Centre Realty Group

I have never worked for a more shady office than Central Realty Group in Watertown– I had my apartment listed on craigslist recently and had many calls from realtors to show it. CRG called to show it and said they had a person relocating for a job with no pets and no other roommates with a credit score in the 800’s. They wanted to know if they could show it that same day because the client was in town for one day. The broker told me the client would be paying the fee. I told the broker if its a solid applicant as they said with no pets I would be willing to pay an extra $ 300 on top of the fee OR if it would close the deal for this particular client I would consider paying half the fee if he felt it would help rent the apt. I was hurried into getting to the office by the agent because the client wanted the apt and they wanted to sign a lease within a couple of hours. When I got to the office and lease forms were flying and being signed, the client proceeded to talk about a dog she had and how this broker was helping her find other roommates. Needless to say I was lied to. Deception at time of signing so it makes for an uncormfortable situation and all because they want their commission and really don’t care! their office managers are very rude as well!

Worst realtor I have EVER worked with. She showed us an apartment listed online available for June 1^st for $ 1250 and half fee. When we went to see the apartment she declared it was actually a full-​fee so I thought maybe I had read the ad wrong. As soon as we left I went online to double check and of course it did say HALF fee. We were deciding upon several apartments but decided to rent the one that this realtor had showed us. My husband asked if she could do half-​fee and she told him that she would check with the company and call us back. A week passed and we never heard from her. I tried calling her, left a voicemail, but received no response. I sent her a text message the next day to which she replied that the lowest she could offer was $ 400 off for the fee ($ 850) and she said she had clearly told my husband that. She had not, yet I apologized for any confusion and asked for the applications. She said she would send the applications but there was one small problem, the company had decided to update the kitchen and wanted until June 15^th to rent the apartment. We decided we would stay with friends for 2 weeks because we had already passed up the other couple of apartments we liked and the end of the month was quickly approaching. We filled out the applications fully and provided all necessary documentation and then heard nothing back. Finally I got a text from the realtor stating that the company now would not be ready to rent until July 1^st. I told her that my Dad was a contractor (which he is!) and that gutting and updating a kitchen does NOT take a whole month, but that we would be flexible and that July 1^st would be ok. We were not happy but figured at this point all rentals would be for July 1^st because it was too late for any June 1^st rentals. Cut back to silence again from our realtor. I then texted her to ask what our apartment number was at our new apartment. It was my last day living at our apartment in NYC and I wanted to do a temp mail forward to our friends house and a permanent mail forward to our new apartment. She replied «I can’t process your application without all the money». WHAT??? Why did you not contact us sooner? So I told her I could meet her the next day to give her our checks. She then stated we would owe her $ 2681 and $ 900. I asked how she had gotten to $ 2681 because the rent was $ 1250 so we should owe $ 2581 and $ 850 for the fee. She flippantly replied via text «the rent is 1300 with the brand new granite kitchen as I explained to your husband that might be where the confusion is?». I checked with my husband (who is not slow or stupid and works in customer service for a living) and he was SHOCKED to hear about the price increase. It was definitely not something that he had been notified of. His job is paying our rent and had approved us for $ 1250 /​month (which our letter we had submitted to the realtor had clearly stated). I told her that with the date being pushed back twice and the price increase I was not sure I even wanted the apartment but more importantly, I could not meet her at 2:30pm as planned because our checks from my husband’s company were made out for the wrong amount. I said I needed a few hours to see if we could get approval for the new amount and if not i would let her know ASAP so she could start showing the apartment to other people. I texted again yesterday to ask if we could see the apartment one last time and got no response. I tried e-​mailing and got no response. This morning I messaged her letting her know what times I was available to meet today and every day for the next 5 days. She then responded that she was processing other applications but if they did not go through she would let us know. I responded she should have personally called us several weeks ago if there was a problem with our apartment because now we have relocated and put our stuff in storage and it turns out we do not even have this apartment! Additionally, she tried to charge us an application fee originally which is illegal in Massachusetts (
if you don’t believe me). So now she has been deceitful and dragged out the rental process changing both the move-​in date and the price and we passed on the other apartment we both loved and are literally homeless crashing with friends and will have to start apartment hunting for July 1^st. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY. They are dishonest and unprofessional.

I have never talked to a ruder real estate person over the phone. I just called inquiring about an ad I saw on Craig’s list for a one bedroom that allows dogs.
–Hi I am falling about the ad posted on Craigslist for a one bedroom on orange street
Women: WHOS THIS (rude tone)
–Did you post an ad about an apartment?
Women: YEA WHOS THIS (continuing to be rude)
Finally she says she did post an ad and asks if I have any pets. I tell her I have a dog around 40 pounds and she replies «yea well I don’t know they just want small pets»
SO WHY DID YOU PUT ON YOUR AD DOGS ALLOWED AND NOT «just small pets»
Rudest company– would never rent from them.

Multiple agents are posting non-​existent apartments for rent on craigslist. They all use the same glamorous pictures. I didn’t catch on to this until I was just show a complete dump thinking I was taking time off work to go see the really nice place advertised on craigslist. My first review was here, next I’m going to craiglsit to report fraudulent activity, then going to the better business bureau.
It is sad that scumbag realtors are taking advantage of a wonderful system like craigslist.

These guys are the utter definition of bait and switch. They continually regurgitate listings on Craigslist that are already rented. They’ll post the same already-​rented unit in multiple postings using somewhat different formats – to make it look like there is more than one listing of the same unit from the same poster (i.e. to avoid Craigslist’s limits on multiply posting the same thing).
I guarantee that if you see a posting from these guys on Craigslist and it’s not something you’ve already seen at your local realtor or on Zillow, etc, it’s because they’re listing something desirable but no longer available just to fish you in.
These guys give realtors a bad name, and realtors already had a bad name!

