Finding somewhere to live in Boston

Tip #2: Check Boston.com and the Boston Globe for short- term rentals.

Tip #3: Try looking in the following neighborhoods first, as they are closest to Harvard: Harvard Square (Cambridge), Central Square (Cambridge), Inman Square (Somerville), MIT/Kendall Square (Cambridge), Porter Square (Cambridge/Somerville), Davis Square/Teele Square (Somerville), Harvard Ave (Allston), Watertown (make sure you're on a bus line, though). Anything you find on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Arlington, or Boston will be next to a major bus line that goes into Harvard Square (if you aren't actually in Harvard Square).

Tip #4: Contact the department you're going to be studying with at Harvard and see if they can help you track down a place to live or point you towards an office that can help you.

Tip #5: Check this URL to get an idea of what prices are likely to be. You can try contacting the properties listed here; stick to the ones listed as being in Allston, Cambridge and Boston for maximum ease in getting to the school.

Tip #6: The school may be able to house you for the term. Check with them before signing a lease off-campus, as that will obviously be the most convenient thing for. I found a link for Boston Homestay which seems to specialize in finding housing for international students. You can also try the Harvard University Housing Site if you want to try for something on-campus.

Hope this helps, especially since I spent half an hour putting it together. ;)

Life is clearly going round in circles, as we need to find a 1 bedroom place in Cambridge again. Are we right to think that looking at the start of May is a good idea if trying to find an apartment for July 1st? Anywhere that's good for commuting (pref by foot!) to Harvard that's going to be cheaper/nicer than Central Square?

I don't know how the prices compare, but Inman Square is just as close to Harvard, though a bit more low-key than Central. Porter Square is (if I recall correctly) a bit farther by foot but just one stop out by T. One stop beyond Porter is Davis Square -which, woops isn't in Cambridge but in Somerville- but it has quite a bit going on. Other parts of Cambridge will be cheaper (parts of North Cambridge, maybe some of Cambridgeport)... if you can live without coffeeshops.

Look in these areas in this order:

Harvard Square
Inman Square
Central Square/Cambridgeport
Porter Square
Davis Square
Teele Square
Alewife
Union Square
Allston

Start looking in April with the aim of securing by May 1 for July 1.

^Good list.

One thing to keep in mind, if you find yourself having trouble finding something in Cambridge/Somerville (where demand is high due to Harvard/MIT/Tufts) is that the sleepier towns just to the west/northwest (Watertown, Belmont, and Arlington) are a short bus or T ride (or if you prefer, bike ride) directly out of Harvard Square.

Another thing to keep in mind is that one-bedrooms are not plentiful. Most of the apartments in the Boston area are in double or triple deckers originally built for two or three families, and these usually have a minimum of two bedrooms.

Most of my friends live in Somerville now and as much as I love it, I don't think I could live there unless it was in Davis or right around there. Other parts seem too far removed. Friends of ours live near Teele Square and it just feels really far away. I don't know.

DP's list is good though although I'd probably bump up Union Square. Also, I used to live in Cambridgeport and LOVED it. Then again what do I know? I live in Brighton now.

Thanks for all the advice!

One thing that's a bit worrying is the timing - we can only really visit for a couple of days for apartment hunting, so we were planning on visiting in early May if we need to. That sounds like it might be a bit late - is late April going to be better?

I suggest starting to look through the listings in April and see if you can gauge when the July leases are going to start going at that point; the last time I rented was in 1999 so I don't really remember the timing beyond "earlier is always better" but since you have travel involved, that might not work for you.

Let me see if I can dig up some of the better real estate agencies around here and get you their contact info; they can do the searching/winnowing for you and set up viewings for the window of your visit, with the caveat being that you'll almost certainly have to pay them a fee.

I think early May would be ok. We may be looking to move July 1st too and probably won't look seriously until around then. Sadly, your choices will be limited since there isn't a ton available in July but I'm sure you'll find something. Since you'll be doing the hunting long distance, using an agent is probably not a bad idea.

