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Hawkeye posted:I've been told i'm best off finding a Realtor to assist in finding a place to live in Boston. House or apartment? What area are you looking for? If you're thinking Cambridge/Somerville apartments, try http://apartmentx.com/ -- that's how I got the place I'm moving into now, and I love it.
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Sep 6, 2011 01:06
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I'll be working at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Postdoc), and sharing a place with my wife who will be looking for a job in the area. My future boss told me his other postdocs tend to live in Brighton/Allston, Brookline, or Cambridge. This is by nature a temp job so we are interested in renting. We would very much like to live in a row house/brownstone/townhouse given the choice, but also want to keep to around $1400/month on rent and don't know what is or is not feasible. The highest we are willing to go right now is $1700 a month. I'll check out the website though, thanks Hawkeye fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Sep 6, 2011 |
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Sep 6, 2011 02:44
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I don't know what she has in your price range for rentals, but this realtor has been very good for us selling our condo in Boston. She knows the area very well and even answered her phone when I had questions while she was on vacation. I know she does do some rentals. http://www.bentorealestate.com
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Sep 6, 2011 21:37
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Hawkeye posted:I'll be working at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Postdoc), and sharing a place with my wife who will be looking for a job in the area. My future boss told me his other postdocs tend to live in Brighton/Allston, Brookline, or Cambridge. This is by nature a temp job so we are interested in renting. If I were you, I'd seriously consider Jamaica Plain. JP Center, especially.
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Sep 7, 2011 03:40
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Yea, you didn't say exactly what you were looking for, but you can almost certainly get a 2bd in JP for $1400, and probably a nice 3bd (or posh 2bd) for $1700.
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Sep 7, 2011 15:16
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I'll make sure we keep JP in our searches, thanks!
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Sep 7, 2011 23:29
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I wish that I could move back to JP, we were down by the pond over labor day and the whole area is just so nice.  Our current place is a nightmare, so it looks like we'll be moving again (in February). Apartment hunting with both kids and pets is a real headache. Growing up was the worst housing decision I ever made!
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Sep 8, 2011 22:49
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I've been living on my own (with a high-school friend roommate) since July 15th, doing our thing while attending college. Currently we pay $865 a month (split between us) for a 2 Bedroom 2 bath with an above average gym / pools, and we have our water as part of our monthly rent. Make sure whenever you are getting any kind of deals or specials to write them down multiple times. I had to talk with the office that is basically my landlord about a university specific deal that I almost completely forgot about if I didn't get it written down on the front of our lease. When searching for my apartment, it was all about sitting down with the staff / landlord and talking or touring. It gave me a really good sense on how they treated their residence and how life can be on a day-to-day basis. Touring to make sure it looks just as good as the pictures on their site is essential. Also, living in an apartment has given me the chance to do some exercising when I sorely need it. Best idea for goons: buy a bike to check the mail with. For me I have to go to the front of the complex to check my mail, which lets me walk or ride my bike to pick it up. Doing this on a daily basis and spending some time at the gym is helping.
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Sep 20, 2011 11:22
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The ceiling in my apartment suffered some minor damage during hurricane Irene. I called and let the property management people know about it right away, but they have been kind of dragging their feet about coming to look at/fix it. Since then every rain storm has made it a little worse, I am going to take pictures of it and email them today to try and get them moving on it any sort of suggestions on how I can word it better?
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Sep 20, 2011 15:17
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Thumposaurus posted:The ceiling in my apartment suffered some minor damage during hurricane Irene. Whaaat they haven't fixed that yet? Is there actually water coming in? If all you're doing is calling then they'll keep dragging their feet. To a lot of these companies nothing is "real" until it's in writing (email is not writing). Send them a certified letter, include as much detail as you can with so you have a written and dated record of complaint. Make sure to mention that this is affecting the "habitablity of the unit". If they still don't do poo poo it might be time to look up the local housing authority and file a complaint. This may lead to the building being condemned so beware.
