Boston & Cambridge, MA

[AlHal]

I want to be clear, my apartment is a freaking unicorn. Don't expect to find a studio anywhere outside of Allston or JP for under at least $1100 (which I would still consider a great deal.) I scoured the internet for months and pounced when I found it.

Finding much outside of Sept 1 will be hard. Consider coming to Boston, taking a sublet for a summer, and learning about the city. You'll be on site in the freak case where you find something as cheap as my place, but you'll also get a better idea of what you're able to find/afford. 

The realtor's fee is something that CAN be avoided, just do a search on craigslist that excludes realtors. It means your choices will shrink substantially, but they're horrible and nightmarish 20-somethings working solely on commission and they will make you hate life. I suggest not using them, not just to save money, but to save your sanity.

Don't live in JP if you're planning on going to school at MIT or Harvard. It is simply too far, and unfortunately the crosstown buses are just not good enough. If you want to save some money, look at Allston and Somerville, or even Medford or Arlington (if you'll be at MIT/Harvard.) 

If you're going to be at Med School near Longwood, you can look at JP, though MGH, stick with my Harvard/MIT suggestions.)

I would generally suggest against university housing, especially for BU which has a well deserved reputation for ripping off its students. You should just look for a place in Allston/Brighton, or even in some of the cheaper parts of Brookline (move about a 1/2 mile from the T and you'll see the prices drop, not so far that you'll hate life, but just enough to save some $.) 

[abeilles]

just an FYI to everyone thinking about moving this fall: in the student-heavy areas, a lot of people re-sign their september leases (or notify their property managers that they won't be doing so) in march-april, so keep an eye out!

[abeilles]

The realtor's fee is something that CAN be avoided, just do a search on craigslist that excludes realtors. It means your choices will shrink substantially, but they're horrible and nightmarish 20-somethings working solely on commission and they will make you hate life. I suggest not using them, not just to save money, but to save your sanity.

Don't live in JP if you're planning on going to school at MIT or Harvard. It is simply too far, and unfortunately the crosstown buses are just not good enough. If you want to save some money, look at Allston and Somerville, or even Medford or Arlington (if you'll be at MIT/Harvard.) 

If you're going to be at Med School near Longwood, you can look at JP, though MGH, stick with my Harvard/MIT suggestions.)

I would generally suggest against university housing, especially for BU which has a well deserved reputation for ripping off its students. You should just look for a place in Allston/Brighton, or even in some of the cheaper parts of Brookline (move about a 1/2 mile from the T and you'll see the prices drop, not so far that you'll hate life, but just enough to save some $.) 

 

ALL TRUE

also, I commute from JP to Cambridge & it typically takes an hour

[abeilles]

OT but I just went to up-vote AlHal's post and mistakenly voted my own instead, haha

[Usmivka]

ALL TRUE

also, I commute from JP to Cambridge & it typically takes an hour

The T or bus + T takes me 45 minutes. If I take the free Harvard/MIT longwood shuttle, it cuts the commute to 30-40 minutes if I get there via E line. If I bike the whole way, I can do it in 25-30. But I'm way up next to Mission Hill, and I suspect a lot of your travel time is making your way up Centre or S Huntington!

[abeilles]

The T or bus + T takes me 45 minutes. If I take the free Harvard/MIT longwood shuttle, it cuts the commute to 30-40 minutes if I get there via E line. If I bike the whole way, I can do it in 25-30. But I'm way up next to Mission Hill, and I suspect a lot of your travel time is making your way up Centre or S Huntington!

 

I'm closer to the orange line, so I do orange to red but at rush hour it easily takes over an hour

I work at Longwood, so if I'm taking the shuttle it CAN be 30 minutes, but it depends on the shuttle schedule!

[LizJayne]

I live in Brighton. Last year I was trying to find a 2-bedroom apartment for $1400. I got laughed at at the student housing fair...if anyone is looking for a 2-bedroom anywhere in Brighton, expect to pay at least $1600 (although I found my rare gem of an apartment for 1400!).

Definitely try to live near a T stop, it makes a world of difference.

Also, the housing market is BRUTAL: as soon as a place with good value/location is posted online, you can expect it to be gone within 5 minutes. Be aggressive.