Allston

i used to live here. when i was last back east i wound up going to a show in allston, it took me all of 40 minutes to be back to remember why i left. my sister still lives in davis square and it was pretty cool. when she went to work me and her boyfriend shook off our hangovers and people watched until he took me to logan. there was a surprising amount of foot traffic for a weekday morning.

You notice Allston is at the bottom of my list.

I should probably include Powderhouse Square and Winter Hill in there just above Allston.

yeah, i think we'd like to live around harvard or inman squares-- not because of the coffee shops but because i think toby is probably going to spend a lot of time going back and forth between home and the office, so a truly minimal commute would help a lot.

interesting about the 1-bedroom thing. i wonder if we'll be able to afford a 2 bedroom, it's pretty crazy looking at rents compared to chicago.

my mom grew up in winter hill. i kind of like it for the paranoid old locals. toby & collete would probably not dig it so much i'm guessing.

collette, my sister's 1 bedroom in davis square is roughly the same size as my 1 bedroom in the ukrainian village (although her's is laid out better) and she pays more than three times what i pay in rent.

be prepared kid!

The perfect area = the neighborhood centered on the intersection of Kirkland/Washington St and Beacon St. I lived there for 2 years and it was completely awesome. 7 minute walk to Harvard, 5 minute walk to Inman, right on the intersection of the 83 (Rindge Ave/Alewife - Central Sq) and 86 (Sullivan Square - Reservoir/Cleveland Circle) bus lines... suwheet.

Use this to get an idea of what you're looking for: http://re.boston.com/rentals/searchindex.asp

That does indeed sound pretty perfect. Last time around I ended up living out near Lechmere, which was a little too far out for easy walking to work, really.

I think at this stage if we find something under $2k/month it's going to feel cheaper than I'm fearing!

kevin, i am scared! maybe we can keep our lovely chicago apartment (the biggest place we'll ever live in, i suspect. seriously) and toby can telecommute. all harvard lectures are done by video these days, aren't they?

i have definitely seen things at or under $2k, toby. they just don't have walls. kidding, i think we'll be able to find something it will just be painfully expensive compared to this year.

If we do move in July we're thinking about East Boston because it's still somewhat affordable, "up and coming", and only three stops to Gov't Ctr. which is where my classes are. It would make my commute between home, work, and school a lot shorter than it is now. The problem is I'm not that familiar with the area. Anyone have any experience or advice?

maybe things have changed (radically) in the 8 years i've been gone but east boston??? easy access to the airport i suppose. maybe orient height or something but i can't imagine maverick square is liveable.

The perfect area = the neighborhood centered on the intersection of Kirkland/Washington St and Beacon St. I lived there for 2 years and it was completely awesome. 7 minute walk to Harvard, 5 minute walk to Inman, right on the intersection of the 83 (Rindge Ave/Alewife - Central Sq) and 86 (Sullivan Square - Reservoir/Cleveland Circle) bus lines... suwheet.

-- HI DERE, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 17:56 (27 minutes ago) Link

I agree -- the Wine and Cheese Cask! I just moved here on Saturday, from a 1BR ($900/mo.) between Union and Inman Sqs. My new place is a 2BR ($1000/mo.) on Washington up towards Union Sq. Found both of these on craigslist, which I spent very little time looking at! There are deals to be had.

x-post - Not kidding! Orient heights yes but also Maverick (that was the t-stop am talking about) are both areas that are attracting a lot of interest right now but that's just it - I don't know enough about it myself. Am still trying to get a feel for it but it has supposedly changed a lot.

that intersection sounds great...

what should i be looking for on craigslist to find that neighborhood?

maverick was where some friends who had serious, intravenous, debilitating drug habits used to go to cop. if i never see it again i'll be fine with that.

I was just looking for some history and found this (http://abostonvignette.blogspot.com/2007/12/east-boston-xii-maverick-landing.html) which looks like it had a lot to do with the change. We have time so we'll go check everything out but it's pretty interesting.

html

Good Colombian food in Mavericks Square.

