The first place he showed me was in Winter Hill and was basically a bedroom with a stove stuck in it. The second place was this apartment in a building run by a sleazy landlord whom I later found out had a bad reputation locally. In desperation I moved in, and after I did, I found that the place flooded repeatedly whenever snow melted and soaked the carpet in dirty ice water, the AC was terminally broken, and the bathroom was leaking super-hot water that would act like a steam heater and raise the summer temp in the bathroom to 105 F. It was a dump. I left in a year and found a much better place on my own--huge waste of a broker fee. read more

Very strange interaction. I dealt with John L., one of their agents, who INSISTED on calling me during work . I gave one phone number. He somehow found both of my phone numbers. Called them both. Left voicemails on both. I asked him politely if we can do the first steps over email, like every single other agent I've dealt with. He refused and said he "likes" doing things a certain way. Asked me for a phone call during work after I told him I cannot do that. Waste of time and a very strange person. read more

Following the high yelp reviews we made an appointment to work with John on finding an apartment for our relocation back to the Somerville/Cambridge/Boston area after living in California for the past 6 years. We were unfortunately very disappointed with the level of service we got, especially given the quality (both high and low) of other brokers we've used. I thought long and hard about whether this was a 1 or 2 star experience, and I didn't decide to go with 1 lightly. We spent nearly an hour in his office going through listings to weed out the ones that did not match our number 1 must-have and only non-negotiable feature - a gas stove. This seemed like something that could have easily been filtered for before we got there. He also told us to narrow our geographic range because being open to living anywhere in Cambridge or Somerville within a half mile of the T was "too broad" - which made us think that he had lots of great places to show us. So we narrowed down to a few areas and he picked out listings to take us to. We saw 5 units, most of which John had not even seen himself, and most of which had electric stoves (!!). The second stop was an apartment in a complex that was at the bottom of our price range (that did have a gas stove), but was only a maybe for us because of the layout and the tiny kitchen. John made it clear by his body language and demeanor at this point that he was done putting in the effort to find a place that would make us happy. And in the after seeing this place he admitted that the apartment complex would basically do all the work of the application process and credit check etc, but he'd still collect his fee. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt on it being a "full disclosure" kind of comment, but his behavior afterwards showed that it was where his priority was - get a few grand for not much effort. Nothing we saw matched up to the quality of available places I'd seen just browsing Craigslist. He was looking to tick boxes on a checklist, not look at he units more broadly and see what would fit our needs. And since we were willing to look at full fee places, we certainly felt that he should put in the effort. We were looking to find an apartment we'd be happy with for 5+ years, not just something that would do as a fallback option, and I began to wonder if we were supposed to think that the "maybe" place was better by comparison to the other listings he was showing us. To cap it off, at the end of the appointment after seeing 5 places only one of which even rose to the level of "maybe, if we had to", John told us that it wouldn't be worth booking a followup appointment since he'd shown us the closest things to what we wanted that he had listings for. We were discouraged and disappointed, and concerned that we might not find the sort of place we wanted - thankfully we found a wonderful place working with another realtor who put in the effort to understand what we were looking for. But if I had not had prior experience with the rental market in the area, I might have felt pressured to sign a lease for something I did not want, or for something I could not afford, based on what he showed us. I could never recommend anyone use Red Line Realty, based off my experience. read more

Shame on me for waiting so long to review John at Red Line Real Estate! I found John through Yelp last year when my boyfriend and I were shopping around for an apartment in Somerville. We were so, so ready to escape the gum-adorned, glass-strewn streets of our terminally hip Allston neighborhood. John's a highly efficient one-man operation. If you meet with him, you'll spend 10-30 minutes in his office, going over your requirements (price, amenities, distance from T, and more specific things) before heading out in his spotless car on a whirlwind tour of available places. Even if you're meeting for the second or third time, he likes to sit down again and see what you thought of your last visit. We were pretty annoying customers. We barely knew Somerville (luckily, he has a giant map on his wall, to show you where and how far away everything is), we were wishy-washy on what we could pay for a nice 1-bedroom ($1200! No, $1400! No, uhhh, uhhm?), and yet he was patient and made sure we understood the pros and cons of various neighborhoods. He's a champ at getting keys to a place last-minute so you can run over and check it out. On one meeting I had with him, we saw 8 places in an hour, and yet I didn't feel rushed or freaked out. He had a variety of places that met our criteria, and was able to help us articulate what we liked or didn't like about each place. We saw a place in a 1970s-style building that was fine, with a gorgeous roof deck. The awesome deck was totally warping our perception of the decent apartment. He looked at us and said, "...It's nice, but I bet you don't go on that roof deck four times." And he was SO RIGHT! Finally, we saw a lovely, lovely place. The building was impeccably clean, the original woodwork was lovingly cared for, the retro intercoms were still mounted on the walls, and off-street parking was incredibly cheap. And, of course, the place was great and the price was right. We're living there happily now, and we have no plans to move until we have to. I've paid fees to brokers before, but I never felt that anyone deserved it until John. read more

