Tory Row Real Estate

If you are looking to buy or to rent in the area, I can’t recommend Heidi Shenker at Tory Row Real Estate highly enough. I started working with Heidi more than a year ago (it’s ROUGH out there, kids!) when she was still with Encore Realty (also one of the better companies out there). To say this is not a renter– or buyer-​friendly market would be one of the biggest understatements in the world.
Heidi was so patient with us as we fluctuated between renting and buying, between Somerville and Brighton/​Brookline, and between price ranges. In the end, we decided to focus our energy on buying, and Heidi always did her best to see all of the units I was checking out on the open house circuit. She was always honest about what she saw, and she has a ridiculously good understanding of how the market works. She was always forthright about what she thought a unit would ACTUALLY sell for, and she was often right — it helped us gauge our expectations and wound up saving us lots of time and lots of headaches. Above all, I always felt as though she was advocating for our best interests; it always felt like she was on our side.
In the end, we put together a total of 5 offers (5^th time’s a charm, right?) over the course of the months. She was patient and accommodating each time and I never once felt as though we were pressured to increase our offers above what we were comfortable with. Each time we decided to throw in the towel on an offer, Heidi was always understanding and ready to help us hit the ground running on our search again. Looking for a place to live in the Boston area is truly one of the most stressful things someone can subject themselves to. (Seriously — stress dreams. All the time.) But Heidi knows that, and did her best to make sure this experience was as relatively bearable as possible. As long as she is still working in this area, I will never use anyone else. Although, I do hope I won’t have to go through this again for a long, long time!

We had a great experience renting from the Horiatis’ via Tory Row. The property was beautifully maintained (exterior, interior, basement, yard): it was our impression that the owners truly cared about their property. Whenever there were even minor maintenance issues they were responded to promptly and thoroughly. Additionally, we unexpectedly had to end our lease early. They were very gracious and, while they were advertising the unit, only asked that we continue to pay rent until the unit was leased (they promptly found new renters); no additional fees involved. We were very appreciative of this and only wish that we could continue to rent from them! Absolutely would recommend.

When I was looking for an apartment for June 1, I saw the good, the bad and the ugly of rental agents. Joanna Manzelli was GREAT! She was the only broker I worked with who truly listened to my apartment requirements and was honest in saying she only had one listing she thought would work. She got back to me quickly with each communication, and when we saw the one apartment I was blown away– yes, she only had one place but it was THE place that checked all the boxes. After the tour she was not at all pushy about us making a decision but was sure to follow up and ask our thoughts to better inform her future selections. Ultimately my boyfriend and I ended up signing a lease elsewhere that we found by owner, but had it not been for the commute concerns my boyfriend had we would definitely have taken the place Joanna showed us. I highly recommend her if you know what you want and don’t want to waste time looking at apartments that don’t meet your needs. She is professional and a true pleasure to work with.

Tory Row agents were very professional and really took into account our personal life situation when finding us a place. We will be using them in the future and Heather Mathieson was particularly experienced and helpful.

As a prospective tenant, I had a VERY mixed experience with Tory Row and felt it was important to share both sides. (yes, its long)
We were moving in March to the area from out of state, had a dog, had money to spend, and found an apartment on Craigslist that was an exclusive listing by Tory Row. In about 2 days, the broker sent us a few videos and additional pictures and gave us the first available appointment to see the apartment. We see the apartment, realize it fits our needs, and on the spot fill out an application and bring a deposit check to the office. We were upfront about everything, most importantly the size, breed, and age of our dog. It was difficult finding a place for a March move in that allowed big dogs as we have a year old Golden Retriever, so we were VERY clear with what we needed. We showed our broker a picture of our dog, had them confirm with the landlord that the dog was OK and was met with two things: 1. We were told as long as it was not a Pit Bull or German Shepherd (which is complete garbage in itself) we were fine and 2. As long as we gave a sizable pet deposit we can have the apartment. Ultimately, everything up to that point went smoothly and we had our apartment. Then we moved in.
NOW…One would think that if you were a realtor exclusively representing a Condo that it would be your professional responsibility to 1. Obtain and read the rules for the Condo Association of said Condo and 2. That you would share those rules with any future tenants so they can decide if they felt they met the requirements and would not be in violation of the rules. Unfortunately Tory Row did neither. We were not even told that this apartment was subject to the rules of a Condo board to begin with and then had no obviously clue that there was a 20 lbs dog weight limit. Considering that was pretty much the biggest nonnegotiable in our apartment search which was made quite clear to our broker, we could not believe how this could be overlooked by them. Once the management company of the Condo brought this to our attention, I immediately reached back out to our broker to let them know that there is discussion by the board to ask us to leave and move out as we are in violation of a clear rule. A rule that has been followed by years, and actually people have not been able to buy in the complex b/​c of the rule. The response by Tory Row was about as weak and diplomatic as you would expect. When I asked them if they will be returning our Brokers Fee if we were asked to leave, after weeks of no response I eventually got an email saying «we would be treated fairly.» Whatever that means, clearly not committing. Now, the reality is I know I would be treated fairly as I already consulted an attorney and knew that Tory Row would be treating us plenty fairly, but the fact that they were so dismissive and clearly hoped it would just go away left a sour taste in my mouth. What a great thing to deal with as we just moved to a new city?
In the end, through no help from Tory Row, and all the work we did with the Condo Board who was very understanding of our situation we were allowed to stay. I let k Tory Row know via email and did not receive a response. which did not surprise me in the least.
Ultimately, Tory Row was pretty good until something went wrong, then they turned into just another sketchy broker. They clearly did not do their best professional job even going so far as lying and saying they rented apartments in this particular complex many times with large dogs even though I know for 100% sure that was not true.
So take this as a cautionary tale to make sure you ask A LOT of questions if you plan on using them and get documentation on EVERYTHING. I have already steered a number of people towards other Realtors. There are many many others out there, and Tory Row just really dropped the ball on our transaction.
I intentionally did not name the broker we dealt with, no need to. It was the company as a whole who was at fault. Many mistakes were made when putting this apartment on the market, so its unfair to call them out specifically as they actually did a good job until something went wrong. Then it was likely the management who was pulling the strings to limit their liability.

