Fernanda was so great to work with! September rentals are a stressful time for agents and renters alike and it can take a toll. I'm grateful Fernanda was so kind, patient, and responsive. She made me feel respected in a sea of greater Boston renters. read more

If the apartment search isn't bad enough, to have an agent (Al Jean) totally ghost you is so unprofessional. First contact was almost immediate. He responded back on the unit I was inquiring on with the typical questions. I responded with the my search criteria on what I was looking for and told him I would like to see multiple units that were available. Days later, NOTHING!! I followed up with another email to ask how he was making out on any units for me to view. Days later, NOTHING!! Apartment Rental Experts, NOT! Probably better off contacting the listing agent directly instead of using a rental agency, and definitely not this one. read more

Chris Haines was very professional and responsive. He was able to schedule visits promptly and get the documents done quickly. I've lived in Cambridge for 4 years and I've rented both places I lived from Chris. The process was smooth and successful. read more

Alex Szabo was very professional and encouraged us to ask good questions about the unit. He even brought a laser pointer to measure the distance of the rooms in the unit (and play with the current tenants very adorable cat). We would have absolutely continued with him if it were not for the listing we ended up signing with not requiring a broker. read more

Olivia Bittle was such an amazing agent who showed us an amazing apartment, walked through the process with us, and advocated for us to the landlord. She was always incredibly honest, upfront, and incredibly kind. I never felt like she was out to get me or to play games with my time and money. She was quick in responding to our email inquiry, showed me the apartment the next day, and got me and my partner officially signed a day or two later. She was very understanding of our situation, which means a lot because we were relatively green to the apartment shopping and renting process. I truly recommend Apartment Rental Experts and Olivia to all of my friends and colleagues. read more

Fernanda Muhlbeier was our agent who helped us find an apartment in Medford, Boston for the fall of 2023. We were from out-of-town and so could not visit in person. Fernanda spent a lot of time with us showing us the properties on the phone. She also responsibly answered all our questions, taking the time to make sure we were satisfied with the answers. She had good relationships with the landlords and took care of both parties. This made us feel comfortable dealing with her. She went over and above her call-of-duty by coordinating with the landlords and installing our newly delivered air purifier ahead of our move-in. (I have severe allergies) I got COVID within a week of moving in and she bought me a space heater and brought it to the apartment for me. No one can expect this level of service! Fernanda's charges are standard. So, she definitely adds value by going above and beyond what you would expect of an agent! I would strongly recommend Fernanda Muhlbeier! read more

Al is a true and proper a**hole piece of sh*t Was getting off 15 minute phone with lawyer and bank, ready to sign on this great apartment I'd just found, and this guy who I haven't interacted with at all (Al) comes up wearing two bluetooth headsets and says "So are you renting an apartment or making phone calls?!" And I said "Phone calls are part of signing process, and I'm ready to proceed with my agent." He responds, "Are you really? Maybe you want to make some More phone calls here first? Make a sandwich?!" I didn't appreciate his cocky, aggressive, uncalled for behavior towards a client who'd gone from viewing to signing in one day and was ready to proceed with the person I'd been working with, so I said "Please bring me anyone who can take these papers from me, they're all filled and this is the check; if I did need more time I would have taken it." So his response is to ask me if I want to fight, and I responded by saying I just want to sign and leave, to which he responds by taking and destroying my papers and pointing to the door "You're leaving alright," and he practically blacklisted me from the area, telling landlords to not rent to me, saying that I tried to start a fight. Even if he is an a**, he's an old f*ck with connections to the area because he's been working it 20 years, but has decidedly abused this tenure to enact his lunacy over his function of getting people IN to apartments. Maybe the issue is he only handles bad deals and could see I'd be the type to bring issues to court, actually have rights as a renter under the law rather than be shuffled around by this mook, Al. I learned his name after the fact from looking on the company staff list online, reading other bad reviews about him, and then had it reenforced by places "told not to rent to [me] by Al" It really sucks so many landlords use these idiots (just look at all the reviews of similar experience) and that this a game y expects you to pay a whole month broker fee for their horrible service. The agent didn't know anything about a single apartment we visited. Call landlord directly and schedule a private viewing and signing without these brokers, or request a different broker at least read more