East Boston is like a Baltimore for the north. I think its hills and waterfront will end up becoming some of the most coveted real estate in Boston at some point in the not too distant future.

I hope you're right--I haven't been out that way for a couple years but last time I was at Maverick there was not a damn thing going on.

Just a thought about Teele Sq. and beyond--kind of a rough go out there if you don't have a car since it's either long walk or annoying bus to get to the red line. Just what I've heard from people who have lived out that way--depends on your tolerance for that stuff and how often you plan on crossing the river.

^^ Definitely. I hate going to our friends' place near Teele Sq. because getting there by public transportation is an ordeal.

ENBB what are the good things to do in Brighton? I live not-far from there but never think to go up and check it out.

All I know of East Boston is that a couple in my WoW guild just moved out of an apartment there because their landlady sold their building to an absentee landlord without telling anyone.

Also:

that intersection sounds great...

what should i be looking for on craigslist to find that neighborhood?

Strictly speaking, it's the border between Inman Square and Harvard Square; look for references to both squares and and Beacon St in the listings.

Search for "Washington St and Beacon St, Somerville, MA" in maps.google.com to get a map of streets in that area you will want to use for reference when scouting potential locations.

great, thanks so much!

http://www.zilpy.com/US/Massachusetts/Suffolk_County/Boston/
http://www.zilpy.com/US/Massachusetts/Middlesex_County/Cambridge/

Useful site for seeing where the low rents are clustered, and what the sweet spots are for apartment size.

I'm tired of that whole "well,I pay cheap rent in New York, so everyone pays cheap rent!" argument. Tell me how to find those places, and I'll believe you it's possible. Unless it's some kind-of "you gotta know someone" BS.

re: Dorchester, I had a girlfriend who moved to Savin Hill and more or less had a nervous breakdown. I think you have to have a pretty high tolerance for weird vibes to live out there. Affordable as hell, but a very different environment from a lot of the places we've been talking about. This can be good or bad depending on what you're up for.

Is she a Brit? Serious question. I’ve noticed its extremely difficult being English and living in Savin Hill.

xpost

i wasn't claiming, by any stretch of the imagination, that everyone pays cheap rent in nyc. i know that my situation was unique (i1st place i got through a broker, after looking at a total of 3 apts., 2nd i got through a friend, and 3rd i got through my job, which meant that i lived above the soup kitchen i ran!), but most of my friends pay reasonable rents for apartments they've gotten through normal channels -- craigslist, friends, etc.

and i have found three affordable places in boston since i've been here, all through craigslist.

I know very little about Dorchester. I am guessing that these nice areas aren't the ones that are traditionally pretty rough? I just googled it to find a map and found this - woah: http://www.universalhub.com/crime/.

I work in Roxbury so I'm not really too far from there.

I would totally live in Dorchester if it weren't for that time I spent an hour staring at the Level 3 Sex Offenders slides on the Boston public access channel and realized nearly all of them live on the same street in Dorchester.

inappropriate lol

I should have added, if anyone is looking for a flatmate starting July I’ll be needing a place. I have no location preferences as long as it is T-accessible but I can only afford $700 a month.

x-post she was not a Brit. Was the difficulty due to the embedded unfriendly Irish people down there?

It just seems like a place where there isn't that high a rate of people moving in and out. Makes it pretty not-welcoming if you're a young college grad kind of striking out on your own, which she was.

Yeah, most of the off-the-boat Irish have populated in Savin Hill because South Boston has gotten too expensive. If you’re white and speak with an accent that doesn’t sound like you’re from the US or Belfast you’ll usually get shit.

Dorchester is very community driven. I imagine it might be difficult moving in without knowing anyone. Gentrification is a huge concern through the neighborhoods.

Not to make this a cultural or racial issue, but, when I first moved to my neighborhood I inquired about the recent violence (e.g. there was a murder on my street the month I moved in) I was told that as long as you’re not a teenager and not black or Irish its likely that you won’t have any trouble. Unfortunately this is often the case. Teenage blacks kill teenage blacks. Teenage Irish kill teenage Irish. If you’re white, Vietnamese or Indian no one gives you trouble.

