California-->Davis Sq...help?!

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone!
I'll be graduating from UC Berkeley next month and I'm planning to move to Boston. After ::extensive:: searching, I've absolutely fallen in love with Davis Square! Here's the rub: the same few places keep showing up on Craigslist, and most of them are awful.

Does anyone here know of an apartment opening up for 6/1?

Here's the details from my end:
*as close to the T station as possible... so less than a mile would be ideal
*cat friendly
*1-br (preferably), or studio
*laundry in building, heat included (ideally)
*parking would be awesome, but I can deal either way
*non-basement... it doesn't have to have a zillion windows, but I need SOME light, especially when adjusting to Boston winters! ;)
*I can pay up to $1200... although on a post-college budget, less is obviously better

If you do set me up with a place, I'm thinking some sort of compensation or homemade cookies would definitely be in order :)

Thank you guys in advance. I can't WAIT to move out there and experience all of the amazing stuff that everyone's been posting about on here!!

Comments

[cos]

A lot of leases around here end on May 31st, because so many places have been rented repeatedly to college students. Alot of them are also Sep 1st leases, for the same reason, but often there are people who have Sep 1st leases who are moving out at the end of May and need subletters for the summer months. I've found that a lot of these openings don't get posted until the beginning of May.

Here on davis_square you're a lot more likely to find people who know about openings in 3-5 BR apartments, and some 2's, but probably not many 1's / studios. But keep on looking at craigslist. And if you can, plan to come out here to visit a friend sometime before you move, though perhaps you're out of time for being able to do that.

BTW, you probably already know this, but there seem to be a lot of people in Berkeley who have lived in Davis Square.

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the info. I was hoping more places would get posted in May, it's just scary knowing I'm moving out there but don't yet have a place to go (or a job, but god knows how long that'll take!)

I've been to Davis Square and Boston before, back when I was checking out schools for undergrad, and I loved it :) Anyways, I figured it couldn't hurt to post on here and see if anything popped up!

And I didn't know that about Berkeley transplants, actually. I'm sending out an email to our New England Alumni group, so hopefully someone from there might have a lead.

Thanks again!

[cos]

>> I've been to Davis Square and Boston before, back when I was checking out schools for undergrad, and I loved it :) <<

I figured. I meant, now that you know you want to move here, visit with the explicit purpose of finding a place to live, including via your local friends' social connections. Easier to figure out if their friends-of-friends know of anything, in person.

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

ooh... yeah, no time for that with graduation/finals/thesis and all. I'm gonna be doing a lot of facebook messaging, methinks.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

If you liked Berkeley, you'll love Cambridge. I grew up in Davis/Sacramento/San Francisco, and when I first moved here, I was struck with how familiar Cambridge and Somerville were.

I actually lived in Porter Square when I first moved to this area, still in Somerville but a block from Cambridge. Just another area to try looking in.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

honestly, i would recommend finding a summer sublet with ppl who seem nice enough and then use that time to search for something more permanent. there's going to be a craptop of things listed soon if not already, and it would be much much cheaper, maybe allowing you to save enough to spend a little more for your own place.

1200/mo is doable for about a mile outside davis for a nice 1 bedroom, or a studio closer in. but, that is relatively close to the low end of what's out there.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I would agree with this. Especially don't get sucked into a lease expecting you will get work immediately. It might not work that way.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

this is also way preferable to signing a lease on a place unseen. DON'T do this under any circumstances. A sublet, not such a big deal :)

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

clevernonsense- trust me, after living in berkeley, i'm used to the low end. i'm willing to sacrifice having a nice/new place for convenience, location, and being able to have my cat. Also, I'm lucky enough that if/when I do find a promising place, I have family in Boston who will check it out for me :)

prunesnprisms- I know... luckily, my parents can help on the rent for a while. Either way, I'm going to be actively looking like there's no tomorrow :/

[muckraking.livejournal.com]

Also, consider hiring a real estate agent. (They work on commission, so if you don't find an apartment for you -- it doesn't cost you anything.)

Unlike Berkeley (where I used to live), many landlords do NOT list their apartments on Craigslist. Apartment Rentals Experts (http://www.apartmentrentalexperts.com/) appears to be the largest service in the area. Like any real estate firm, you'll see mixed reviews depending on the agent.

