Renting an apartment can be fun, exciting, and enjoyable. It can also be stressful, upsetting or confusing. Especially in a rental market as complicated as Boston, finding and securing an apartment is not always easy. In my years of experience helping renters find apartments, I learned so much about how the market and process worked and would continually try to share this knowledge with my clients. In this article I hope to share 5 valuable tips that any Boston renter can learn from. With being more educated, comes a better chance of securing a more desirable apartment and potentially a more enjoyable experience while doing so.
Tip #1 – Start the Search Early
While seemingly obvious, many first time renters do not understand what “early” means in the Boston rental market. Additionally, those who know to start early might not know that “early” is different in many neighborhoods throughout Greater Boston from a multitude of factors.
As apartments come on the market throughout the year, the best units are rented quickly. The units that aren’t as good or at least, well priced, can sit on the market. Unless you want to rent these “leftover” apartments, it’s important to start your apartment search early. This will allow you to see the best value listings as they come on the market. Not only that, but when you only give yourself 1-2 months to find a place, it can create a lot of unnecessary stress and result in rushing into a bad apartment.
The quick timing of the Boston rental market is mainly due to the fact that most landlords accept applications on a “first come, first serve” basis. Because of this, renters look to be first when applying for an apartment. When everyone is trying to be first, it’s easy for a culture of being extremely early to flourish. While it may be common in another city such as New York to rent an apartment the month prior to moving in, in Boston it is extremely common to rent your apartment 5-8 months in advance. In some areas it’s actually common to rent it as early as 10-11 months in advance. However for apartments outside of the typical September 1st lease start date, it’s more common to rent your apartment 1-3 months prior to the move-in. The timing is complicated so if you are not aware of when you should be looking, ask an agent for the ideal time to look based on where you are looking and your move-in date.
Tip #2 – Work with a Real Estate Agent
Wow, what a shocker! The agent is telling me to use them. While I am biased, I also understand that avoiding working with an agent is very difficult in Boston. Since the tenant is responsible for the broker fee in most cases, landlords almost always employ agents to find them tenants. As a result, most listings you want to tour will have an agent associated with them. Since you likely will work with an agent, I’d like to take this opportunity to give you some insight on how an agent can help you and how you should utilize your agent to get the most out of them. If you want more details on why agents are valuable, I’ve written another article called “The Purpose of a Real Estate Agent” which can be found at www.realty20.com/insights
Arguably the most valuable thing about working with an agent is that they are a professional who should be familiar with how the market works in Boston. While not all agents will be experts, even having a basic understanding of the leasing cycle, move in costs, application and leasing processes, etc. will set you up to have a much smoother experience while finding a place to rent. When you start working with an agent, ask them what you should know about renting and if they have any tips for you. They hopefully will provide you with valuable insights that will help you make decisions in your search. I’ll actually be touching on why having an understanding of the market is helpful later in this article.
Another huge help is the support that an agent will provide you throughout the entire process. Submitting an application, going through the leasing process and moving in can be complicated. When you are working with an agent you have an expert who can answer questions and guide you through these processes. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you fill something out wrong or make assumptions about an aspect of a process.
Although there are many other benefits of working with an agent, one many miss is the protection and peace of mind that an agent provides. You are working with a licensed professional who you know is not a scam. Unfortunately there are many different apartment scams online and it’s extremely beneficial to have an agent who is sending you real listings and passing all funds through their brokerage. Even if you find a listing yourself online, you can at least ask an agent who you trust to look into it if you feel that it may be a scam.
Tip #3 – Be Decisive
As I touched on earlier, the majority of landlords in Boston work on a “first come, first serve” basis for applications. This makes the market supply move extremely fast. When you see an apartment that’s available, you have to understand that anyone else could apply to that apartment at any time. So long as they are qualified, the landlord can approve them and the unit will no longer be available for rent.
The unfortunate thing about “first come, first serve” is that a certain amount of beating your competition is out of your control. You could be very quick to apply, however if there was a group of renters that saw the apartment three days before you, they could still apply first, going at a slower speed. With that being said, you do have control over how fast you move. If you tour as soon as possible, make your decision as soon as possible and then complete the application process as soon as possible, you give yourself the best opportunity to be the first application and get approved.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of being “beaten out” where you apply and another renter is approved instead of you because they applied first, it can be very difficult to understand just how fast the Boston rental market moves. I had countless times where I had clients that went to apply and upon submitting the applications or confirming the unit was still available, I had been told that other applicants had been approved hours and even minutes prior. Even units that sat on the market for months without any applicants would often have 2-3 applications submitted within hours of each other. This unfortunate timing doesn’t seem like it would happen often but it really does.
You simply never know when someone else is applying. From my experience, the best way to go about applications is understanding that if you like the apartment, someone else probably does too and if you don’t apply immediately after seeing it, those other people will. I understand that making the final decision to commit to an apartment is a tough decision, especially since you typically have to submit a deposit of one month’s rent. However, if you like an apartment and it will work for you, you have to realize that you may not find a better apartment and the best chance at getting this one will require you to move as quickly as possible.
Tip #4 – Work with Multiple Agents
While there are actually benefits from working with one single agent, I personally recommend working with multiple during your apartment search in Boston. Not all agents will agree with me on this one and certainly most agents would never tell you to do this, however I believe working with multiple agents can improve your search.
Here’s what I typically hear for the argument against working with multiple agents – If you find one great agent to work with and stay loyal to them, you will develop a better relationship with them, and the agent will provide higher quality service to you. Another benefit would be that communicating through one single agent is less work and much more simple than working with many. Additionally, you like and trust that agent so you can feel good moving forward with that agent’s listing they find you. This is opposed to working with just any agent that you find on a listing and then having to rent through them, not knowing if you can trust them or if they will make for a smooth transaction process. At the end of the day, if these points are more valuable to you than what I will follow with, by all means work with one single agent!