I had messaged one of the agents on Facebook market place for a 2 bed .We need laundry private in unit and more. This apt was perfect for us. The rental agent I tracked down to this company rented the apt to someone else. WOW ! I messaged the person again two days ago about another one. Now it says pending never answers me about setting up appts .Let him know that myself and the other person I take care of are in section 8 .Not our fault we have health issues. So they're Clearly bias against ppl on subsidized rent or ppl of color. This place is being reported today to the attorney General in Mass .I'm tierd of this BS being bias against ppl of other races , or disability. Let the RA know we had 3800 to work with for market rent. Apts are clearly available. Wont answer me. Screw this !! read more

Why can't you give zero stars? I showed up with a friend so she could go look at some local apartments. Her real estate agent never showed up. There were two agents (one of them a manager) in the office doing paper work, and they tried to reach him but couldn't. They asked if we could come back another day. We asked if they could show us the property. They said "no, we can't take other agent's clients." She explained she had driven in from out of town, and really wanted to see a few places that night. They still declined. We walked out of there and never looked back. read more

Anytime I see an apartment listed by Apartment Rental Experts I know it's a fake. Serious Renters and Owners: Avoid them and their fake listings like the plaque if you can. IF the listing you want is real (most of Apartment Rental Experts are fake listings, price, pics) find the real broker/owner/management co and deal with them directly. It should be illegal to post pics of apartments they know are occupied and not for rent, it's definitely a security concern. I dealt with Paragh and lastly Fernanda Muhlbeier who was unprofessional and stood me up and never responded to email or texts instead of just saying the posting was fake and unavailable. I also google reviewed but they had it removed. But everyone knows to check Yelp too. Renters and owners Beware. read more

I think the issue with Apartment Rental Experts is that each realtor works individually. My impression with ARE has been that there are some great realtors and some not-so-great realtors. I was lucky enough to experience a great one- Derek P. I moved to Boston about 8 months ago, and I was only going to be in Boston for 2 days to look at and find an apartment. I contacted him a few weeks before I came. He was incredibly thorough- he sent me many listings, asking me for my opinions on them so he could understand my preferences. He was punctual when we met in person, and never rushed us. He took us the same apartment multiple times when we were trying to make a decision. And the best part is that he didn't try to oversell us. He was very realistic and honest about the apartments, even when it meant that he would make less money on the sale. My mom was looking at apartments with me, and she was incredibly impressed with his organization, friendliness and professionalism as well. I contacted him again a few weeks ago because I wanted to move apartments. He spent an entire day with me and my friend, and was patient with us even when she was running late at one point, and didn't pressure us into choosing and signing for an apartment (he spent 5 hours with us, we decided not to rent any of the apartments, and he was still incredibly nice and offered to meet with us in a few weeks, once more apartments became available). When we left, my friend commented on how great and honest he was. ARE also has a few buildings where they are the only people who rents out apartments, so they are definitely worth a try. I'd highly recommend Derek at ARE. read more

Absolutely love Fernanda, and lots of other reviews back me up on this. I tried other realtors before I found Fernanda, so this recommendation is definitely given in context. She listens, she works hard, and she delivers. She's also incredibly responsive and honest, obviously caring more about her clients needs than wanting to close a deal. I've always found apartment hunting extremely stressful, and her obvious competence really took the load off of me. Would 200% recommend Fernanda to anyone looking to rent. read more

I used apartment rental experts, my agent was Dominic, once he received his broker fee he was completely useless. I was exposed to mold in our apartment and have been sick for the last three weeks. I think he was more interested in getting paid than being a decent human being. I tried to contact him about the mold and my emails weren't going through. Definitely wouldn't recommend using their services. read more

Though our rental agent was perfectly nice, the office manager at the Davis Square location openly mocked us when he heard what we were seeking in our price range and told us to stay where we were because we weren't going to find anything better. Two weeks later I found exactly what we were looking for, on my own. Their loss. When I was looking for apartments seven years ago I had yet another terrible experience with this agency - the agent showed us shoddy units that didn't meet our guidelines and berated us when I accidentally got in touch with a different agent via Craigslist. If you have to work with an agency, take your business elsewhere! read more