I agree with the comment that you'll probably like Cambridge, too, especially Central Square or Porter Square.

But if you don't have a job yet, I second the recommendation to get a summer sublet first. You might wind up with a job that is a long commute from Davis. And there are other great parts of the city to live in.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

no worries then :) I'd still keep the sublet option in mind. There is such a glut of them for June-Sept that you can often get a great place in a great location for cheap.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

+1 on checking out Cambridge - due to the way town borders work around here parts of Cambridge are closer to Davis than parts of Somerville. There's a bunch of houses between Alewife (end of the Red Line of the T) and Davis - I'm practically on top of Alewife and it takes me about 15 minutes to walk to Davis from here.

Also +1 on the suggestion to sublet with others over the summer, particularly if you don't find anything you really like that fits your requirements.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Maybe http://ase.tufts.edu/och/ (the Tufts off-campus housing office) has some area listings, esp. summer sublets, for you?

Welcome to the area!

[katers5636.livejournal.com]

When I moved here from the midwest last year, I used these guys: http://www.bostonrentalexchange.com/

Not sure that you want to use a broker (more costs, most likely), but if you do need the extra help, they're amazing. They made the transition very easy for me, especially from out of state.

There's also a Boston Housing community here on LJ. It's not nearly has active as this one, but it may have something for you. Good luck, and welcome!

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Yes, I second the suggestion of getting a summer sublet and using the summer to find a place for September 1. It will give you time to check out the city and its various neighborhoods. For 8 years I lived in Spring Hill near Union Square and loved it, thanks to it being convenient to Market Basket (a very cheap grocery store- a good 30% cheaper than Shaws on a lot of staples), the expressway, and a bunch of different places.

Funny thing is that I now live in Winter Hill, only half a mile from my old place, and it's a totally different neighborhood.

And when looking for places, the refresh button for Craigslist is your friend. That's how I scored my ridiculously cheap apartment ahead of the other 50 people who responded to the ad. I was first.

[tequilamckngbrd.livejournal.com]

Just curious, how do you know about Davis Square? Just from finding it on livejournal, or you've visited before?

Check out adjacent neighborhoods

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

One thing to think about when checking out Craigs list: there are a lot of places that might be near Davis but not listed as "Davis Square." Examples are places near Teele Square, Tufts, Porter Square, Ball Square, North Cambridge. It isn't true in every case, but places listed in these locations are usually within a 5-15 minute walk from Davis. For example, the place I'm in now was listed as near Teele and Tufts, but is about an 8 minute walk to the Davis T. When I've looked for apartments in the Davis area, I've usually just looked for places in Somerville, and checked out the locations of each on Google Maps (there's a "walking directions" option you can use to gauge how far away it is). I would say that anything within a half mile or a mile from Davis would be good, depending on how much you'd like to walk (I like to walk a lot, so your mileage may vary).

Good luck! I've only lived in this neighborhood for about 5 and a half years, but I really love it.

[libberding.livejournal.com]

If you're looking at craigslist, be aware that the rental agents have swarmed it. You may see the same apartment listed about 14 times in a row by 3 different companies with all 14 agents showing it all the time. Go for the by-owner filter - often, you'll get a much better deal, and no fee.

Also, FYI: Avoid Maven Realty if you're going the agent direction. The agent I worked with berated me into tears last week because we lost the apartment we were going for and he said it was my fault and blah blah blah, even though he was the one who hesitated to give me the application forms. Like, dude, I get it. I've been having a shitty week. Don't make it worse. Eff you. I've had very good experiences with Apartment Rental Experts, though - they're not pushy bastards.

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

Good to know that about landlords and craigslist.

Definitely looking at Cambridge now.

As for the sublet, I'm open to subletting but I really don't want to live with other people... I just got out of the living situation from hell (seriously, I almost called the cops on my roommate's live-in bf multiple times bc he was so violent, etc.) and I'm very hesitant to go through that again!

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

ooh, that's helpful. Thanks!

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

I visited when I was looking at schools for undergrad a few years ago. I'm no stranger to Boston though, my dad's family is all there :)

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

I was just showing my dad that the other day. Every time I see a promising title, it's something I've seen before.

