Boston Apartment Deals

MA Apartment Rebates 101

Jay — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Before you start looking for an apartment you should find yourself a rebate to save some money after signing your lease. There are a few options out there thanks to the internet, and we're going to try to explain the benefits of each.

First things first: what is a rebate (in rental terms)?

A rebate is money back to you, the renter, once you have signed a lease. It can come from a variety of places. For instance, you found an apartment on Craigslist.org and it is under the category "For Rent by Broker: FEE." This means that when you sign your lease you will owe one month's rent to the broker listing the apartment. Now if you are to take a locator like Eleven Park Realty with you, they will split that month's rent with the listing broker and will give you back $200 for your business. Sounds like a good deal right? Well it gets better.

If the apartment is listed as "For Rent by Broker: No Fee" the same scenerio will happen except that the landlord will pay the fee for you and your locator will pay you for your business, in which case it is free money. And even better:

If you choose a luxury apartment complex like Archstone, Park Lane Seaport, Dexter Park, or virtually any complex in Boston; you can use a locator/agent/or referring website to get paid even more for your business. You should seek the most lucrative deals in these situations because your locator/agent/or referring website is paid directly by the apartment complex for your business and does not have to share this with a "listing broker" like in the previous examples. Here is a diagram to further explain:

Typically you will be paid 30 days after moving in to your new pad because landlords and luxury apartment complexes want to be sure that you will continue to pay the rent before they pay your locator/agent/referring website for your business.

Where can you find rebates?

You could start by trying a website like rent.com which offers you $100 on any apartment found from their website. All they want you to do is tell whoever you go to when you view the apartment that you found it on Rent.com and they will send you a check (or gift certificate in some states) 30 days or so after moving in.

Or you could use a new apartment locator service from Eleven Park Realty, where you fill out their form found here, and they will go on appointments with you to view apartments and offer you $500 on all luxury buildings and $200 on any other rental ("fee" or "no fee"). This is a useful service because not only do you get a generous rebate that is unmatched by anyone else in the business, but you get face-to-face help from an experienced real estate agent.

One word of caution, whoever it is that you choose, be sure that the rebate agreement is in writing so that you are sure how much you will be paid and when. Good luck apartment hunting!

My 2008 Luxury Living Award: Archstone Boston Commons

Jay — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:31:00 +0000

I've created an unofficial new award called, the "Luxury Living Award" and my first winner in 2008 is the Archstone Boston Commons.

Not only will the Archstone exceed your every need in terms of luxurious amenities and extensive services, they have just become more affordable for the Winter '08 season!

Here's what they're offering right now:

One Month Free on all 12 month leases;
Up to $250 off rent (leases starting by Jan. 31st);
Waived $750 Amenities fee;
No upfront costs besides first month's rent

Add this to Eleven Park Realty's rebate, aka "free money program" and you'll get an additional $750...totaling over $3,000 in savings.

If you're going to live in a luxury building in Boston, you would be crazy not to give a serious look into the brand new-never-lived-in-apartments at Archstone Boston Commons.

Make sure you go through Eleven Park Realty for the additional $750 savings.

Internet breaking down barriers...My 2017 predictions

Jay — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:46:00 +0000

Nobody planned for this. Things were going so well in the 90's and early 2000's: musicians were selling albums at all time high levels, tv shows could only be seen on TV, and real estate agents were being paid ridiculously high commissions. So what happened? The internet challenged us to change with it and so far there are some major industries that have been left in the dust.

Industry #1: MUSIC/Entertainment

First there was Napster, then there was Limewire, Kazaa and the other peer to peer sites that allowed users to share copyrighted music putting tons of Strawberries and music stores out of business. Then there was the explosion of Youtube. Music and entertainment industry giants Viacom and Virgin Records have led the charge in making sure that change did not continue on this path, and in the 5+ years of fighting it what has been accomplished?

Nothing. Limewire continues to serve up its users free software, music, videos and documents while Youtube continually removes "copyrighted" videos but other smaller sites still deliver movies and TV shows for free. So what can be done to solve this? Follow the demand. In "efficient markets" things seem to have a way of figuring themselves out. Products become obsolete and entire industries can become extinct but will lead to new industries and opportunities.

My Prediction for the Music/Entertainment industry in 2017 is this:

Free music will finally be the norm for musicians. Viacom and Virgin will give up their stance on copyright infringement and settle for a good price with Youtube. Nobody will be willing to pay for a CD, for an Itunes song, or even for satellite radio. You will be able to download your music straight from the website of your favorite bands. Sure you'll probably be "up-sold" on buying band merchandise or upcoming concert tickets, but you won't have to spend a dime to listen to their newest stuff and download it to your phone (which is now your primary mp3 player and mobile computer).

TV will finally hit the internet on a mainstream basis. Google will have tried it first, but ultimately it will be a cable company who makes it stick. Utilizing data that the company has gathered about its customers for 25+ years, they will understand what they are looking for in television much better than Google. Not to mention, by this time Google will be the most hated company on the planet (if not sooner), and major corporations will choose to advertise on the less greedy search giants Ask.com and Yahoo! thus bankrupting Google's TV venture.

Industry #2 REAL ESTATE

In case you haven't noticed there is a sizable rift in how real estate is presented to the general public. You've got your 30+ year old MLS (multiple listing service) providing information about properties listed by agents--for agents--while leaving out vital information to the general public (and anybody who is not a paying member), you've got Craigslist--an unorganized solution to MLS's dominance, Kijiji (aka Craigslist cleaned up), Zillow--who is ahead of its time, and of course Realtor.com which serves up the MLS listings to the general public. In a world where information is easy to get and even restaurant kitchens are open to the public, you've got to wonder how long the MLS cartel will last. You've also got to wonder how long buyers and sellers will use agents if they continue to charge such high fees. The internet is the place where 80% of homebuyers find their future homes, what value would agents bring if weren't for their privileged access to MLS.

