denied it vehemently, claimed never to have said it had in-​unit laundry, said the pictures were of that apartment (clearly impossible, as it had a different layout), and that we must be mistaken. The post for the listing we’d seen had expired, so we couldn’t prove him wrong. We part ways politely, but with zero intention of continuing with him.
And then (the scum on the cake), a few hours later I take another look at craigslist, and he’s re-​posted the listing. All fake pictures again. «IN-​UNIT LAUNDRY» in big bold letters (with a picture of a washer /​dryer even!)
It’s one thing to mislead a little, it’s another to outright lie to a customer’s face (and keep lying even when called out on it). I’ll never work with him or this company again.
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EDIT:
To respond to the comment from the business owner — me and 3 friends (all male, coincidentally) did view an apartment with Ko on Sunday. I couldn’t reply to his comment directly., so I sent the following message:
Thanks for responding, Mohammad. While I don’t appreciate you accusing me, I respect your defense of your business. For the record, I’m male, my name’s Richard, and I and three other people all viewed an apartment with Ko on Sunday. So if this is an issue with just one realtor and not your business, I’d take it up with him.
I’ve included links below to the original post (which expired) and the current post (still active as of 3:17pm 6÷11÷2015). I’m not sure if Unilocal removes links from messages — if you can’t view them, please let me know what e-​mail address I can send them to for you.
I can also send you a screen capture and a saved copy of the post, in case this one expires or is removed. It very clearly states in-​unit laundry and includes a photo of the washer/​dryer. I’ll also happily forward you the e-​mail chain Ko and I had, in which we scheduled the appointment for 11AM 3 days in advance, and confirmed for 11:15AM the night before.
I realize that the exact address often isn’t included — what screamed ‘trouble’ to me was that the post did include an exact address, and then we went to a different one. It’s possible Ko just took us to the wrong apartment — but I verified the address with him both before and after the showing, and he said the posted address was deliberately incorrect and we saw the correct apartment. Again, this could be an issue with him and not your business, but as my only experience with your business is through him, that’s all I can go on.
Thank you,
Rich
Links:
Original post (expired):
Current post:

First time I am bothering to write a review!!! but seriously bad experience with this agent.
They charged us for doing nothing.
Not recommended at all.
Just a few examples:
–They don’t know anything about apartments planing. Although I asked for an apartment with more sun, they suggested the one with least sun.
–We expected the apartment to have central HEATING but we realized that the heating is through electricity that we have to pay by ourselves!!!

In my experience they don’t care about what you want, they’ll have you sign anything just to get a commission.
Their forms were filled out incorrectly. They demanded a co-​guaranteeor extremely last minute with a very tight time frame, often taking days to respond to emails their selves, etc.
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I came to Bayside Realty and specifically Anh-​tuan Vo upon recommendation of a friend. I had one very important caveat, I travel often, about a week or two a month, and needed a place I could short term sublet out.
Anh was so so himself, often not responding for days, or until prompted, though one we actually met in person he was a little better.
He showed me some places, all were a little run down and shabby in need of a touch up but unfortunately 1500 – 2000 for a studio won’t get you too far in Cambridge.
One in particular seemed nice, though, it may’ve had rotting linoleum flooring and a bathroom floor sinking in, but free heat and lots of sunlight. As I said, 1.5−2k won’t get you much in Cambridge these days.
Anyway, I move in, it is lovely. I go to France for work and arrange some short term guests (hey, as I said, rent isn’t cheap), only to get an angry call from Bayside to disturb my travels.
When I called them back to let them know that I emphasized a need to short term sublet my place with my agent, why did they direct me to a place where that was an issue, the guy I spoke to said he doesn’t know what I told my agent.
«Well, thankfully, I have our email communications emphasizing this I can show you. Would you like to see them?»
«No, who knows if you changed your mind.»
«Look at the emails and see for yourself.»
«No I have no idea what you said.»
«So see the emails.»
«You could have said any number of things after the emails.»
«Why would I have changed my mind after I emphasized one single important thing?»
And so on and so on… All while denying that they were interested in getting a commission, were interested in the client’s wants, etc.

I always give my listings to Bayside because they are easy to deal with, thorough in checking tenant references, and have never brought me a bad tenant. They always text the existing tenant before a showing, which avoids unpleasant surprises.

I’m honestly quite shocked at all the negative reviews on here. Myself and my two roomates worked with Arthur back in April to secure an apartment in Cambridge. We fell in love with the place and put a deposit down that day. Arthur helped us with every step of the process, and was completely honest about the property and the landlord, even when it came to negatives.
Not only did he help us secure the apartment, he even came to help me fix a garbage disposal less than an hour after I e-​mailed him on a SATURDAY. I was very impressed with the level of service I received from Arthur and Bayside Realty, and would highly recommend them.