Although we didn't end up leasing an apartment through John, we were pleasantly surprised at the experience with him. He worked around our schedule, and took a significant amount of time to discuss everything we were looking for to ensure that he was showing us places that we would really be interested in. John clearly knows the Somerville/Cambridge area well, and actually has relationships with the landlords he works with, which is rare and extremely valuable. I highly recommend working with John if you're looking for a realtor that will go above and beyond expectations to help you find the right home. read more

Working full-time and over-time does not leave a lot of room to be scanning Craigslist reviews and culling out all the scams. But when I started looking at brokers, so many had shady reputations - except John here at Red Line. He's been in the business for around 20 years and really, really knows his stuff. I saw an apartment listed on his site that I fell in love with and called him to set up a chance to view it. When I came into the office, he sat down with me to ask all the super-detailed questions that other reviewers have mentioned, clearly trying to understand my values and preferences concerning an apartment. RIght away he put together a list of 12 places that we headed off to see. As we viewed each place, he never pushed but rather kept asking me how it compared to the things I was looking for, and so throughout the process he was continually refining the list of potential apartments. At around the fifth one - before we had even gotten to the initial apartment I had fallen in love with - he said, "I think you're going to love this one." I walked in and he was right. Even when I saw the one that I had initially adored, I eventually came back to this one that he had picked out for me. Since I was still early on in my search process, he did not push me to sign anything, but rather kept me in the loop about my top three choice apartments: getting all my random detailed questions answered, updates about changes in rent or bargains about paying gas. He may seem to never answer the phone but he almost always immediately called me back, or at least within the day. Great guy, super professional. This is how a real estate agent should be. read more

John of Red Line Real Estate is the most attentive and genial agent/broker whom I've met in Boston. My experience with real estate agents here, which is not atypical, is that they are brash, methy, bait n' switch con-artists. They put the pressure on and make you feel like a dolt for hesitating or vacillating. John was unlike any of the prior agents in that he wanted to know all the things that I was looking for in an apartment like price, location and amenities and then he ONLY showed me places that met the criteria. Imagine that, an agent who only shows you places that you'd want. I did not end up renting an apartment through Red Line. Red Line Real Estate deals exclusively with rental properties in Cambridge, Somerville and Arlington. I decided to live on the Boston side of the rivah and I'm a little disappointed in myself for forking over a broker fee to an agent who failed to treat me with even half the respect that John did. The next time around (because it seems there's always another move around the corner) I'll seek John's assistance again. read more

Redline Real Estate, which is really just one great dude, kicks ass. My boyfriend and I, searching for our first place alone together on pretty short notice, came into his office with only a vague sense of what we wanted and what we could afford. Below $1100, close to the T, preferably in the Winter Hill Area of Somerville. John came up with no less than 8 viable apartments within a few minutes and took us to see them all that same night. The entire time he was friendly, helpful, low pressure, and asked us questions to help narrow down the list. Eventually he found us the perfect place in a beautiful building in the exact area we hoped for at $200 less than our budget limit. I have nothing but praise for him and I've already recommended him to several apartment hunting friends. read more

John puts tremendous effort into matching renters and landlords. The very first time we hired him to find a tenant, that person stayed 8 years and attended many family/holiday celebrations over the years. I can't imagine a more attentive, thoughtful rental agent than John. read more