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Sep 20, 2011 15:50
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How bad is it? You can always let them know that you are concerned that the leak affects the habitility of the apartment, and that unless it is fixed you will be contacting the Sanitation Department to send an inspector around. Generally no landlord/management wants this, so it might set a fire under them. On the other hand if its not any real damage it might not be enough for an inspector to care about.
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Sep 20, 2011 15:54
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This question is a bit different but I don't know where else to ask: I'm looking for a bean bag chair or other comfortable sitting device that is good for watching tv, reading, napping, etc. Something a bit on the firm side would be nice to provide back support as I have some pain there. I don't have a price range in mind cause I don't know how much things like this cost, but I'm open to any suggestions you guys have. Thanks.
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Oct 1, 2011 07:09
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NuclearGuru posted:This question is a bit different but I don't know where else to ask: I'm looking for a bean bag chair or other comfortable sitting device that is good for watching tv, reading, napping, etc. Something a bit on the firm side would be nice to provide back support as I have some pain there. A bit late, but have you tried a butterfly chair? I don't know if it would actually be good for your back but they're very comfy.
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Oct 6, 2011 03:30
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Hey, so after a quick search this seems to be kind of a general-ish Apartment thread. My question: first flooding experience today, water squishing up from under the carpet likely due to the heavy rains. It's 2AM, but the maintenance guy came out and is trying to hunt down the problem. I, in true goon fashion had googled "apartment flooding what do" earlier and I asked the guy if they'd replace the carpet or not. He said since it's a synthetic carpet, there's no mildew/mold issues to be had, and that a carpet company "Extracting" + dehumidifier/blowing/dry would be enough. True/false? I just feel uneasy knowing that lovely tepid water has seeped under a good amount of the carpet (the leak is actually straddling my bathroom and room, so at least half the water is on tile) and would prefer it be replaced. Worth pushing the apartment manager for, or is that cleaning process described above really enough? I'm a baby goon and this is my first flood experience, so sorry in advance for being dumb. 
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Oct 20, 2011 07:14
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Any recommendations for good mattress bags? The few I saw on Amazon had less than stellar reviews. I'll be moving across country and my bed will likely be in some kind of storage for about a month, so I'd something to protect for that long. I'm thinking something thick (3+ mils?) with a good way to seal (zipper would be fine) and possibly handles. What comes close to that? Also, any opinions of U-Pack moving (http://www.upack.com)? I like the idea of packing my own trailer but not having to drive it. I looked into PODS but they don't deliver to my destination.
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Nov 9, 2011 20:15
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Cheesus posted:Also, any opinions of U-Pack moving (http://www.upack.com)? I like the idea of packing my own trailer but not having to drive it. I looked into PODS but they don't deliver to my destination. I've used them myself once, and helped my sister move using them once. No issues either time. We did the version where we packed/unpacked it at their facility both times rather than the drop off/pick up service though, so I can't speak to that portion. The stuff all arrived on time and the staff were very nice and easy to deal with in all cases. Nothing was broken, although some of my stuff did fall over (but my fault for how it was packed, and all lightweight/unbreakable stuff). It was not only my cheapest option, but also meant I did not need to drive a giant truck 1500 miles, which was great.
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Nov 9, 2011 20:24
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I recently moved out of an apartment in Washington state and left the place pretty much as I found it minus some normal wear and tear. A few stains on the carpet, maybe a couple of thumbtack holes in the wall etc. So today to my surprise I was sent a letter at my new address and instead of opening it and finding my deposit refund I received a bill for over 1,000 dollars. The landlord is claiming that I ruined the carpet (which already had cigarette burns when I moved in), that they needed to repaint the entire unit (Doesn't specify why), and other tiny charges that are completely absurd. I know that I SHOULD have taken pictures when I moved in and moved out but I messed up and didn't do so. At this point what do I do? Is there any way to contest this or am I pretty much screwed? I have people that helped me move out including other tenants that live in the same building that would write letters regarding the state of the apartment when I moved in but other than that I don't really know what to do. Thanks. edit: Some of the charges on the receipt are totally nonsensical as well, for example: Carpet Cleaning 6 Hours at 25$ per hour= 150.00 followed by Carpet needs replacing 3 years left : 342.00 Why would you clean a carpet for 6 hours if you were going to replace it?