I had a great experience with Tory Row and more specifically my agent Heather Mathieson. I had some specific requirements for an apartment and they were all met within the first couple of apartments we viewed. I would absolutely use Tory Row again and recommend it to any friends in the Boston area who are in the market for a new place.

As a landlord, I STRONGLY suggest you avoid Tory Row. First, at their recommendation, they put three crazy party kids in my unit who I had to evict. Then Arthur, the owner, informed me how «bothered» he was about the whole thing with NO apology or concern for my property. The he suggested a slew of potential clients that in NO WAY fit the profile of who I would like to see living there. Heather, someone who works in the office, then TOTALLY dropped the ball on potential tenants because they had some questions about the unit, which she did pass on to me but FAILED to tell me potential tenants were waiting on the answer. I HAVE LIVED IN CAMBRIDGE FOR YEARS, LIVED IN APARTMENTS IN ALL PART OF TOWN, AND WAS EVEN WILLING TO REDUCE RENT FOR THEIR CLIENTS… TORY ROW IS CLEARLY THE WORST REALTOR I’VE EVER INTERACTED WITH. DON’T BELIEVE THESE FOOLS WHO GIVE THEM A HIGH RANKING — YOU ARE BETTER OFF ELSEWHERE.

My fiancé and I had been thinking about upgrading to a nicer apartment for about two years, but didn’t really have the time to do the research and couldn’t find anything that surpassed the status quo. We went through 5 real estate agencies before we found Jon F. at Tory Row. Our previous experience with real estate agents in Boston was that they don’t do any work for you – you look at their websites and they take you to the properties that you choose. Even if you tell them your preferences, they often ignore them when showing you places.
Jon really took the time to get a sense of what we wanted, and he was extremely patient with our picky taste. He was willing to work for our business and helped us find a great place. He was thorough and accurate in describing the apartments and landlords before making us commit to a viewing, which saved a lot of our time. If you know what you want, but are having a hard time finding it, you should try Tory Row Real Estate.

My experience with Tory Row was a very positive one and exceeded all my expectations. I have dealt with a number of other realtors in the past to find apartments, and had always found that there was either little communication or I felt like my specific criteria were being ignored.
However everyone I worked with at Tory Row was communicative, friendly, and honest … Anna was especially helpful and really took all of my specific criteria into consideration. I have recommended them to 2 or 3 friends moving into the Boston or Cambridge area since then, and they were all very impressed with how easy and quick their search was.
I would recommend them to anyone who is looking for an apartment in the Boston area!

I think some of the people who work here are pretty useless. Yes, I know that everyone and their mothers are trying to move on 9/​1, but that doesn’t give you a right to lie, disregard or just plain be lazy. It’s hard to come by a decent rental agency and these people don’t even bother trying.
Don’t waste your time.

Worked with Jon. Although he was good with communication up front, he showed me a few places at the very highest end of my range (and above). I contacted him afterward to let him know that they were not in my range and asked him to be in touch if he could still work with me within my price range. I never heard back. Additionally, he didn’t seem attentive to the features I told him I was looking for in an apartment. Unprofessional.

I’m a Seattleite who needed an apartment in Arlington asap (recent college grad, I came here for work). My Coldwell Banker rental search agent connected me to Arthur H., who connected me to the best apartment to fit my needs. He showed me exactly two places, both that I liked, and I selected the one that had everything I wanted for the exact price that I requested.
Tory Row seems to listen to their clients’ needs and tailor their selections accordingly.

My husband and I had a great experience working with Dez at Tory Row. I found a listing on Craigslist and contacted her immediately. Within 2 days of finding it, we saw the apartment, submitted the application, and signed the lease. The communication could not have been better. She called to let me know the status of every step along the way, and was able to accommodate our schedules. She was honest about things that we might not like about the place, and never pushed it on us just to make a sale. This was important to us as we have been turned off by many of the pushy brokers in the area. She also seems to have a great relationship with our new landlord. Unlike some of the other apartments that we’ve seen, the place seemed fairly priced for the location and quality.
We had a great experience. I would definitely recommend contacting Tory Row if you are looking for an apartment.