Arthur at Bayside Realty was a huge help. He showed me three places with very short notice and I ended up renting one of the places. It is a fantastic apartment and far superior in terms of price, location, amenities, and quality than all of the 9 to 10 other places I looked at.
Arthur was extremely helpful and accommodating and has checked back in with us throughout the move-​in process to ensure everything worked out OK, which it has.

This is the first negative review I’ve ever written for anything, ever (this includes buying imitation apple products from amazon and receiving food poisoning from cheap sushi restaurants in new york). This place, or at least the people I met who work for it (there may well be others who are good), are, without a doubt, the worst. First of all, when you are essentially paying a broker to paste links on craiglist and to perfectly embody the definition of a transaction cost, you’d like them to make the pill a little easier to swallow by not being a total jackass. That seemed outside of the capacity of the broker I worked with, who managed to mumble 5 words to me throughout the whole experience. Please, at least make me be able to lie to myself that I am paying for something.
This, in and of itself, would not matter, except for the fact that they were also horrible at their job. I was told that apartments were available that obviously were not and then lead to more expensive apartments, I was told to make offers that were not going to be acceptable, I was shown apartments that were already leased. Granted, the entire rental process is horrendous and I do not expect a broker to be on my side. I am well aware the majority are in the pockets of the landlords. That said, is it really that difficult to even feign a bit of interest in the people from whose incomes you are extracting?
Having lived in Cambridge for nearly a decade, I’ve worked with a variety of brokers. This company is, without a doubt, the worst. If you find something you like on craigslist, find another company that has the listing. Trust me, this is your best move.

I saw the negative reviews and felt like I needed to combat the low stars, because I had a great experience with Bayside Realty.
I was living in New York at the time and moving to Cambridge for grad school, and I had only budgeted three days to come to Cambridge and try to find a place. I have a small dog and was looking for a one-​bedroom near the red line, but every realtor I spoke to was dismissive; they were ready to help until I mentioned the dog, and then they basically hung up and told me such an apartment did not exist in my price range.
I found Bayside through an ad on Craigslist. I worked with Anh-​Tuan, found the perfect place, they prepared the paperwork, requested some additional documents from me that the landlord required, and it was done. After signing the initial documents I was able to send anything else from New York.
When I moved out because I was changing cities again, I gave my landlord 30 days’ notice, only to find that I was supposed to have given 60 days’ notice. Because of this, I was hoping that they would be able to find a renter before the end of the month. Arthur at Bayside was conscientious and let me know about his progress and finally when they found a renter. I always received sufficient notice before they showed my apartment, and although multiple realtors handled the place, they appeared to be organized because they always knew how recently the apartment had been shown, who had been there, etc.
Renting in Boston is an ultra-​competitive business. I understand people’s frustration with their experiences and I can only speak to my own, but I was satisfied.

I had a completely different experience than many of these reviews. The Bayside broker that I worked with, Anh-​Tuan Vo, was easily the best broker that I have worked with in Boston. I have moved within the Boston area five times in the last 10 years and have never experienced working with such a helpful and responsive broker.
Contrary to some of the negative reviews, I found Bayside extremely trustworthy, which was extremely important since I was 500 miles away and had to secure an apartment remotely.
Recently in 2014, I was moving back to the Boston after living in Virginia for 3 years. Anh-​Tuan was able to show and secure a wonderful rental for my family — remotely sight-​unseen. He gave me a thorough virtual tour of the apartment via SKYPE from his smartphone and was able to address all of my needs remotely.
He was extremely trustworthy and responsive. I was able to sign all the documents and pay all deposits remotely and secure the rental sight-​unseen. Even after all documents and fees were paid, Anh-​Tuan continued to be very responsive and answered several questions pertaining to the property that aided in our move.
I had an outstanding experience with Bayside.

I noticed that there are a bunch of one star reviews for this company, but I feel it is important to keep in mind that it’s like any other real estate agency in the Boston area: all of them are terrible. I think in a city with such high rental occupancy there is no motivation for better customer experience. Having dealt with many of the agencies in this area, I’d say Bayside Realty is above average in terms of availability, and below average in terms of professionalism.
The good:
–Very flexible and easy to make appointments at a moment’s notice (I was able to schedule an appointment within 45 minutes of contacting them). This seems to only be true during business hours, but that’s the same for all of these companies.
The bad:
–Typical disorganization/​bait-​and-​switch. The listing that I was sent 45 minutes prior to my appointment advertised a no realtor fee apartment and was then told it had a fee when I showed up at the office. Apparently they had «accidentally» filled out the listing wrong.
–I’m pretty sure my agent never actually made eye contact with me during the entire time he was showing me the apartment and having me fill out the rental agreement: his eyes were glued to his cell phone sending messages the entire time. I was grateful that the landlord was present at the apartment for me to ask questions because I wasn’t getting much information out of the agent.
–I felt rushed during the apartment tour, and the agent seemed really annoyed when I wanted to ask the landlord a question about the lease before signing, and told «look, if you don’t want it, someone else will.»
I have a new apartment, so they get the job done, I just wish it were a better experience.