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Nov 13, 2011 22:58
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You should look at your lease, and then at whatever tenant resources you can find for your state/city/etc. I have no idea what Washington state is like, but many states and cities have pretty good tenant protection laws to address this sort of thing. For instance, I live in Massachusetts, and there are very strict laws about handling security deposits. If the landlord violates any of them, you are entitled to your full deposit back (and sometimes triple the deposit) even if there were legitimate damages! After a quick look, how long did it take them to send you this bill? If it was more than 14 days, you can probably recover your deposit. When you moved in, did you receive a statement of condition for the apartment? The landlord was required to issue you one, and if they didn't they have no right to retain your deposit. The reality is that many landlords will send out some bullshit 'oh yea we're keeping your deposit' letter, knowing that 90% of people will grit their teeth and walk away from it, even where that isn't legal. If you think your landlord is just scummy, letting them know that you're prepared to fight the issue will frequently make them fold - it's often not worth their time to have to go to court for the amount of money, and many landlords know that their bullshit will fall down in court. The flip side of this is that you have to actually be willing to drag them into court. Try and find a good local resource for tenant help - maybe even call your regional bar association and see if you can get a free referral to speak to a lawyer - and they send your landlord a letter saying 'These items are normal wear and tear on the apartment, and additionally I have consulted with an attorney and believe you are in breach of X and Y. Where's my money, honey!' Edit: Looking at your summary, I think that 'Carpet needs replacing, three years left' actually means that they are saying that they will need to replace the carpet in ~3 years, and they are charging you for the amount the carpet has depreciated over your tenancy - ie, if they re-carpet every five years, and it costs $1000, they would charge tenants $200 a year to cover this cost. This is total bullshit, because its exactly what is meant by 'normal wear and tear'. They get to charge you for making GBS threads on the carpet or tearing it up, not for walking on it. Ashcans fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Nov 14, 2011 |
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Nov 14, 2011 15:28
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Ashcans posted:Edit: Looking at your summary, I think that 'Carpet needs replacing, three years left' actually means that they are saying that they will need to replace the carpet in ~3 years, and they are charging you for the amount the carpet has depreciated over your tenancy - ie, if they re-carpet every five years, and it costs $1000, they would charge tenants $200 a year to cover this cost. This is total bullshit, because its exactly what is meant by 'normal wear and tear'. They get to charge you for making GBS threads on the carpet or tearing it up, not for walking on it. Not exactly. What it means is that they have a set lifespan for the carpet (in my experience, 7 years is pretty normal), and that they had to replace it 3 years early, so they charged 3/7ths of the total cost to the tenant. Automatic, I have been in similar situations the last 2 times I moved out, and some research plus a few certified letters have resolved the issues to my satisfaction. Like Ashcans says, most of the time they're just writing to see if you're motivated enough to call them on it, and if so, they'll make a deal.
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Nov 14, 2011 16:06
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I'm going to be moving from a house that I own into an apartment in a different state. In many of the rental listings, I see a request/requirement for rental references. Even if I can remember the name of the company I last rented from, it was over 6 years ago. What's an equivalent documentation that a typical landlord might accept that I could prepare for?