[gingersnap18]

I'm confused about how soon to start looking for housing...If I want to move in on September 1st (which it sounds like the majority of people do), is it common for people to wait until the month before to look for apartments? To find an apartment for undergrad in NJ, the common practice was to figure out your housing in May. I'm just trying to plan out when I should start looking for apartments in Boston.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[JungWild&Free]

When I moved to Cambridge, I got my job August 5, rented an apartment mid-month and moved in September 1.  So it is possible to find a place no matter when you come.  However, if you're moving to a student-dominated area, you may want to start looking sooner rather than later since the better places are usually rented by the end of the Spring.  If you are trying to find your own apartment for less than $1,000, good luck.  My first apartment, I paid $1875 a month (it sounds high but it's fairly reasonable for the better locations here) and moving to Allston took my rent to $1450.  Both were one-bedrooms.  I did get a realtor the second time I was looking and ended up paying a half-fee (half a month's rent) which was soooooo not worth it.  I didn't even speak to my landlord until well after I moved in.  Had no idea where to pay my rent or where the realty comany was, or even what their phone number was.  Thanks for the help and the highway robbery Boston realtors!  But I digress...

 

If you are on a budget in this city, you pretty much need to live with roommates.  It's been really hard living alone here and I regularly borrow significant amounts of money from my parents (read: monthly) AND I have 2 jobs, working about 65-80 hours a week.  Suck it up and find a roommate through craigslist or possibly through friends.  You will likely regret living alone once you realize how little money you are still holding on the 2nd of the month. 

 

But in terms of times to be finding places?  There are a lot of options and people are leaving their apartments all the time.  September 1 is the big moving day in Boston/Cambridge but you will be able to find something whenever you need to come find a place (let me clarify that you should give yourself a month lead time, be prepared with a co-signer and make sure that your complex doesn't require in-state cosigners, make sure you have the money up front as people said above, and line up way more options than you think you will need to look at in order for you to find a place).  If your schedule is flexible, the busy season for apartment rentals is between March and July so you might want to try to hit that window. 

 

Also, you really need to figure out your transportation route to school/work before you pick a place.  Allston is 2 miles or less away from Cambridge but it takes 1.5 hours to get there on the T during the morning or evening commutes because you have to take the Red line to Park and switch to the Green line.  In terms of T speak, that means you basically have to go into the middle of the city and back out to go somewhere that is right across the river from the place you originally were.  Infuriating.  You will come to hate public transportation if you don't make sure you have a good setup in terms of your location.  I would recommend finding the T-stop you'll be using and trying to live on that T line or finding a place really close to a bus that runs a lot (the buses are not as reliable at the T IMHO, but I don't take them as much). 

Edited March 13, 2013 by JungWild&Free

[biscuits]

I second the recommendation to incorporate the T as part of your apartment search criteria. I hate the Green Line with a passion and would be miserable if I had to use it on a daily basis. It's a glorified, screechy bus that is constantly breaking down (or stuffed with over zealous Red Sox fans). Similarly, that twenty minute walk to the T may sound great in the fresh bloom of spring, but just wait until it's sleeting. 

 

September 1st is the move-in day in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Allston/Brighton. Sure, you can find stuff on different timelines, but the vast majority of apartments are going to be leasing on September 1st. It's a stacking effect: most folks have to be out (or renewed) by August 31st, so most new leases start on September 1st.

 

You'll want to start looking for apartments as early as April - most landlords require a 60 day or more notification if someone intends to vacate the apartment, so listings can go up early. There's a chance that you may get a better deal if you wait until it's closer to September - as the landlord becomes increasingly desperate to rent the space - but let's all take a moment to think about why they might be having trouble renting that space. 

 

Final note: September 1st is a logistical nightmare simply because so many folks are trying to move at once. UHaul regularly books out their entire Boston-area fleet well before 9/1, so try to reserve early if you know you'll need one. In some areas (particularly Somerville and Cambridge) you will need to order a special parking permit from the city to park the moving truck. The cities will not hesitate to ticket and tow. (Somerville and Cambridge are very picky about parking permits in general.)