I had to quickly move to Cambridge due to a personal tragedy. I explained my requirements to Arthur and Ray and they found amazing apartments that exactly matched my requirements and that I would have never found myself. They did an amazing job, and I would recommend them to my friends.

Would give them 0 stars if possible. Terrible, Terrible people. $ 700 «application fee» to stay in the appartment you already live in? Sounds like extortion. Seriously considering contacting a lawyer…

I don’t understand all the negative reviews on here — clearly most reviewers have never searched for an apartment in Cambridge. The market here is TOUGH, and yes, you will almost always have to pay a broker fee. If you don’t want to do that, good luck finding a decent place on your own.
The Bayside office is small and cramped, but staff is friendly and receptive, and they showed me some very good apartments, one which I rented. My agent negotiated the price down for me, and made certain that the minor painting needed in the apartment was done before I moved in. Overall, I would say this was my best experience working with a Cambridge realtor, and I have since recommended Bayside to a couple of friends, one of whom found a truly great townhouse through them. Solid company, especially given the area they work in.

LIARS and CROOKS and THIEVES oh my! Worst realty company of all time. Better hope you don’t have a job with 9 – 5 hrs bc these guys aren’t in the office until noon and leave at 4pm every day.
Perhaps worse than their customer service is the fact that these guys MAKE THINGS UP — impossible to tell what’s true from what circumstances they are inventing to get you to sign or not sign.
Totally untrustworthy, unprofessional, and unpleasant to work with. Do yourself a favor and find someone, ANYONE instead of this place.

HORRIBLE! They were terrible from beginning to end.
We contacted them about a place we saw on CL in April which was listed for June. The previous tenants had clearly left it a mess but we were assured by the agent that everything would be fixed (I’m talking broken windows, locks, trash all over the porch, lawn was a jungle, etc.). So we fill out an application and suddenly the LL wants the apartment leased for May instead of June. We have to haggle with him and Bayside. We finally agree to take it for May and Bayside offered to lower their fee by $ 400. I thought maybe this was an honest mistake at the time.
Our landlord did NOTHING to clean the place before we moved in. We found even more problems once we moved in (broken sink, broken shower, etc.). We went back and forth for SIX MONTHS before we contacted the Board of Health.
Twenty-​eight violations later, we hire an attorney and our LL finally agrees to terminate our lease. Our LL told us he had spoken to Bayside for their advice before he agreed to terminate. So they were fully aware of the violations.
And yet who is listing this apartment on CL now? Bayside Realty.
I completely regret using this company. I would not recommend them for any reason.

I’m a long-​time user, first-​time writer on Unilocal,but couldn’t help add my two cents about Bayside after noting it got abysmal reviews. I can’t speak for the company because my particular engagement was limited to just one broker, but I can say that he was fantastic (Arthur Sevastis).
And in full disclosure, I didn’t end up renting through Bayside, but I did visit a number of apartments they listed, found one I liked and actually signed the lease and put a deposit down before backing out at the last minute (actually well beyond the last minute) based on advice from some of the current tenants of that particular property. Arthur was up front and honest throughout the process and although his company technically represents the property owners, I felt like he was watching out for me as well (as evidence by him encouraging me to back out when I didn’t feel comfortable with that property).
To end this overly long review, I ended up finding another apartment through another rental agency and Arthur was supportive throughout the process. Good guy, and I’d recommend him to anyone looking for affordable apartments in Cambridge.

Long story short:
Anh-​Tuan (Roughly pronounced «on-​toon») is an awesome guy. No BS, chill personality, and seemed to honestly care about us finding a good place. We had to find a 1 bedroom apartment that took dogs on pretty short notice, and he hooked us up with an *AWESOME* place. This was actually our second rental through him, because we trusted him.
Rest of the company: No comment. I never really interacted with any of the other realtors there, so I won’t claim that everyone else’s reviews are illegitimate.

Ultimately we got the apartment we wanted, but my experience with Bayside left a very bad taste in my mouth. Our realtor came off as very impatient with us when we wanted to take our time before signing any papers. And wouldn’t you know it? It became very difficult to get in touch with him after he cashed our checks.

AAAhhhhhh! Ruuuuuuuunnnn!
These guys showed me a place with NO SHOWER. The fuck? They took me to Linnean Street I think new Porter. I was actually excited, most of the houses on this street are gor.geous. Of course, Bayside takes me to the crappiest one on the street, and can I say once again there was no place to bathe?