Even though I have close personal ties to Rental Beast, I want to examine the process of how to find an apartment in Boston. I will be as objective as possible.
What are your choices? Online listings offer a lot of freedom. The first service that always comes to mind is Craigslist. It’s main advantage is that it’s free. Let’s check it out.
Craigslist Boston. What am I looking at!? Craigslist is not for the myopic. I don’t need glasses, but I feel like I do when I get to their landing page. Craigslist presents its content with very little design.
Craigslist Design - Not for the Myopic
The page is hard to read. After a moment of scanning I see what I am looking for: Housing.
Next I am given a choice, do I want to pay a fee or no fee? That’s a no-brainer, no fee. Let’s see the results for apartments by-owner.
The results are, wow, what a list! How am I going to sort through all those apartments? Some of these don’t even look like apartment listings. “$1250 must see” Must see what? That’s all you’re giving me?
Hang on, I want to live in Somerville, these are listings for ALL of Boston. I better do a search to narrow it down to Somerville, $2000 max rent. Results: 240 Listings. That’s a lot. But some of these say they are in Revere and South Shore, what? I guess anyone can post anything on Craigslist, accurate or not. Have you heard about this apartment rental scam on Craigslist?
So I check the box for search for Somerville in titles only. Now I get 26 results. Some in Cambridge, some in Medford. After scanning the whole list I find 20 listings in Somerville. Are any of these direct contact? No. They are all anonymous e-mail. I wonder who I’d be giving my contact to? Who knows….
Maybe I’ll try those no fee brokers. Nah, I know that when an agent says that the apartment is no-fee that what that really means is that the fee gets spread out over my twelve months lease. I mean, no one works for free, right? I know I don’t.
Conclusion. Craigslist. Not so much. Isn’t there a saying “There’s no free lunch?”
Let’s try the same apartment search on Rental Beast. Right off the bat I see that I’ll never pay a broker fee.
Rental Beast Home Page - Somerville Apartment Search
By giving me direct contact to the landlord or management company, I become my own “broker.” Plus, Rental Beast’s listings are verified. No anonymous e-mail.
Alright, back to the search. $2000 a month for rent. I click “Where do you want to live?” and all the cities in MA popped up and when I checked Somerville it opens up to show me all the neighborhoods in Somerville. Neat. But I’m not going to be picky right now and I want to compare to Craigslist so I’ll choose all of Somerville.
Rental Beast - 22 Listed Apartments for Rent
Click “Find Your Apartment” and a list of 22 apartments shows up. I see a “New Listing” with today’s date. Let’s see the details on that one.
Rental Beast asks me to register to view the details for free. I’m okay with that, most sites asks me for my contact info if I want to access quality information.
After I register, I see the details of the Somerville, Sullivan Square apartment. Wow, look at ALL that info! Date available, financial requirements, building type, floor number, parking, pets, nearest subway. That’s a lot more quantifiable information than Craigslist.
Somerville - Sullivan Square Apartment for Rent details.
What does Rental Beast want me to pay instead of a broker fee? Starting at only $89, really!? Now that’s a no-brainer.
Why would I waste my time on Craigslist, just to find apartments in the wrong town, brokers or owners who build the fee into my lease and while my best bet is sending an e-mail to an anonymous address. No thanks. I choose Rental Beast. They’ll even give me my money back if I find an apartment on my own.
Follow Rental Beast on Twitter
How to Find Apartments in Boston, MA
Even though I have close personal ties to Rental Beast, I want to examine the process of how to find an apartment in Boston. I will be as objective as possible.
What are your choices? Online listings offer a lot of freedom. The first service that always comes to mind is Craigslist. It’s main advantage is that it’s free. Let’s check it out.
Craigslist Boston. What am I looking at!? Craigslist is not for the myopic. I don’t need glasses, but I feel like I do when I get to their landing page. Craigslist presents its content with very little design.
Craigslist Design - Not for the Myopic
The page is hard to read. After a moment of scanning I see what I am looking for: Housing.
Next I am given a choice, do I want to pay a fee or no fee? That’s a no-brainer, no fee. Let’s see the results for apartments by-owner.
The results are, wow, what a list! How am I going to sort through all those apartments? Some of these don’t even look like apartment listings. “$1250 must see” Must see what? That’s all you’re giving me?
Hang on, I want to live in Somerville, these are listings for ALL of Boston. I better do a search to narrow it down to Somerville, $2000 max rent. Results: 240 Listings. That’s a lot. But some of these say they are in Revere and South Shore, what? I guess anyone can post anything on Craigslist, accurate or not. Have you heard about this apartment rental scam on Craigslist?
So I check the box for search for Somerville in titles only. Now I get 26 results. Some in Cambridge, some in Medford. After scanning the whole list I find 20 listings in Somerville. Are any of these direct contact? No. They are all anonymous e-mail. I wonder who I’d be giving my contact to? Who knows….
Maybe I’ll try those no fee brokers. Nah, I know that when an agent says that the apartment is no-fee that what that really means is that the fee gets spread out over my twelve months lease. I mean, no one works for free, right? I know I don’t.
Conclusion. Craigslist. Not so much. Isn’t there a saying “There’s no free lunch?”
Let’s try the same apartment search on Rental Beast. Right off the bat I see that I’ll never pay a broker fee.
Rental Beast Home Page - Somerville Apartment Search
By giving me direct contact to the landlord or management company, I become my own “broker.” Plus, Rental Beast’s listings are verified. No anonymous e-mail.
Alright, back to the search. $2000 a month for rent. I click “Where do you want to live?” and all the cities in MA popped up and when I checked Somerville it opens up to show me all the neighborhoods in Somerville. Neat. But I’m not going to be picky right now and I want to compare to Craigslist so I’ll choose all of Somerville.
Rental Beast - 22 Listed Apartments for Rent
Click “Find Your Apartment” and a list of 22 apartments shows up. I see a “New Listing” with today’s date. Let’s see the details on that one.
Rental Beast asks me to register to view the details for free. I’m okay with that, most sites asks me for my contact info if I want to access quality information.
After I register, I see the details of the Somerville, Sullivan Square apartment. Wow, look at ALL that info! Date available, financial requirements, building type, floor number, parking, pets, nearest subway. That’s a lot more quantifiable information than Craigslist.
Somerville - Sullivan Square Apartment for Rent details.
What does Rental Beast want me to pay instead of a broker fee? Starting at only $89, really!? Now that’s a no-brainer.
Why would I waste my time on Craigslist, just to find apartments in the wrong town, brokers or owners who build the fee into my lease and while my best bet is sending an e-mail to an anonymous address. No thanks. I choose Rental Beast. They’ll even give me my money back if I find an apartment on my own.
Next time you need to find apartments in Boston try: http://www.rentalbeast.com