"Experts"? Give me a break. In a nutshell: As rude as could be, dismissive of our concerns, tried to pressure us into signing a lease without talking to the landlord, and completely ignorant about the crappy apartments they show. We went to Sander Real Estate and had a much better experience-- we're very happy with our new apartment. In a much larger nutshell: My boyfriend called to make the appointment-- 2pm with Luis. A few hours later, he got a call back asking if we could meet earlier, as something [more important to Luis] had come up. Paul said no, we made a 2:00 appointment because we were available at 2:00, and got the sullen teenager "O-kay..." Batting .1000, Luis! Our requirements were simple: near a bus or T station, dog-friendly, $1400 or under. Luis found ONE apartment that met these criteria, and it was disgusting. After expertly driving in circles to find the place, then expertly ringing several doorbells to learn which apartment in the building was actually up for rental, he got the front door of our potential home unlocked. It just... wouldn't... open... ngggggh... "Ahhh," said Luis, as though we hadn't just watched him grunt and strain trying to open it, "you just have to lift it up a little." At first I thought the smell was from the current tenants, until I noticed that the floors were so warped, presumably from the past weekend's flood damage, that all the furniture was at angles. "Did it flood here last weekend?" I inquired. "I wasn't here last weekend!" snarled Luis the Expert. The place was okay, but pretty small for the price. We were also informed AFTER viewing that there would be an additional $50/month charge to keep a dog there, taking it out of our agreed-upon price range. Also... hate to split hairs, but it's only a "5-minute walk from Alewife" if you can walk through the Little River. I myself cannot. Despite all this, I was in such a panic about having a place to live come Sept 1, that I wanted to take it and signed everything they put in front of me. Paul, on the other hand, is an egghead who wanted to "read the lease." The lease didn't say anything about whether the landlord had to call before coming over. We don't want our landlord coming over unannounced, duh. When Paul voiced his concern, Luis made fun of him. Then he yelled ACROSS THE OFFICE to some other "expert," who also made fun of us. For expressing concern about the terms of our lease. We didn't take the place. Luis got in a hell of a parting shot: "Maybe you should make sure you really want something before wasting people's time." Same to you, bro. read more

There should really be a law against real estate imposterism. (yeah, i made that word up) It has to be illegal for random people to claim to be a real estate agents just because they dress up in their Sunday best and cart poor just-out-of-school or college kids around to places that are not only way out of their price range, but are in such dilapidated condition that even a crackhead wouldn't stoop so low to call it home. Take my advice when I say, please, don't even bother. Take your agent dollars elsewhere. These agents are rude, unintelligible and have a repertoire of absolute crap to show. One agent called me five minutes before we were supposed to meet, telling me he didn't have time to meet with me and tried to reschedule for another time that day. Another agent showed me a house with a literal hole in the wall with a door on it and inside was a toilet. That's it. No sink. No cabinets. And the ceiling that was slanted so you could not even stand up all the way inside this hole. When I asked the agent just what in the hell was this, he responded, "OH that? You mean the quarter bath?" I never laughed so hard in my life. Quarter bath. My goodness. read more

I cannot say enough terrible things about Apartment Rental Experts in Davis Square. Avoid at ALL COSTS!! My friend and I were scheduled to meet with Al (the manager) and from the second we arrived we were treated with disrespect and contempt. His behavior toward us was completely unprofessional (and quite frankly, astounding!). Al questioned us and our housing interests in a condescending manner, straight up lied to us about housing options, and we ended up leaving as soon as possible as to avoid wasting any more seconds of our time with such a rude person. We both left with our mouths agape, shocked at how we had just been spoken to. I have truly never been treated so poorly by a "professional". If you have any self-respect you will stay far away from this place and look into the many other helpful apartment rental companies in the Boston area that are deserving of your time and money. read more

Don't waste your time. They'll tell you an apartments available when it's really not, just to get you in the door. Then they try to show you horrible, trashy apartments instead. I've also had them list an apartment at a particular price, when the apartment was actually $500 more per month. Then they'll try to talk you into spending that $500 more. Super shady. And rude. read more

This company is absolutely horrible. I found an apartment on Boston.com that I was really interested in seeing. When I emailed the listing, I was handed off to Apartment Rental Experts. The Realtor that contacted me seemed very nice and helpful. I thought I was going to get my money's worth for sure. In order to make this short and sweet, and not a long novel that no one will probably even read the following situation happened in brief steps: 1. Contacted me via email 2. Set up an Appointment to see 3 apartments 3. Emailed me 5 Mins before the showing to cancel but handed me off to another agent in place. 4. Arrived to the office ended up on line seeing ONE apartment 5. Scheduled another appointment to see 4 apartments 6. Was shown ONE apartment 7. Scheduled yet another appointment to see the others 8. Received an EMAIL again stating the appointment was cancelled Not only did the apartments I wanted to see never get shown to me, but I did ALL of the work. I sent apartment listings from Boston.com and their own on line data base stating I was interested in viewing them. I was cancelled on numerously and felt like I was just some girl trying to rent a place and they didn't care whether or not I was happy. Worse real estate company ever. Thanks for nothing Apartment Rental Experts. read more

