These are some things I learned while finding houses to rent in Boston. I was looking for a studio/1 bedroom close to Northeastern University. Keep in mind that a lot of my experiences may be specific to Boston/USA.
Searching for listings
- I used Zillow and HotPads but got way more responses from realtors/landlords on HotPads
- If you find a good realtor, tell them exactly what you’re looking for, and they’ll probably send you listings
Priorities
- You know what you want:
- good neighborhood that’s near school/work
- nice renovated place
- living alone without roommates
- cheap rent
- List your non-negotiables and then prioritize the others
- For me, living alone was the most important, followed by cheap (“cheaper”) rent. My first rental apartment was not at all renovated, but luckily it was in a neighborhood close to campus
Neighborhoods
To find out more about your neighborhood,
- Reddit was useful to find out more about your potential neighborhood
- Google search something like
reddit boston living in ... - Search for your neighborhood on r/BostonHousing too, for example, Fenway
- Google search something like
- If you want to, search 311 too. You can search for the apartment’s street and surrounding streets to see what people make non-emergency reports about
Apart from that,
- Test the commute in morning/evening and make sure you can deal with it when it’s cold or snowing
- Look up grocery stores, gyms, restaurants near the address
The apartment
- Ask if you can take photos/videos of the place; most tenants won’t mind
- Make a note of what the apartment “has” because the listings often don’t have all this information
- Kitchen
- is there a dishwasher, oven, sink, sink trash disposal?
- what type of stove?
- is there enough space for a microwave / air fryer / other appliances you want to keep?
- if not, is there storage space above the fridge?
- is it an older or newer fridge?
- is there enough separation between the kitchen and bedroom?
- Bathroom
- does it look like it’ll be easy to keep it clean?
- are you able to easily install a bidet / jet spray?
- Bedroom / living room
- does your bed fit?
- is there enough sunlight?
- do you have a nice view? or is it a view of the inside of the building?
- can you install a window AC unit? is the window big enough?
- Kitchen
Other utility related things:
- How good is your data connection in the apartment?
- Can you get an estimate of the utility bills (electricity, water, gas)?
- Which internet providers serve the address?
- Does the building have laundry machines? If not, how far is the nearest laundromat? Are you okay to walk there in the snow?
The lease
- How much money do you need to move in? Security deposit? First / last month?
- save receipts of EVERYTHING: bank transfer statements, text messages1
- Make sure your lease follows Boston laws
- hot water is legally required
- heating too
- Broker fees are illegal too now unless you specifically reached out to a broker
- Is there an addendum on noisy neighbours?
- How can you pay rent? Bank transfer? Check? Online portal?
- If you’re living alone, can you get an extra key2?
Footnotes
-
I paid a security deposit before moving to my first apartment. After leaving, I asked for it back and management said there never was a security deposit … Luckily I had proof I paid a deposit, and I got the money back with the help of a lawyer. ↩
-
Some management companies might make it difficult for you to get more than one key/FOB for “security” reasons. Keys can be copied, but it’s a little more difficult to copy FOBs. You may need to add another person to the lease to get another pair of keys. ↩