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Nov 15, 2011 18:56
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Cheesus posted:Any recommendations for good mattress bags? The few I saw on Amazon had less than stellar reviews. Take a strap and lie it on the ground. Upend the matress onto the strap. You and friend grab ends of strap. Lift mattress by lifting strap with one hand and balancing with other. If you are planning mini-storing any upolstered furniture look into buying some stretch film (like they use on pallets) to cover the fabric bits and keep them from getting soiled. You can get it at U-Haul too. Don't use it on leather though because leather sweats and will discolor. Cheesus posted:Also, any opinions of U-Pack moving (http://www.upack.com)? I like the idea of packing my own trailer but not having to drive it. I looked into PODS but they don't deliver to my destination. On that note it should be pointed out that temp guys aren't trained movers. I know they say they are, but they aren't. They're temps. They will break things. They do not know what they are doing. Use them only as a last resort.
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Nov 17, 2011 05:31
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movax posted:Hey, so after a quick search this seems to be kind of a general-ish Apartment thread. As long as it's not sewage, then its just a matter of drying it quickly. Generally the carpet cleaning guys will put down a mold inhibitor as well. Mold generally takes 24-48 hours to appear, which is enough time to get the carpet dried out. Make sure you leave the fans/dehumidifier on if they left them behind.
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Nov 17, 2011 21:34
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How seriously should I take these apartment reviews online? Obviously the people with complaints are more likely to post about them, but it seems that every single apartment complex within a 20 mile radius of where I want to live is an absolute shithole. This is my first time apartment hunting and it's been a headache, I just want to find a place and get it over with.
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Nov 21, 2011 15:26
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:How seriously should I take these apartment reviews online? Obviously the people with complaints are more likely to post about them, but it seems that every single apartment complex within a 20 mile radius of where I want to live is an absolute shithole. You really have to go and look at apartments in person. Few people who like their apartments go and post about it online, especially if it's just okay and not THE BEST APARTMENT EVER FREE COOKIES EVERY DAY or something. Use the web for price & amenity comparison; use your eyes and word of mouth for actual evaluation. If you're not shy, it can be a good idea to ask current tenants how they feel about the place when you go and visit it. This is awkward if the landlord is with you though. Oh, and bear in mind that the online reviews may be a couple of years old and reflect different management situations.
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Nov 21, 2011 15:31
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Eggplant Wizard posted:You really have to go and look at apartments in person. Few people who like their apartments go and post about it online, especially if it's just okay and not THE BEST APARTMENT EVER FREE COOKIES EVERY DAY or something. Use the web for price & amenity comparison; use your eyes and word of mouth for actual evaluation. If you're not shy, it can be a good idea to ask current tenants how they feel about the place when you go and visit it. This is awkward if the landlord is with you though. Oh, and bear in mind that the online reviews may be a couple of years old and reflect different management situations. Thanks, that's what I figured. We checked out the apartment Friday and everything looks nice, but maybe I'll go back and try to talk to a few current tenants. The apartment we will be moving in to is not going to be vacated until December 6th. I assume it's standard to request to look at the actual unit we will be living in before signing the lease?
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Nov 21, 2011 17:07
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I'm moving cross country in July-ish. I'm not taking any furniture with me- just books, clothes, other misc things. I'm thinking it would probably make more sense to ship the stuff with UPS or FedEx or something instead of getting movers, but what the hell do I know. Advice?
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Nov 21, 2011 17:09
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An observer posted:I'm moving cross country in July-ish. I'm not taking any furniture with me- just books, clothes, other misc things. I'm thinking it would probably make more sense to ship the stuff with UPS or FedEx or something instead of getting movers, but what the hell do I know. Advice? I did this last year in July and shipped everything USPS because it was cheapest. I only had two boxes where items inside got damaged and they were pretty predictable (pictures with glass in the frames and my computer tower). In both cases my packaging was not as good as it could have been. Honestly, which how UPS treats packages here I'm not sure they would have done better, and I didn't having anything worth enough to me to both paying the FedEx price. One tip: Pack all the books/DVDs/CDs together and you can ship them media mail for a lot less. If you put other stuff in with them they don't qualify and you will have to pay normal shipping rates. Media mail can take longer, though for me it arrived at the same time as the other stuff. I saved at least $50 (and probably closer to $100) shipping my books and movies via media mail. If you have an address in advance of when you move (like a friend who will let you send the stuff to their place) it makes it a bit easier. I was able to send stuff over a 2 month period before the move. Are you driving or flying to get yourself there? I had to drive my car and dog with me so I sold or shipped everything that would not fit in the car with me. I spend less than half what I would have to get a uhaul and about a third what it would have cost to get movers, and was just able to drive my own car for the move, which was a lot more comfortable. It also let me hold on to fragile things and not risk them getting busted up in shipping. If I had it to do over again I'd have brought the computer tower with me this way.