Hey, here's a hilarious question that probably doesn't have an answer: month-to-month housing in Boston, do it exist?

Yes, but it's super-stupid-rare.

And often expensive and/or shit, in my experience. Room sublets in larger apartments, of the 'my roommate moved out and I need someone to pay rent with me' variety aren't too hard to come by anywhere that students live, but anything livable beyond that is hard to come by unless you're looking to pay multiple thousands a month for your rental.

Some co-operatives will offer membership on a month-to-month basis.

Okay! So! I don't know Boston, but paying "$0" to live in the East Village for 4 years is not "reasonable" and should not be taken as an indication of how to live cheap in NYC!

Also I realize I'm only reading the whole thread b/c I'm bored, so sorry about that, but "Teenage Irish kill teenage Irish. If you’re white...no one gives you trouble"? Really? I thought the Irish were white now. You know, since the Jews are, too.

you've never heard of "the black irish"?

Wait, where do the ones with lace curtains live?

South Shore.

you've never heard of "the black irish"?

Arrr!

what's the difference between the lace curtain irish and the shanty irish?

I dunno, maybe they're like Irish twins?

it's an old disparaging joke.

They're all disparaging jokes.

wtf ChiKev, what's the punchline to your joke? i want to go out and get hospitalized tonight and i need some A Grade material.

Laurel if you knew Boston you would know exactly what Goodman was talking about.

the lace curtain irish take the dishes out before pissing in the sink.

that might just do the trick.

I don't know Boston, but I have known people from Boston and Irish people from Boston and I must say I was unaware that someone could in all seriousness refer to them as non-white in the 21st century.

i've always found it to be self-referential. it's almost like being irish transcends (or maybe trumps is a better word) being white.

Could you not have just read "white" as "non-Irish white" and been done with it? FFS, my ILX posts are not copy-edited and I don't think I'm alone.

Could you not have just read "white" as "non-Irish white" and been done with it? FFS, my ILX posts are not copy-edited and I don't think I'm alone.

Thank you.

I had a month-to-month lease six or seven years back, but it was in a pretty awful area of JP. I lasted two months.

But a friend of mine has been in two apartments the past two years, and they were both month-to-monthers. I think they were both from craigslist.

A co-worker has an apartment in Boston that she offers for rent.

if I end up needing to do this, I would only need it for two months. Boyfriend did a month-to-month a while back; the place was a total shithole. I just want to know if I should even bother.

Anyone who pays more than $0 to live in the East Village is a total sell-out! Everyone knows that. I won't even look at a place for rent in NYC if it is listed at over 50 cents.

fuckin' a right! my friend j. (raised in dorchester) has lived on 11th street between a & b for the past eight years, rent-free. for some reason his landlord stopped cashing his rent checks after a few months; he hasn't disappeared completely, but he has not asked for rent $ ... i'm not alone.

whatever - i don't mind the sarcasm (i've never paid crazy rent!), but you seem to miss my point. i know that these situations are anomalies, but deals do exist. just gotta be patient & flexible & talk to everyone you know.

so is somerville no longer a deal? we looked at apts this weekend and there really didn't seem to be anything affordable within walking distance of a t. looked mainly in davis sqaure area - $1600 for a one bdrm seemed to be all that was available - is that normal? was weird b/c friends told me that somerville is where cheap rent tends to be

ended up finding a place in brighton, basically right over the brookline border. cleveland circle area, basically a block over from beacon street. i'm very happy as i'm less than a mile from the 1.) publick house 2.) whole foods 3.) several different t stops, even tho it's on the green which people tell me is the worst one? is that true?

still trying to get my bearings in boston, realize i don't know much about the city at all. somerville & cambridge are actually separate cities from boston, right? same with brighton, brookline, allston, etc? is boston proper actually pretty small?

Somerville next to the T is going to suck as far as rents are concerned, ESPECIALLY Davis Square; you need to go to the bus lines (Ball Square, Winter Hill, Union Square, Teele Square, Powderhouse Square) to find the deals.