 

tldr; : Get an apartment as soon as possible. Consider public transportation when you do.  Book a UHaul fairly soon if you need a local one. Check into whatever parking permits you may need. And be careful of bedbugs! 

[gingersnap18]

Thank you both so much for your advice! I feel much more prepared to start this whole process now. I will definitely figure out my transportation route first and then start browsing online for apartments in April. Since I live 5 hours away, I guess I'll take a few days off work over the summer and see as many apartments as possible in that time frame. Thanks again!

[alkalifly]

Right now, BU is one of my top choices, but I am a bit scared by the housing prospects I have been seeing in this thread.  I am an older student, so I don't have quite the same level of tolerance as I used to in my younger days, as far as noise, dumpiness, etc.

 

It looks like if I wanted to live alone, I would need to spend more than half of my income to get a place reasonably accessible to campus (close to the T).  Is it easy enough to find thirty-somethings as roommates who are perhaps on the quieter side, having already enjoyed their days of partying in their youth?  Goodness, I guess I probably sound like some frumpy old man, which I promise I am not, but from what I saw of Allston and Brighton, it seemed like a lot of the type of living that I enjoyed in my twenties and would prefer to live a bit further away from these days.

[biscuits]

Alkalifly - yes, Allston and Brighton are generally filled with the raucous undergrad crowd. I'm fairly sure you could find a good deal in Cambridge/Somerville, though, with roommates more your speed. There are certain buslines that connect the two areas much more efficiently than the T's rail lines. You could also try Brookline, which abuts part of Allston. Brookline tends to be more expensive but it also skews more toward the adult crowd.

The key for you will be snagging enough sane roommates such that you can affordably rent a larger apartment. It's often more affordable to split a three or four bedroom than to divide the rent on a two bedroom. Try looking with newly admitted or current students. The latter in particular may know of openings in quiet apartments/houses.

[wreckofthehope]

Also, you really need to figure out your transportation route to school/work before you pick a place.  Allston is 2 miles or less away from Cambridge but it takes 1.5 hours to get there on the T during the morning or evening commutes because you have to take the Red line to Park and switch to the Green line.  In terms of T speak, that means you basically have to go into the middle of the city and back out to go somewhere that is right across the river from the place you originally were.  Infuriating.  You will come to hate public transportation if you don't make sure you have a good setup in terms of your location.  I would recommend finding the T-stop you'll be using and trying to live on that T line or finding a place really close to a bus that runs a lot (the buses are not as reliable at the T IMHO, but I don't take them as much). 

 

You can take the 66 or the 86 bus directly to Cambridge from Allston or Brighton, depending on where exactly you're located.

[JungWild&Free]

You can take the bus, should you live close to it, it comes on time and it's not already crowded with a ton of people trying to get to Harvard square.  Which it pretty much always is where I pick it up :/

[kfrumin]

Hello,

 

As someone who is also considering going to Salem State in the fall, I recommend living as close to Salem as possible. I live in the Boston area, a little south of it, and I was looking into the commuter rail situation and it looked like a 2 hour commute for me. Living in or around Salem sounds like your best bet, but definitely look for something that is on a bus line going into Salem. I will remain where I am living, so if I decide to go to Salem, I will be getting there by car.

 

Good luck!

[biscuits]

Yup. Those buses are the unicorns of the T. 

[AlHal]

Right now, BU is one of my top choices, but I am a bit scared by the housing prospects I have been seeing in this thread.  I am an older student, so I don't have quite the same level of tolerance as I used to in my younger days, as far as noise, dumpiness, etc.

 

It looks like if I wanted to live alone, I would need to spend more than half of my income to get a place reasonably accessible to campus (close to the T).  Is it easy enough to find thirty-somethings as roommates who are perhaps on the quieter side, having already enjoyed their days of partying in their youth?  Goodness, I guess I probably sound like some frumpy old man, which I promise I am not, but from what I saw of Allston and Brighton, it seemed like a lot of the type of living that I enjoyed in my twenties and would prefer to live a bit further away from these days.