Four stars for Adam. I was thrilled to find an agent who was millenial-friendly (answers emails and texts, has online listings, and calls when needed or requested). We ultimately didn't find a place with APE, but Adam was extremely helpful. Three separate times he drove us all over Cambridge and Somerville to look at places. Many of their listings were shabby or had frustrating quirks (like having to go outside to do laundry), but he did respect our price range and requirements. We applied for one place, but the landlord had already accepted another tenant without notifying APE, so not really their fault. We're still looking, but I just wanted to leave some kudos for working with Adam. read more

Yelp, this was a very crazy situation. I have nothing bad to say about the way the realtor treated me and my friends, at least at first. She was nice and friendly and went to the same college that we went to. And then things got worse. We sent in an application, deposit and signed the lease on this place that she basically said we had. She said our credit looked good and we were going to get it. That was yesterday. Today, she called me roommate and said the land lord had already rented the place and she didn't know. Honestly, checking that the apartment is rentable should be the first step a realtor makes. The rental process is infuriating enough without having to deal with these extra issues. read more

There are not enough words for how much I loathe this place. Apartment Rental Experts can kiss my cat's a$$. Sorry for the rudeness, but when you're in Rome... I've dealt with them twice. Once in 2009, when the owner told me I'd *never* find a place in Somerville in the rent bracket I wanted. There was a bit of condescension there, for sure. I then went on to find a FANTASTIC place exactly in my bracket on Craigslist that happened to be posted by someone at Century 21. That woman (Patty O'Neil) couldn't have been nicer. I still live there. Fast forward to me trying to find a place for my recently widowed mother. I wanted to avoid ARE but a place she liked ended up being in their listings. We called, and ended up with a VERY rude guy who told her: "You're cutting yourself off from 80% of the market by wanting a cat." (?!) All he could talk about was the cat. He also repeated the "You'll never find what you want for that price" line. He finally found a place for her. He showed up to the appointment wearing cargo shorts, flip flops (put on some SHOES, son!), an un-tucked shirt, and a surly attitude. So rude! And the place was TERRIBLE. He again brought up the Cat Issue. I was done. It was weird and horrible all the way around. We eventually found a place through Angles Realty Group. They were phenomenal in EVERY WAY. The guy who showed us the place she's now going to rent was kind and professional. His boss is great too. The Cat Issue was a Non-Issue. The place is in my mother's price range and is perfect. It's a very new company that's actually run by people who left ARE. Give those new guys some business! And leave ARE alone. They are unprofessional bullies. read more

If you are looking for an annoying way to waste time, look no further than Apartment Rental Experts. Talk about flaky and rude. I called on Friday to see an apartment for two adults and a toddler. The agent, Natalie, couldn't show anything that day but had me make an appointment on Saturday at 2pm, right in the middle of the day. So, like normal people, we show up Saturday at 2pm. The agent is no where to be found. Even though there are seven 'experts' there, none of them offer to help us. Al suggests we walk around for 10 - 15 minutes. When we return, the agent is still no where to be found. After waiting another ten minutes, she arrives and explains she forgot about our appointment. She then can't seem to contact the landlord to arrange a showing. Don't rental agencies usually have the keys in order to show the apartment? These folks are incompetent fools. All they do is post the same ad repeatedly all day on craigslist. read more

I didn't have a choice. My landlord is using them to show the apartment I'm moving out of, I can't put into words how awful the experience has been...bombarded with texts from ~10 of their agents all with different numbers all trying to schedule times. Politeness isn't a thing. They don't coordinate, and you have to deal with each of them separately...this has been going on for well over a month. I'm lucky if I get a 24hr heads up, any heads up at all, if they're on time or they just cancel without letting you know. Out of all their agents, there was only one good experience...Kody. But to everyone else & especially management read more