Prediction for the Real Estate industry in 2017:

More Real Estate agencies will copy the Iggys House model allowing people to list for free on MLS, thus de-valuing the service and finally leading to its demise. Buyer's agents still exist and will thrive on internet marketing. However, on the listing side, sellers will figure out a way to reach the 80% of buyers looking on the internet themselves without using a listing agent. Virtual tours will improve and online auctions will gain market share with buyers signing closing papers online and "site unseen." Our confidence in internet security will improve to a level where online closings will be the norm.

Have predictions for any other industries in 2017? Comment below or email me your article and I will post it.

National Association of Realtors (NAR) Commercials

Jay — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:21:00 +0000

Has anyone else noticed that the NAR (National Association of Realtors) is advertising on national TV as a sponsor of Major League Baseball? This ought to send off red flags to my fellow realtors who may mistakenly see this as a positive thing. I see these commercials as a sign of the beginning to an end...Luckily I play for the good guys (the "discount" brokers).

It seems to me that the bearer of only the good news in Real Estate, aka the NAR, is feeling the crunch more than we think. (I call them the bearer of good news because despite the obviously failing market, they continue in their attempts to deceive the public by sending the message that "things are looking up for real estate," while famed economists say otherwise). Why else would realtors need to collectively advertise the usefulness of their profession?

I'll tell you why...and it's even more painstakingly obvious now as buyers and sellers can't afford to pay their high fees:

They don't deserve the thousands of dollars that they have been receiving for what they do! (see previous post: 8/19/07). The NAR realizes that a selective group of their own flesh and blood has turned the tables on them and they must reinvent themselves to survive (hence the cheesy commercials). This group of "villains" consists of discounters, zestimators/zillower's, and most recently the Freebie Seller's Brokers. As an owner of one of the companies in this category, I was proud to see the discomfort that our existence has brought to the NAR-evidenced by these national commercials. As companies like Redfin and Iggy's House begin to take a national spotlight as discounters they inadvertently send the message that you would have to be a fool to pay full commission to a real estate broker. Although this statement is true, the NAR has begun to continue its deception of the general public by offering commercials to show buyers and sellers that "yes, a smiling woman on a tv screen will be worth the extra $15,000 when I buy or sell a home."

I don't know about my fellow discounters but I say BRING ON THE CHEESY COMMERCIALS!

Real Estate Agents and service business FLUFF

Jay — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:43:00 +0000

I have been cognisant of the fluffery surrounding all service businesses for a while now, but have never seen it used as much as I have in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry. I am a Broker and have been for only 3 years, and I typically work on rentals and sales as a renter/buyer representative. I'd like to share with you the truth about some of the fluffery that brokers will tell you to get you to use them rather than using a "discounter" like myself.

EXPERIENCE. This is the first thing you will hear about a brokerage when you sign up with them. They all want to tell you how many years they have under their belt, how many transactions they've closed, and how valuable this experience will be in helping you make up your minds about a place to live (possibly the most important decision of one's life).

Don't get me wrong it's always best to pick someone with a proven track record to help you make such an important decision. However, why do you have to pay a premium for this? You can find this amongst a variety of discounters, the only thing you really have to lose is the commission. Afterall, what will their experience do for you? Will they be any better at searching MLS, Craigslist, bostonapartments.com, etc than the next guy? Probably not. Will they get the paperwork done faster, be more efficient and let you worry about the moving part rather than the over-abundance of paperwork that is a real estate transaction? Maybe in some cases. But you have to decide what this is worth to you. Eleven Park Realty, Redfin, and Exit Realty will allow you to save up to 75% of their commission (which you were likely to pay whether you hired them or not unless you have a relative who's going to hook you up big time) on the purchase of a property, which we all know can amount to 10's of thousands of dollars. I'm not a millionaire, maybe you are and that's great but I am not willing to spend 5-10%+ of my net worth on a broker.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, DISCOUNTERS WON'T HOLD YOUR HAND LIKE WE WILL. This is another point in the debate between discounters and full service brokers. I tend to agree with this one. We feel as discounters that the money that you save is, and should be, priority number one in choosing us as your brokers. Of course there will be some kind of cut in the service that we will provide you, we can't afford to hold your hands like they can. But that's okay. They need to realize that the people who need their hands held, ARE NOT PART OF OUR TARGET MARKET. We expect you to know what is going on, know how to surf the web and find posts like this to educate you on the industry, and most importantly know where your money goes. There's nothing I respect more than when a customer asks me, "How much are you making on this deal?" I wish that people would ask the hard and more awkward questions more often, that way they would know how much money they are handing off to their undeserving broker.

Want more information on how to save money finding an apartment? Visit Eleven Park Realty.

The September 1st rush is almost here...Beat the rush and save money

Jay — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:37:00 +0000

As we all know September 1st is a very busy day for everybody in Boston. I personally will be experiencing it first hand attempting to move with my roommate somewhere in the city. Most people have the whole thing figured out already but I thought that I'd let you know that the luxury buildings in Boston like the Archstone, the Avalon, Dexter Park and Park Lane Seaport still have availability and with Eleven Park Realty you will save up to $1,500 renting at one of these places and more! All you have to do is Contact Us.

What do you think of the look of my blog?

Jay — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:47:00 +0000

This is my first post on my new blog. More to come but please feel free to drop comments. Thanks for visiting!