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Nov 21, 2011 21:51
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I do have an address. I'm also flying over, but I don't own anything breakable that I can't bring with me (laptop, external HD, few mugs). Thanks for the tips!
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Nov 21, 2011 23:30
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:The apartment we will be moving in to is not going to be vacated until December 6th. I assume it's standard to request to look at the actual unit we will be living in before signing the lease? Don't request - DEMAND to see the actual unit you'll be signing a lease for. If the landlords even give you the faintest hint of the runaround on this, walk away, because that means you've only seen a show unit and the one they're trying to foist off on you is very likely to be in much worse condition.
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Nov 22, 2011 00:40
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Eggplant Wizard posted:You really have to go and look at apartments in person. Few people who like their apartments go and post about it online, especially if it's just okay and not THE BEST APARTMENT EVER FREE COOKIES EVERY DAY or something. Use the web for price & amenity comparison; use your eyes and word of mouth for actual evaluation. If you're not shy, it can be a good idea to ask current tenants how they feel about the place when you go and visit it. This is awkward if the landlord is with you though. Oh, and bear in mind that the online reviews may be a couple of years old and reflect different management situations. The only thing that they are good for is finding out if there are any SERIOUS problems. Serious, in that you'll see multiple reviews saying similar things over a period of time. For instance, one apartment I was interested in, there were at least 10 reviews mentioning a mold and bed-bug problem for everyone one that said the place was OK. Naturally, that shook me a bit. You just have to be careful. Most of it are people who have petty issues that they didn't deal with and decided to post a bad review.
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Nov 22, 2011 14:12
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To the folks that recommended JP center: Thanks! We got a nice place that is just off of center street, and we can actually see the pond from our living room. The price was better than we thought it would be too, though a little smaller than we had hoped (1.5 bedrooms instead of 2).
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Dec 3, 2011 23:39
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Seems like I have a problem to look forward to. Not sure if this would be better suited to the legal questions thread, but I'll try here first. I have just discovered that our landlord is in foreclosure. Apparently her mortgage holder filed against her in November. Now, our lease is up at the end of February and we were already intending to move, and I assume that the foreclosure process will take longer than that so she'll still be the owner when we move out. My concern is that I really doubt we'll be able to get our security deposit back. I know for a fact that she has messed around with the deposit account (taking money out and then putting it back a few weeks later, stuff like that) and we already expected her to fabricate a list of damages against us. We'd already been planning having to take her to court to get it back. My concern now is that even if we do that and win (we will), she's going to be broke and imminently homeless, so we'll never be able to collect on the judgement. So right now, my thinking is that we should just withhold our last month's rent, and instead give her a letter saying, essentially 'We know that you've been loving around with our deposit and aren't going to return it, so we're withholding one month's rent. Suck it.' Withholding rent like this is actually something suggested by MassLegalHelp. Has anyone done this or have any thoughts about it? We're in Boston, MA.
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Dec 8, 2011 16:56
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Well if she is comingling operational funds with the escrow account, that rises to the level of criminal. It doesn't matter that she can't pay her mortgage; she won't go to jail for that. But escrow accounts are someone else's money (yours) and that's another whole level of bad poo poo. Even if there is no money in the escrow account, she still owes you that money (or whoever the trustee is in the foreclosure does). Withholding rent because you anticipate a problem with your security deposit is a really bad idea. A lot of laws don't allow you to withhold rent, and certainly you can't do it in an anticipatory sense. Instead, take pictures of the condition of the unit and document everything. If you fail to pay rent and they sue for eviction, telling the judge that you didn't pay because you thought you'd get screwed out of your deposit will get you laughed out of court and your credit wrecked.