I've received terrible customer service from all the Cambridge/Somerville locations. I understand these guys are busy, especially around late Summer time, but they really make it clear that I'm not worth their time because I have pets. Clearly they're making enough money without having to do any extra work (i.e. calling landlords) to get mine. I have had agents from this place laugh in my face, tell me they didn't have a single apartment available for me without even taking the time to look, and tell me they would have to check with the landlord and call me back (then of course NEVER called me back). How about actually looking through your listings to see which ones are pet-friendly and maybe setting up and introduction for me to the landlord? I have rented in Boston for the past 6 years, so I know it's not impossible just because I have a dog! read more

Fernanda did a fantastic job balancing my fiancé and my apartment wants and needs. Although we didn't have much luck on our first trip, she helped us figure out what was actually important to us and found us a perfect place on our second trip out with her. Super excited to move into our new apartment! read more

TLDR: Absolutely unprofessional, unprepared bullies who care only about getting your money as quickly as possible and will call you "rude", "crazy", and "demanding" for asking for simple things like a copy of your signed lease before you move in. My advice? Get a realtor who'll at least pretend like they care about you and actually knows what they're talking about. Avoid Apartment Rental Experts all together. My partner and I are young professionals who were looking for a 1 bedroom or studio somewhere on the red line. We contacted Ryan from Apartment Rental Experts through a listing we found on Craigslist for a studio apartment in Porter. Ryan replied to my email after a day or two, and we called him later on to tell him what we were looking for. Our criteria, I admit, was tough: we wanted a 1600-1650 studio or 1 br with some sort of street/off street parking, a separate closed off bedroom, and we did not want any garden or basement level units. The warning signs came when Ryan took us to see our first apartment near Porter. It was tiny, but had everything we asked for... except it was 1800- well out of our budget. Making it very clear that we couldn't afford this place, we went off the next couple units that were actually close to our budget. Next red flag: one of the units we saw was a basement unit, exactly what we asked not to see. To top it off, it was in terrible condition. Pieces of the ceiling and wall were falling off and many things were broken. The lights didn't even work!!! After we finished seeing units and left for the night, Ryan sent us an apartment on Cogswell Ave. that just opened: right in between Porter Sq and Davis. We were in LOVE. I left my hourly job during lunch the next day to rush in, see the place, and apply. Ryan knew this would be rushed process as I had made him very aware of the time constraints, and when we arrived at the apartment, he informed me of a 50 dollar increase to monthly rent because two people would be renting one unit. That took rent from 1675 to 1725 (now well out of our budget, which he was well aware of before showing me the unit). We went back to the office, I put down one month's rent, signed an application, and asked Ryan what the next steps would be. Here's where the real nightmare starts. Ryan informed me that the property manager would look over the application, verbally approve it, and then come in sometime soon to sign the lease and then we would get copies. Simple, right? We agreed to the process, and my partner came in later that day to sign the lease/application himself. Two days later, we get a text from Ryan saying the property manager has approved the application, and will be coming in to sign the lease after which we'll get our copy (I still have copies of that text message). Then, later in the day, I get a call from Ryan saying we wouldn't be getting a copy of our lease, he made a mistake with protocol, and that everything is now set in stone. He then proceeded to ask me when I could come in to pay the broker's fee. This is when I started to feel really weird about the process. No lease? After I'd been told we would get one? I've never met the property manager before not to mention this was our first time using Apartment Rental Experts. How could we trust an agreement had been made without a copy of the lease, that the property manager hadn't made any amendments? I told Ryan that we were ready to pay the broker's fee, but didn't feel comfortable paying until we could also walk out with our copy of the lease. He forwarded me to his manager, Al, who has to be the worst human being I've met yet. Al proceeded to disrespect and berate me on the phone for the next 15 minutes, jumping to defend his "10 years of experience" in the industry, and not hesitating to call me "rude" and "demanding" for asking for a copy of the lease before we moved in. He acted like I was expecting a lease the day of, when I had very calmly explained we wanted one as soon as they were able to provide one before the move in date. In order for Al to call the property manager, I would have to call him back next week to remind him because "he was going to forget". After my partner called and had the same awful experience, we decided to pull out. We received a full refund of one month's rent (which we were entitled to- no signed tangible lease means no tenancy agreement). I also had a chance to look up reviews of our future managers (their "best property managers") First Cambridge Realty Corporation. Before you rent any surprisingly under priced units on the red line managed by FCRC, check out their reviews first and you'll be as thankful as we are that we escaped this nonsense. We're disgusted we were treated this way and by ARE's inability to own Ryan's mistake. read more