 

You can still find something in Brookline if you're flexible. You can take the T's Green C line from further out on the Brookline/Brighton border (Washington Sq and further) where things get a little (not tons, but a little) cheaper. Steer clear of the B line, if you're not comfortable with billions of drunk undergrads running amok and puking on your front steps, this is a good warning to anyone. Really steer clear of the B-line in general. It will make you want to stab yourself in the eyeball, some stops are less than 1/4 mile apart and they have to stop at every light. It's a disaster. The C and D lines will bring you to Kenmore Sq, which will then be easy for you to navigate wherever you need to go on BU's vast "campus."

 

If you're really set on your own place, you may have to put up with a "garden level" studio if you want to keep the price under about $1300. You'll sacrifice daylight, but you'll also be a student, so... who needs sun?

 

Your other option for BU would be to look at Brighton Center around the St. Elizabeth's medical center, and on the 57 bus. It is a dream of a bus, it goes so quickly, often passing the dreaded B-line when it meets up with Commonwealth Ave.

[AlHal]

Also, DON'T TAKE THE 86. My colleague takes it to Harvard Sq from Cleveland Circle, and it frequently takes over an hour during rush hour. 

 

Don't do it.

[Purplescarves]

Enjoy the city in the summer when it's quiet. At first it was strange, but it is now my favorite time to be in the city. There is so much less congestion, parking is easier to find, and everyone is in such a pleasant and easygoing mood.

[abeilles]

Right now, BU is one of my top choices, but I am a bit scared by the housing prospects I have been seeing in this thread.  I am an older student, so I don't have quite the same level of tolerance as I used to in my younger days, as far as noise, dumpiness, etc.

 

It looks like if I wanted to live alone, I would need to spend more than half of my income to get a place reasonably accessible to campus (close to the T).  Is it easy enough to find thirty-somethings as roommates who are perhaps on the quieter side, having already enjoyed their days of partying in their youth?  Goodness, I guess I probably sound like some frumpy old man, which I promise I am not, but from what I saw of Allston and Brighton, it seemed like a lot of the type of living that I enjoyed in my twenties and would prefer to live a bit further away from these days.

 

If you don't mind a bit of a commute, you might want to take a look at Jamaica Plain! It's still in Boston, just near the southwestern end, and it's FULL of quiet thirty-somethings : )

[wreckofthehope]

Also, DON'T TAKE THE 86. My colleague takes it to Harvard Sq from Cleveland Circle, and it frequently takes over an hour during rush hour. 

 

Don't do it.

 

Yeah, during rush hour it takes FOREVER. I wouldn't live around Cleveland Circle and take it, but if you lived in, say, Lower Allston/ Soldiers Field area and were commuting to Cambridge, I think it would be fine. Lower Allston is a nice quiet area too...a little enclave of family homes.

Edited March 15, 2013 by wreckofthehope

[wreckofthehope]

Your other option for BU would be to look at Brighton Center around the St. Elizabeth's medical center, and on the 57 bus. It is a dream of a bus, it goes so quickly, often passing the dreaded B-line when it meets up with Commonwealth Ave.

Brighton Center is perfect for BU, plus it's really nice. I would go a bit further along Washington, though: between Brighton Center and Oak Square. Between the hospital and Allston along Brighton Ave tends to be where a lot of BU students live, whereas from Brighton Center to Oak Sq it's more grad students and young professionals. 

[funny_bone]

My boyfriend and I are both TX born and raised, currently living in San Antonio. I'll be graduating the first week of July with my BA, and hopefully starting grad school in the Boston area in September. My mom has been living in Saugus, MA, for the last 6 years now, and has a garage apartment that we can stay in while we hunt for a place of our own (no bathroom or kitchen in the mini-apartment though, so the stay will be short!). We'll be making the move north in the last week of July.

 

How can we go about finding an apartment from TX? We only have until September to search, because my mom's lease goes up on the 1st and she's not renewing it (wants to get a loft in the city). That gives us roughly 4 weeks in the city to see some places. Should we even bother looking before that? We wouldn't be able to look at the places in person or meet with any landlords, since we're over 2000 miles away. But is 4 weeks enough time to find something, especially considering it's one of the busiest apartment hunting times in the city?

 

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Everything about New England and Boston is foreign to us. We need all the help we can get!

[kabelo]