The green line sucks ass unless you take the D line. My wife used to live in that exact neighborhood in Cleveland Circle (Strathmore Rd, to be precise) and the B line is almost literally the end of the world; it will EASILY take you an hour to get to Park Street in the mornings whereas the D is more like 15 - 20 minutes.

Somerville, Camridge and Brookline are their own municipalities;. The other named "neighborhoods" (Allston, Brighton, Roxbury, Dorchester, Charleston, South Boston, East Boston) are not; they are officially part of the city of Boston proper. See here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston

you should've been able to find two bedrooms near davis for like $1400--at least that's what my gf pays.

anyway congrats, that's a nice area. abt a 25 minute walk from me. ppl say green line is "worst" cause it competes with street traffic and is crowded a lot, but it's great to be on it because you have a straight shot into the city and from where you are you can get buses to cambridge easily. the c line also rules in comparison to the b line, so you've got that.

Like Dan, I do know people in Sommerville with cheap rent but they're not within walking distance of the T.

several different t stops, even tho it's on the green which people tell me is the worst one? is that true?

Yeah - green line does have it's drawbacks but you're near the C, right? Much better than the B. You can even walk over to the D on the other side of Cleaveland Circle for the quickest route into town.

I lived in that are for a total of 5 years combined and liked it a lot. You probably will too.

Live in East Boston now and pay $1225 for a really nice and big 2 bedroom. It's a ten min walk to the T and then three stops into Gov Ctr. Not much happening in the area but that's slowly changing as three new restaurants/cafes are opening this summer. I really love living there. Just my little plug for Eastie in case any other apt hunters read this.

Oh yeah, am also one block away from this:

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3035070.jpg

that's cool! closest stop is C, yea, tho the D seemed right near by

xp - cool, thanks! was wondering about buses, too, at least in dc where i used to live i tended to prefer them to the metro for a lot of neighborhoods

xxp - strathmore's my street actually

Yeah - the D might really be your best bet! I used to take it sometimes even though I lived over by Comm Ave just because I preferred the walk to the endless stops on the B.

strathmore's my street actually

looool I am kind of convinced that half of Boston has either lived on Strathmore or has friends who have.

The only "living in Eastie" story I've heard is from a couple in my WoW guild; their landlord was collecting rent as a proxy and was not actually turning it over to the owner of the building, which led to the owner defaulting on the mortgage and attempting to sue them for rent they'd already paid. Once the story was untangled, the proxy had disappeared.

OTOH, I also saw an absolutely palatial $1M home there with practically every silly technological luxury you can imagine.

I had friends who did.

Yeah, I think you told me that story before. To be honest there are still some really depressed parts of Eastie but much of it is changing and my area (http://eastboston.povo.com/Jeffries_Point) is pretty awesome. They're renovating and building tons of new stuff. There is a brownstone across the street that is AMAZING. IT's a loft apt with a back deck, POOL, skyline views and all the luxuries etc. and it's actually affordable. Not for me atm but in terms of Boston real estate etc. it's an absolute steal.

My rent in Somerville was $520, and I lived under 10 minutes from the T, so it is still a deal - however, I also lived with multiple roommates. I think it's much easier to find cheap rent near Davis if you're willing to share in a two family house than if you're looking for a 1 or 2 bedroom.

And that is a gorgeous park to live near.

haha I told a more cogent version of this story upthread, lol (I knew I'd fogotten some details)

Oh man now I'm trying to find pics of this place because it's RIDICULOUS but I have to leave and go to an INTERVIEW :-). Will try to find later if poss.

good luck!

whew all moved in, finally. started new job, grad school classes start this week, only couple of boxes left to unpack. new neighborhood seems pretty cool, tho i was seriously shocked how many students live in this city despite knowing that there were some 50 schools here. sept 1 move-in date was hellish, trucks/students/boxes/furniture everywhere

welcome! meant to ask if you had made it. i think we now need to make ilx boston fap happen.