Two years in a row now we've found our apartment through Matt B at Apartment Rental Experts in Davis. The apartment search process is not easy in Boston, so you have to expect some hiccups along the way. When you know what to expect (eg, houses being rented out from under you if you don't act fast), these guys are good at playing the game. Matt specifically was very good about understanding what we wanted/needed in an apartment and wouldn't push us towards something that wouldn't work. Story time: Our last apartment we rented, we walked into the office for our third appointment, having not found anything the last two times. As soon as we walked in, matt said "I have your apartment." - he showed us one apartment that day, and he was right - it was exactly what we wanted. I had actually seen it online earlier that day and thought it looked good, so the fact that he also latched on to that was really impressive. This time around, we actually found our apartment the first time out, and we're very excited. read more

So Keyla, if you have her, is great. Friendly, cool, etc. We saw a place that we liked, offered the asking price, and thought that was that. Her manager got involved at some point, a bidding war ensued, followed by a "hard close" phone call. His main characteristic, outside of having a limited grasp on reality (seriously, instead of suggesting we look at another place, he kept having us up bid the same place) is he is condescending when you don't conform to his world view--which consists of "you show'd up, pay me." read more

After reading the bad reviews of this place I thought it was only fair to add my thoughts on the subject. I want to point out that each of the agents who works at Apartment Rental Experts clearly operates on his or her own. So one must keep this in mind after having either a really good or a really bad experience. You are basing you review on the agent you worked with not the whole business. The guy I worked with, Al, was helpful and accomodating. Sure he showed us a 1st floor walk up apartment after we told him we didn't want a 1st floor, and he showed us one really iffy apartment. But he also showed us two nice apartments that fit the specifications we gave him. We had some trouble with the first land lord before even signing the papers. Al worked with us to make sure we did find an apartment that was what we wanted and helped the paperwork signing go smoothly. After seeing him deal with a couple of land lords while I was in the office, I also think he seems to have a good relationship with the land lords. The apartment he helped us find was a great fit- the size is good, distance from the T is excellent, and the land lord is awesome! Why only 3 stars? Al didn't go out of his way, or WOW me. But he did his job. He listened to what we were saying and found us an apartment. read more

I'm very surprised by the negative reviews, as our experience with Apt. Rental Experts was the best we've ever had with any broker. We worked with Franco, who was very straightforward and down-to-earth. He wanted to get us into the best apartment for us and made the process as painless as possible. He was never pushy and never asked us to compromise, but was very realistic about what we could get within our budget. We absolutely love our new place in Inman Square and are recommending Apartment Rental Experts to our friends. read more

I attempted to work with two realtors from apartment rental experts. The first one completely ignored my apartment requirements and showed me a unit that was a complete dump. After mentioning my disapproval all I got was a rude and sarcastic "well you're in the city" in response. The second realtor seemed friendly enough initially but never showed me a unit that I had asked about. The only thing I had gotten back was that she was checking in with the owner - after that I never heard back from her. Bottom line is, go with Apartment Rental Experts if you want rude, unprofessional realtors and an exercise in futility instead of an actual apartment that fits your needs. read more

I'm quite shocked at the bad reviews on here. I had a good experience working with Apartment Rental Experts earlier this year. Erick H. and I were trying to find a two-bedroom apartment, near Davis or Porter square, with 2 off-street parking spots. We made a list of the amenities we wanted (dishwasher, off-street parking, etc...) and worked with Al, one of the manager there. He was helpful and took us in his car on a tour of three different apartments. He was never pushy about anything and was clear about what we were getting. Out of the three apartments we saw, one was a dump, the other was ok and the third one is the one we currently live in. We've been very happy in it and won't hesitate to work with them again in the future if need may be. read more

Yuck. I went out with David E. at the Davis Square office. I found a great place I liked on craigslist (without his help) and requested to go see it. David was 20 min late to our appointment with no call to me. **Other agents in the office called and told him to hurry up when they realized I was waiting for him and he still barely acknowledged how late he was when he showed up** I saw the apartment, David was not particularly helpful and didn't seem to have great rapport with the landlord (who was there during the showing). But that night I decided I wanted to go ahead and sign the papers (the place was perfect for us). So I set up an appointment with David. When I got to the office he kept me waiting a few minutes while he worked on other people's paperwork (why??). When he finally pulled up the listing I wanted and got the papers out for me he said "oh no. It just got rented." Literally while I was sitting there, waiting for him, someone else got it. I know the rental market is crazy out here and I'm not upset that someone else got it. I'm upset that this agent wasn't on top of his work and it cost me the apartment I wanted. I see other great reviews for agents, so I think Apt Rental Experts is overall a good company, just don't go with this guy... read more