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Dec 8, 2011 17:40
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Isn't it true that if the landlord even so much as touches your deposit, you are entitled to the full amount regardless of cleaning fees and whatever? At least I think it is this way in my state.
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Dec 8, 2011 17:45
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Drunk Tomato posted:Isn't it true that if the landlord even so much as touches your deposit, you are entitled to the full amount regardless of cleaning fees and whatever? At least I think it is this way in my state. That probably varies from state. And the fact is, you wouldn't really know if they have touched your deposit without an outside audit of their escrow account. Which you wouldn't really find out about unless you see your landlord doing a perp walk on the 6 oclock news.
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Dec 8, 2011 17:54
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Drunk Tomato posted:Isn't it true that if the landlord even so much as touches your deposit, you are entitled to the full amount regardless of cleaning fees and whatever? At least I think it is this way in my state. This is true for Massachusetts, yes. This is why we had already planned on suing her for the deposit if needed and can count on winning - she has already broken the laws about handling a deposit in multiple ways. But this doesn't help with the fact that the money is probably already gone. Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Well if she is comingling operational funds with the escrow account, that rises to the level of criminal. It doesn't matter that she can't pay her mortgage; she won't go to jail for that. But escrow accounts are someone else's money (yours) and that's another whole level of bad poo poo. Even if there is no money in the escrow account, she still owes you that money (or whoever the trustee is in the foreclosure does). Ok, so we take pictures of everything when we move out. She fails to return the security deposit. We sue her for it. We win, get awarded triple damages (standard in Massachusetts). Now what? If she's broke and foreclosed, she just doesn't have this money - how are we supposed to get it? If the foreclosure trustee is responsible, that means I have to try and extract it from Bank of America (who is foreclosing on her). How does that work if we have already moved out before the foreclosure is finalized or granted? If our tenancy has ended before the transfer of property, I don't think they're still liable for it. Under the law it seems like we are already entitled for the return of our full deposit. Should we just sue her for it right now, and get a judgement against her? Can we then say 'You owe us this money, so we're withholding the amount from our rent and calling it even'? Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:That probably varies from state. And the fact is, you wouldn't really know if they have touched your deposit without an outside audit of their escrow account. Which you wouldn't really find out about unless you see your landlord doing a perp walk on the 6 oclock news. I have statements from the bank where the deposit is held that document her transferring funds in and out of the account, and leaving it below the deposit amount. So I am 100% sure that she is mishandling our deposit.
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Dec 8, 2011 19:30
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Out of curiosity, how do you get her bank statements?
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Dec 8, 2011 19:49
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Out of curiosity, how do you get her bank statements? My landlord, who is a really nice person, gave us access to her statements upon signing the lease. This way, we would be able to make sure she wasn't touching the deposit money. Maybe Ashcans is in a similar situation?
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Dec 8, 2011 19:51
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Edit: ^^^ Unfortunately no, she's a total pain to deal with. I have actually shown the statements to a lawyer we talked to about some other issues, and he was totally flabbergasted that she actually set up an appropriate holding account for the deposit and then hosed around with it - most lovely landlords just cash the check and never set anything up to hold it. The bank mailed us quarterly statements for the account (addressed to me, at the apartment address). I suppose that might have been a mistake on their part, but I didn't do anything to get them, they just turned up in the mail. Ashcans fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Dec 8, 2011 |
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Dec 8, 2011 19:54
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I am a fat neckbearded goon. Will the wearing of carpet from the computer chair in which I spend far too much time be considered reasonable wear and tear at the end of a 12 month lease? Or will most landlords want to replace the entire floor and take it from my deposit?
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Dec 10, 2011 08:27
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