Moved me into a unit filled with roaches. Most traumatic experience of my life. Horrible attitude…read moreand people. DO NOT rent from them.

I lived at 1615 Comm Ave for almost 5 years. Mark Blotner and Colby were great. Always responsive…read moreand could usually resolve any issues that we had in a quick manner. Well maintained building, I'd give 5 stars if the building was newer.

My boyfriend and I were searching for our first apartment together in Brookline, as we are…read morebeginning grad school in Boston this fall. After countless questionable Craigslist posts and plenty of emails to realtors that never received responses, we were starting to feel hopeless. Maybe we were too out of our own league to try to find an affordable apartment in Brookline, one of the nicer parts of Greater Boston, as grad students. And to find one with a parking spot included, still in our budget? It just seemed impossible. Then, we met the beautiful soul that is Cheryl LaFond-Lewis. Cheryl was prompt with her emails, understood exactly what my boyfriend and I were looking for, and was able to find three properties in our price range and location. After looking at all three, we ultimately fell in love with the first one we saw. However, we were the second application submitted for that particular listing, and it unfortunately fell through for us. However, Cheryl was determined to find us a great first apartment, and managed to find us another open apartment, in the exact same building as before, for even less rent. In the timeline of a week, we looked at four apartments, fell in love with two, and ultimately snagged an apartment that was way below our maximum price range -- including private outdoor space AND a parking spot. We feel like we had such an incredibly lucky and wonderful experience, and Cheryl was the perfect realtor to have as new renters to the market. She's persistent, kind, and is genuinely invested in the well-being and success of her clients. I would recommend Ford Realty, and Cheryl in particular, for the rest of my time in the Brookline area.

While sitting in their office along with my real estate agent (who isn't affiliated with Ford), and…read morespeaking with one of their agents, I signed a an application and gave them a deposit for an apartment they were listing (effectively taking it off the market). I was told by one of their agents, that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my application and that the apartment was mine. Approximately three days later I found out through my realtor that somehow Ford had leased the apartment to someone else after I had already put down money and took the place off the market. Confused, I spoke with a Ford agent, who told me that someone had put down a deposit at the exact time as me. I immediately knew this was a complete lie, as I was sitting in their office alone, when I submitted my check and application. When confronted with this fact, the agent simply shrugged, and then told me well they offered to move in 15 days earlier. I was never informed this was an option, so I immediately countered with, well I can do that as well. They replied with, "no, we already signed the lease." I then found out that the new tenant was their client, hence they got full commission. With me, since I used another realtor, they would have had to split the commission with my agent. This situation left a bad taste in my mouth, as I have never experienced such shady business for a company that pretends to be "high end." As a working professional who has been renting in the Boston area for nearly a decade, I was appalled.

My fiancé and I recently moved into the city together, and had the pleasure of working with Kandia…read morefrom Live Realty when finding our new apartment! She organized the communication between us and the management company, clearly answered any and all questions, and processed our paperwork very smoothly and efficiently. The moving process was made infinitely easier knowing I had someone so capable to be in touch with. Kandia is personable, organized, and extremely professional; I would recommend her to anybody looking to rent in the Boston area!

This was my first time renting an apartment from across the country, and my first time renting an…read moreapartment in general. I was completely nervous my first apartment would be disgusting and a total sham. Could not have been further from the case. Live Realty Boston, more specifically Tavio, took the time to ensure I knew exactly what each property was offering. The benefits and drawbacks from each, which I really appreciated. Tavio was patient and was even accessible via text allowing for a faster response and a better understanding of everything. I am so glad I went with this business - they actually care and that is hard to come by especially in a busy city! 'A+' rating for an 'A+' business!

I had a good experience working with Roman Zharakovsky. He was very responsive, helpful, and…read moreinformative about the apartment. He responded after work hours and on weekends, and reminded us to submit apps and things to expedite the process and increase the likelihood of getting the apartment we wanted. He was easy to work with and accommodating. He allowed our friend to visit in lieu of us, and then later after we signed the lease, he allowed us to visit again. Overall good experience, though I am still confused what is the purpose of a broker, at least we did not have to pay a broker fee! Coming from outside of Boston, i appreciate that Roman was able to answer almost any questions that I had.

Moving to a new city for work away from friends and family is a stressful, daunting task. Having…read morebeen scammed before when apartment hunting during undergrad, I was weary and skeptical of finding an affordable apartment in a city where units sell like hotcakes. Luckily, I had the privilege of working with Roman Zarakhovsky as my agent. As I'm starting work while applying to grad schools, I made it clear my priorities were proximity to work, affordability, and... a bathtub. From the start, Roman was incredibly knowledgeable, responsive, and patient throughout the entire process. He took the time to understand my needs and worked diligently to find options that fit my budget and preferences, going out of his way to send me 3D scans that he made himself for new units while I was out-of-state AND working to get me a unit within my budget. His transparency and professionalism reassured me every step of the way, making an otherwise overwhelming search feel seamless and stress-free. Thanks to Roman's expertise, I was able to secure an apartment that exceeded my expectations. I truly appreciate his dedication and would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a reliable and trustworthy real estate agent.