I was torn over whether or not to review Apartment Rental Experts--I usually confine my reviews to food- and tourist-related experiences--but after seeing all the negative reviews, I'd like to mention that my roommate and I had a great experience working with David E. I would definitely recommend working with him if you're hunting for a rental in the Boston area. I initially found out about Apartment Rental Experts through Craigslist, but ended up using their website for most of my initial browsing. They had a good number of apartments that fit our needs, and I found the website easy to use. The only negative was that it was difficult to get a strong sense of where exactly the apartments were located, but that was pretty much the case for all of the websites I looked at. Following this process, my roommate got in touch with David via phone, telling him about our needs and giving him a sense of which of the apartments we most liked on the website. Our appointment went quite well. David was very professional, yet friendly. Since he knew we weren't very familiar with the area, he pointed out local spots. He also did an excellent job of selecting apartments for us to see which fit our needs, giving us an explanation of why he selected the ones that he did (we left it relatively open-ended as to how many apartments we'd be seeing and which ones). Finally, he arranged for us to meet a couple of the landlords, which was also much appreciated. The only negative was the length of time of the appointment, which ran a bit long (that being said, it wasn't really his fault). We ended up putting down a deposit for an apartment the same day (this is a good idea, by the way, because apartments in the Medford/Somerville area move really fast), and David was helpful in walking us through the forms. He also followed up on a timely basis to let us know that we secured the apartment, which was further appreciated. read more

Short version: If looking for an apartment, probably great--if you ask for David Escott. I did not deal with anyone else. Your experience may fluctuate greatly depending on your agent. More details: Admittedly, we are not experienced house hunters; this was the first time either of us have ever looked for an apartment. I called the company a week in advance with a list of apartments I liked from their website. We reached David, who organized visits to 4 of the nice ones, and we promptly found one to our liking and took it. Our understanding is that apartments close to Tufts move very quickly, so we decided to pounce immediately. David was very friendly, patiently answered all of our novice questions, and volunteered his own tips about the area and various places. This was a breath of fresh air compared to our other realtor experiences. Good luck with your own search. read more

Found these guys through a Craigslist listing since they had the apartment we wanted. We had Joel Reynolds as our agent and he did a good job. A few issues arose and he was accomodative to our needs. After the walk-through of our new place, he was even helpful in recommending a good restaurant in the neighborhood. Why only three stars? There was some paperwork lost and in-attentiveness to our follow-up wishes, but hey, theirs is a volume business and I blame the lack of follow up on the agency not the agent... read more

Fernanda cancelled an apartment showing after we drove an hour to see the place. Very lazy to not give us a heads up. The only reason she even told us we couldn't see the apartment was because we contacted her telling her that we were there and waiting. When we initially contacted the property we were contacted by multiple agents that had no idea the listing was posted by someone else in the same company as them. read more

So I have left the world of apartment renting and entered the world of home ownership. It's a bright and shiny new world and full of things I have never encountered before (water bills! property taxes! insulation!). We were pretty lucky and found an affordable 2 family (rental income!). When faced with renting our apartment, we, of course, called David Escott, since we had such great luck with him in the past. He listed our apartment the same day we called him (and came by to take pics right away) and we had it rented in 3 days. 3 days! They took care of paperwork, credit checks, landlord referrals and took the time to explain all the paperwork to us. Fantastic! read more

My experience with Apartment Rental Experts started via email communication. The agent and I went back and forth via email, hoping to meet up if something good came along. All in all, email communication was not effective. It was hard to convey everything we wanted and needed. Take my advice --- walk in. Within five minutes of walking in, an agent had pulled up two places for us to see... an apartment that went on the market that morning and a wild card. Tom was kind enough to drive us around town, being very patient with us. All in all a good day. Just a piece of personal advice: Be open to the crazy wild card places... you might just luck out like we did and find an awesome apartment (PAINTED NEON!). read more