Thanks for the heads up on Maven. There's really nothing worse than a shitty agent/landlord (aside from shitty roommates!)

Not All of the Agents at Maven are Bad!

[dearsweetbriar.livejournal.com]

We actually got our current place in Union Square through Maven Realty, and the agent (his name is Peter) went above and beyond to get us the apartment of our dreams. He did everything he could with the landlord to broker a fair deal for everyone, and even though the Craigslist ad would have indicated that our timing was off, we moved into the place this weekend. We managed to get this place only through his hard work and kindness! I just hate to see anyone slam Maven since this is the second fabulous experience I've had with them - when I moved to an apartment in Davis four years ago, someone from Maven was the one who helped us get the place, and so when I went back this March, it was no surprise to me that we were treated really well again. One person's bad experience doesn't equal Maven being an awful place, is all I'm saying.

If you don't like a broker, don't work with that individual; it's as simple as that. We were more than happy to give Peter his commission after everything he did for us.

Re: Not All of the Agents at Maven are Bad!

[dearsweetbriar.livejournal.com]

And for what it's worth, my boyfriend had a really awful experience with Apartment Rental Experts nine years ago, and although they landed me my first apartment out of college around that time, too, it wasn't the best experience I've ever had. But that didn't mean we ruled them out after that. I also worked with a great woman with ARE four years ago, but she just couldn't show us what we were looking for; we really wanted her to be able to give our one month's rent, but gawd. And that's actually how we ended up at Maven.

Re: Not All of the Agents at Maven are Bad!

[tequilamckngbrd.livejournal.com]

I moved here from Seattle over 3 and a half years ago, first moving to West Roxbury, then Back Bay, Inman Square, Allston/Brighton, and now two different places within Davis Square. I've went through every real estate agent, none ever found me a place. All of it was through Craigslist. Craigslist is your best bet, or LiveJournal.

[djdreilinger.livejournal.com]

Sympathies—I always end up moving two weeks before my lease is up because I anxiously start looking for apartments too early and find something that couuuuld be stretched to May 15 but not June 1, etc.

When I moved to Somerville in 1999 I went the summer sublet route and thank heavens, because I really didn't have the ability to assess housing stock/people in a new city. Ended up in a great apartment come September with the summer roommates.

And p.s., if anyone knows a 2BR opening up in the Union Squarea for June 1, let me know.

[lz1982.livejournal.com]

I had an issue with them too, although I was looking in Arlington. They found me a studio for $875, I filled out the paperwork and everything--and then the next day they were like, "Oops, it's already rented!" They tried to get me to see another studio for $1100 in Spring Hill--nowhere near where I was interested in--and the realtor tried to convince me that, since it included utilities, it would end up costing the same as the $875 place anyway...

[libberding.livejournal.com]

THIS!

I realize that because any given apartment probably has 4-5 or more agencies listing it, that it's important to do things quickly to get the best deals. But there's no reason to be a dick about it. And when I tell you what I want, I mean "THIS IS WHAT I WANT!" - no, that doesn't mean you can interpret my price ceiling as $500 higher than what I just told you. *facepalm*

[lz1982.livejournal.com]

The worst thing was, the landlord had rented it to his cousin or something even before they showed it to me, so it wasn't like a rival agency had just sold it.

I ended up moving to Quincy--way cheaper and still an easy subway ride to Cambridge and Somerville.

[ominousspectre.livejournal.com]

We have a studio apartment we need to sublet for June/July with the possible option to renew with the landlord. It's $1100 a month, a studio with a ton of light, VERY close to Davis. The apartment has a nook (perfect for a mini office set up) and a separate kitchen (decent size, cute hutch). Heat/hot water is included and our electricity and gas for cooking bills are always under $30. It's not huge, but my boyfriend and I have been able to live here for a while without feeling terribly cramped.

Email is bubblewap@gmail.com

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

no go on the email. is it bubblewRap?

[ominousspectre.livejournal.com]

Yes, sorry, typo. It's bubblewrap@gmail.com

[ominousspectre.livejournal.com]

Also, reading your original list, cats are OK, it's a 3 minute walk from the red line, and there is laundry in the basement.