Eric Chen reached out to me when I put in an inquiry regarding a Brookline apartment. He was…read moreinitially responsive and flexible to arrange showings. The apartment that I ultimately viewed was just OK. Pretty dirty, nothing special, just in the location where I was seeking to reside. I requested to submit a rental application which required a $50 payment to Marc Roos (via Zelle and screenshot of payment required), and was provided formal documentation stating this required upfront payment. The application was (Supposedly) sent in just prior to the holidays. Eric reached out to me on the Sunday after Christmas stating that the landlord had returned from vacation and was reportedly requiring $2400 to be paid and sent via Zelle to Marc Roos for consideration of the application. If accepted, the payment would be put toward the upfront costs, if rejected, the payment would be refunded. I requested that this stipulation be formally requested in writing. Eric then stated, the office would just hold the check and provide the refund if the application was rejected. So, he's saying that they would "hold" the check "for the landlord" while they reviewed the application? If accepted, I had planned to pay the upfront costs regardless... He said that some landlords request this (supposedly after submission of an application?). Although it has been years since I rented, I have not heard of such practices and it certainly wasn't previously requested or documented. He said he would let the landlord know about my inquir,y and I haven't heard a word since. I'm going to chalk up my $50 to waste. I am a 44-year-old medical provider looking to rent temporarily while I look for a purchase, so not a poor undergrad, and without any issues with credit or salary. ** To add, Eric stated the $50 was just for the credit report to be pulled so my application remains unreviewed and somehow they have scammed me into pulling a credit report to go NO WHERE. Please learn from my error and request all upfront costs be transparent and in writing. Also confirm that an application will actually be reviewed once submitted without costs requested after the fact. SHADY business. STAY AWAY**

I worked with Calvin and he was always readily available with apartment hunting and even a month…read moreafter moving in when we hit a snag with some mixed up checks with my leasing office. He's friendly and easy to talk to and he gets the job done. I gave his number to some friends already who were also apartment hunting in Boston.

Really great. Fast and effective work style - doesn't stop at anything to get the apartment you…read morewant. They follow an online application process where you don't have to sit and fill out paperwork all day or multiple times if your first apartment isn't accepted. Quick fix to the online form, a signature and away it goes! Would recommend to anyone thats looking for a new apartment.

Michela Nionakis was easily one of the worst realtors I've ever worked with. From the beginning,…read morecommunicating with her was a nightmare. I would wait days for answers and had to follow up multiple times just to get basic information. When we scheduled a tour, she didn't even confirm the showing until we reached out two hours beforehand. She confirmed 3:15 p.m., but we told her we were driving from out of state and traffic would put us closer to 3:30. When we got there, she acted like we were late and told us we would have to reschedule. The showing itself was just as bad. She showed up in a graphic sweatshirt, didn't greet us professionally, and barely explained anything about the apartment or application process. When we asked normal questions, she was dismissive and impatient, even sending texts like "..." as if we were bothering her. Since she gave us almost no useful information, we had to contact management ourselves. The application process was where it got even worse. After we completed the lease, she told us on 4/20 that we needed co-signers, then disappeared for the rest of the day because she was off for "the holiday." She was rude and unhelpful to our co-signers, including my friend's mother, whose first language is not English. I asked to speak with her by phone so we could get on the same page and I could help walk our stressed-out co-signers through the process. She refused and said, "I don't need anything from you. If the co-signers need anything, they can contact me directly." Our co-signers were already overwhelmed because of her lack of guidance, and she still couldn't be bothered to help. The next day, she gave us an ultimatum to get the new paperwork signed by 2 p.m. or she would refund our deposits and pull the application. When I told her to go ahead and pull it (because I didn't want her getting the commission for doing NOTHING), she suddenly claimed there were other pending applications and that we wouldn't be able to reapply. We called management directly, and they confirmed we were the only application........ Overall, Michela made this process SO STRESSFUL than it needed to be. She was slow to respond, dismissive, rude, unhelpful, and misleading, and SO UNPROFESSIONAL. I would absolutely not recommend working with her, even our co-signers commented on how horrid it was working with her.

Great services!! Always available and there to help. I've done business with this company and…read morehonestly couldn't regret it. They managed my property to the point where I didn't had to do anything. I truly recommend this management company to anyone with big or small properties.

In October 2023, I engaged Skyline to manage a large apartment I own 7 blocks from Harvard Square…read more I also hired them to general contact the apartment's renovation. They were well paid for this service, and well aware of the difficulties of this particular project when they took it on. In the contract I agreed to every suggestion they'd made that would make the apartment desirable and easy to rent. It was a disaster. They failed to manage their contractor and it took them a year, with some work still undone now, in March 2025. They missed the September 1st rental target (when the propoderance of Cambridge leases renew). As a result, I had to reduce the rent they inititally proposed by 23%, and it did not rent until March 2025. This was especially painful since I had based the financing of the large project on their written estimate of rental income, which I then provided to the bank (with Skylines knowledge). Their response to missing this important leasing deadline was "You'll make it up later" But they offered no consideration for the damage during construction, including lost items and damaged art and antiques. It's "pay me" not matter what. A one way street. Alex, the owner, is a strict constructionist if the contract favors him. If not, he'll just make things up, and get nasty. Issam, Exec VP, is wont to say "as we discussed" when I have no memory of any such. Alex and Issam have a "good cop - bad cop" routine going, and I deeply regret having hired them. I advise being very cautious if you decide to engage.

I was looking for someone to manage my properties in Boston and I had the unfortunate tragedy of…read moremeeting Alex Haidar. He is unprofessional, aggressive, and likes to threaten people. Thankfully, we never hired him to manage our property. Bullet dodged. I feel bad I had to deal with him, but feel worse for him as he has to deal with his own stupidity every day. There are better property managers out there you should use. I reached out to him for a quote, but when I decided to use another manager I let them know they immediately threatened to sue me. Also Alex, smart as he is, puts email trackers on his emails but does not understand how the tech works, thought I was forwarding it to people, still confused about that.