I was looking for an apartment and poured over the Craigslist ads for weeks. Half the time the apartments were already taken (and the realtor lazily posted the ad regardless) or the ads were just a «bait and switch.» I ended up responding to an ad posted by Centre Realty Group and Linda Glazer was agent. This was the best thing that happened to us! Of the 10+ I spoke with from various competitors, no one except Linda ever stayed in touch. She was the ONLY ONE that took the time to listen and fully understand my requirements. After that, she was diligent about sending me properties that matched my criteria. Not only was she in touch during the day, but she would also send listings in the evening and on weekends. She was flexible when it came to viewing the apartments, too, and did everything to accommodate our schedule. In the end, we found exactly what we were looking for, and I will definitely use her again when I move. Thanks for being so attentive Linda!

So after I posted my review, the manager of CRG contacted me to apologize for what happened and checked into the our situation with the agent we were working with. Then she offered us an opportunity to rent any apt with them for no fee. We had already found an apartment with another agency, so we declined her offer, but I did appreciate her responsiveness to what happened for offering to assist us. It still doesnt change my original experience, but at least they were willing to help, so I will give them props for that.

Agreed, very rude and unprofessional. Very unimpressed with the apartments they showed me. They try to pressure you into spending more or to settle for the worst apartment they could possibly find. Constantly changing appointment times. When you get tired of waiting for your appointment and find something better on your own, they’ll yell at you on the phone and then send you additional rude emails.

So rude… but almost typical of a realtor these days. They have a lot of postings on Craigslist, so I called David. Of course, all of them are «rented», but there are «many more» for $ 200 MORE than what I said I wanted to pay. $ 200! Dude, seriously. I didn’t want to give him my cell number (figuring he would call non-​stop with stuff that didn’t really exist), so I gave him my home number (which is getting disconnected soon anyhow). He told me that «in this world, we all use call phones».
F**K you David.

In September I worte a great review for this company. That was when I was looking to rent one of their properties. Now that my lease is up and I plan to move out they have been beyond terrible when showing my place. Last night a realitor walked right in with out knocking or telling me they were showing it. A week ago I asked them to give us 24 hours notice if they were going to show the place. Not only did this man walk right in, but he was VERY rude to me and my roommates. I am still very angry about what happened because this was not the frst time they have been disrespectful to us. These people have a key to my place and nothing is stopping them from coming in when ever they want. It’s not very fun knowing I can never be comfortable in my own place that I pay for.

This company is terrible. First of all, they do not have their information correct about the apartments they show. The agent that rented me my current apartment told me that a free washer and dryer were included, one of the things I was specifically looking for. Turns out there are hook ups only. When I called to complain the man was extrememly rude and told me I was lying. It wasn’t until my boyfriend spoke with him that he decided he would look into it. After a great deal of struggle and speaking with management they decided to correct their mistake. This was appreciated however, their customer service only got worse. It took them several weeks to find a washer/​dryer for us. Then they dropped a non-​working washer off and left it in our garage despite several attempts to get them to remove it from the property. They ended up installing a washing machine that was extremely old and did not even last a month. Now I have 2 broken washing machines in my yard that I need to dispose of.
I would not rent from these people as they do not have good customer service and do not care about the needs of their clients enough to give them accurate information about the apartments they are renting.

It’s true, they stink. They advertised on CraigsList as having no broker fee and then spring it on you when you’re signing.
The guy we met with didn’t really listen to me or care about my budget. At one point he said «you get what you pay for». I should have kept this in mind because he ended up selling me on a really crappy place in Newton (230 Walnut Street). He also said that he knew the landlord (which is actually a mysterious management company) and that they were excellent. Well they suck too. I would avoid these people if at all possible.

So, we were looking for apartments in Newton and kept seeing a ton listed by this group. Partly because I searched Craigslist for things like «newton green» as we were looking for stuff near the Green line. Every CRG ad on Craigslist has a blurb at the bottom about how their OFFICE is conveniently located near the Green line, so this turned up lots of false positives for me to wade through. That was annoying from the start.
So, I emailed to ask about a particular apartment that I saw on the ‘List and was told that that apartment was rented. Well, it’d be nice if they took down the ad when that happened, but I realize they have a ton of ads. The guy I talked to said he could show us some other places that weekend, so I made an appointment. Then when we came that weekend, he wasn’t there, so a different realtor took us to one place nearby that he happened to know about, but we weren’t that into it. He said he’d look for other places that fit our apartment criteria and get back to us the next day, but never called.
So then on yet another occasion, I called about two more apartments, made an appointment to see them, and came down to the office. I was told that one of the apartments we’d already looked at the last time (not true — I think it may have been in the same complex, but the one I saw in the listing was a 2 BR 1.5 BA townhouse, the one we’d seen before was a 2 BR 1 BA flat!). The other one I had liked was apparently «no good» and we shouldn’t even bother looking at it. Okay, how about you tell me that before I drag my butt out here? So we got to see another apartment that I knew nothing about. It wasn’t a bad floor plan, but the building was run down and the view from every window was pretty depressing. Plus the previous tenants’ mess was everywhere.
Overall I was pretty disappointed by my experience with this firm. I think they handle so many apartments and have so many agents, they kinda lose track of individual customers, and that sucks. Everyone we met was nice enough, but they didn’t help us very much with our apartment search and I felt like both trips we made to their office were a waste of time.