In my opinion, working with multiple agents will give the potential success of your search a boost. That is, at least, if you do it a certain way. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, working with whatever agent is on the listings you are browsing can put you in a tricky situation where you are working with an agent you might not like or trust. What I would recommend is to work with agents on listings you like at the start of your search, however you will quickly see which agents are not a good fit for you and you can stop working with them (unless you really like their listing and it works for you of course). Many times you will work with an agent beyond the listing that you initially contacted them for. This is where I say you should continue to work only with quality agents as you come across them. To not overcomplicate things, I would work with 2-5 agents.
Now, what are the benefits from working with multiple agents? One is that they each bring their own knowledge to the table.Throughout this article I touch on the importance of being educated on the market and so having multiple agents give you different knowledge and perspectives can be advantageous. Another reason is simply that agents have different search methods and tendencies and so one agent might fail to find a listing for you that another agent will find for you. Even working with multiple agents within the same brokerage can deliver you this benefit. The final reason, which is really what actually makes working with multiple agents beneficial, is having access to more listings. Being truthful, while many brokerages do share a large number of listings, every brokerage will have a certain amount of exclusive and semi-exclusive listings. With each additional agent that you are working with, you will gain access to more listings and with more options available to you, finding the “right” apartment is easier. You don’t want to limit yourself with the amount of listings available to you, but at the same time you don’t want to be in communication with a million agents and failing to build a relationship with any of them. It’s definitely a careful balance that you should be thoughtful about.
Tip #5 – Understand the Process
This tip is a bit complex as it can serve to include any tips you would give regarding the topic of renting. Each of the previous tips are a part of “understanding the process”. However I feel the need to keep it broad due to its importance. Understanding the leasing process is what allows you to know how to move forward through each step of renting properly. This results in the best chance at finding an apartment that works for you and securing it.
To break down exactly what you are supposed to understand about the process, I’d like to go through aspects that I find valuable to understand outside of what has already been mentioned. In other words, I’ll be giving some bonus tips to try and help you out some more!
Understanding Where to Start your Search – Should I look online to start? If so, what websites? Should I call a real estate brokerage and work with an agent first? Should I ask around for a referral for an agent? Should I drive around and look for leasing advertisement signs posted on buildings? Personally I would recommend an agent referral, if not, starting your search online through Apartments.com or Zillow is a great second option.
Understanding How to Work with a Real Estate Agent – It can be difficult sometimes to know how to work with an agent. Knowing what they can help you with, what questions to ask them, how to find a good one. This will mainly come with experience as you work with them and each agent will be a bit different, however having clear communication with a good agent will set you up for success. Don’t make assumptions and make sure to ask them early in the process any questions that you have about any part of renting. If you don’t know something for sure, it never hurts to ask for confirmation.
Understanding Landlord Requirements – Landlords in Boston are usually pretty strict when it comes to requirements and knowing this up front can help a lot with expectations and preparations. In my experience as an agent in Boston, most landlords require applicants to have credit scores of 700 and a combined group income of three times the rent. Additionally, they often require applicants to pay the first and last month’s rent up front as well as a security deposit of one month which is all in addition to the broker fee of one month’s rent. If you know this ahead of time you can look for listings specifically with exceptions to these common requirements, find a cosigner in advance to help qualify and/or have the time to save up funds for the large amount required up front.
Understanding Negotiations – Boston rent negotiations, like landlord requirements, are not always going to work the same, but generally I’ve seen one way of doing things. The listing has an offered rent and lease terms (move in date, move in cost, student/pet policy, ect.) and many landlords will stick to the listing without allowing negotiation. There is far more demand than supply in Boston so landlords believe they can get exactly what they want most of the time. With that being said, there are plenty of landlords out there who will be open to some amount of negotiation. This is especially true in certain situations, such as when a unit has been sitting vacant on the market. In order to negotiate, you usually need to submit full applications and a deposit. This is because many landlords will not agree to a negotiation without knowing that the applicants are both qualified (shown by the applications) and serious (shown by the deposit). In short, you ask for something different than the offering and the landlord will either approve you with the difference, counter offer or deny the applications entirely. If you are going to negotiate at all, I would ask your agent to ask the landlord if whatever you are asking for would be “possible for well qualified applicants”. If they say it’s possible, they aren’t committing to the negotiation, but at least you know if you have a chance!
Understanding the Application Process – Knowing what’s required for the application process and how applications are taken in can be extremely useful when applying for an apartment in Boston. A major thing to know is what you will need to turn in. In addition to the actual application form, you may have to turn in photo ID, proof of income or enrollment, visa documentation, as well as the deposits previously mentioned. If you know you need or may need a cosigner, understand that your cosigner may need to submit any of these documents as well. Pairing this with knowing the applications are first come first serve, you can have everything ready to turn in ahead of time. If you really think you will like a listing, you can even submit everything to your agent prior to the showing to be as fast as possible. That way you can just have them submit everything immediately after the showing. A similar alternative to this is turning in everything except for payment that way payment is the only step left after the showing. As I explained while talking about being decisive, speed is everything for applications so having everything ready and even turned in ahead of time can be a game changer.
Final Thoughts
So that wraps up my five, more like twenty, tips for having a successful apartment search in Boston. Clearly there’s a lot to the leasing market and so I hope that you pulled a few nuggets that you will use to aid in your search. If not, I at least hope this information was interesting! As always, good luck and happy renting!
*Please keep in mind that the information in this article is based on my personal experiences and may not accurately represent the entire Boston Real estate market*
Author
Evan Bilton
Written: 04/26/2024
Contact Information
Evan@realty20.com