Let me begin this review by saying that my husband and I did not end up renting our apartment through Red Line Real Estate. However, we still feel this company is one of the best out there, and John is an unbelievable resource for anyone on the hunt for an apartment in the Boston area. John is incredibly professional and responsive, works very quickly, and will get the job done for you. While he might not have the slickest operation in town, I definitely believe he is, by far, the most efficient. The apartment we ended up selecting was listed through another agency, but throughout their entire process, my husband and I were whispering to each other that we wished John were handling it. Thanks for all your help John! read more

I rarely use Yelp, as indicated by the fact that I had to change my password because I haven't signed in for such a long time. However, I was eager to get on here and recommend John Lowenstein with the utmost enthusiasm. My boyfriend and I are relocating back to the Boston area from North Carolina and called several real estate companies prior to visiting the area. We ended up seeing a few places with Apartment Rental Experts and over 12 apartments with John Lowenstein, if that's any indication of how hard he works to find you the right place. We spent ~45 min in John's office before setting out to explore the area. John asked us very targeted questions to help narrow down the search. He was meticulous about making sure he understood our needs, our deal-breakers, and our negotiable criteria. I can honestly say that there was not a single apartment John showed us that we couldn't imagine living in. John drove around in rush-hour traffic on a Friday, and never seemed irritated, impatient, or disinterested. The entire process took around 4 hours, and since then, John has called us several times to inform us of new places on the market. John actually LISTENED to us. He didn't take us to any dumps, and he didn't try to push us out of our price range. He does business with honesty and integrity, careful to ensure his client's needs are met before allowing them to settle. We ended up renting through Apartment Rental X, simply because they had one listing that fit every single requirement we specified, and got it at a good price. We were actually pretty bummed that we couldn't end up renting from John. The very least I can do is recommend him - seriously, esp. for out-of-towners - if you're relocating to Boston, consider calling John. read more

This is the place to go! I have used this place several times and his service is one of few things I recommend wholeheartedly. He found me some fantastic apartments, including the one I've now lived in for more than 6 years. Most of the brokers around here are dreadful. They're unprofessional, clueless half-wits trying to make some money on the side while they finish their basket-weaving degrees. They don't know anything about the inventory, they don't know their way around the neighborhoods and they don't pay attention to what you want. I've had horrible experiences wasting countless hours being dragged around to miserable apartments missing features I said were critical (like a gas stove because I love to cook). John Lowenstein, the one-man-show that is Read Line Real Estate, has the opposite of all those bad qualities. He is an absolute professional who has many years of experience and knows the neighborhoods and his inventory. He seems to know what you want better than you do. He may have fewer listings than the big players, but he won't waste your time visiting a massive inventory of bad matches. It's been a few years, but last I checked he did it the old fashioned way. You sit down together and talk about what you want and he flips through his binder of listings and makes a plan to go see the best choices. Start here! It's possible he doesn't have something for you, but you can always expand your search later and you'll learn something from him in the meantime. read more

Total agreement with the other 5 star reviews of John. I'll give you the nutshell of our experience as I accompanied my girlfriend on viewings: *John did not use bullshit real-estate pressure tactics or say anything that closely resembled bullshit. *Total straight-shooter. He was upfront about any deficiencies, the pros as well as the cons. I felt he was honest with us. *John was expert at learning our requirements and then helping us consider them based on our reaction to each viewing. Each viewing was based on our reactions to the last and all were contenders. *Well informed. He knew the bus routes and times, brought us a map so we could visualize everything. He knew the background of his landlords and even some of the tenants. *Super organized. We wasted no time. He had the keys as well as laminated pages on each of his properties. Johns a bit stoic, but he's a solid guy. There's a lot of sleeze in the real-estate business, but John truly earns his fee. We haven't decided on his properties yet, but we were glad to have made an appointment with him. It reminds you that you don't have to deal with hyena salesmen when looking for an apartment. read more

I went to John this past spring as I wanted to move Boston to Cambridge. I had a bit of a tricky situation with a past landlord so put a premium on working with a person whom I could be open with. I agree with most everything that was said in the other reviews about his ability to listen to what you want, and focus very quickly on the apartments you are very interested in. John is not an overly friendly salesperson but he really does want to find you a place you would really like. After seeing a few places with him, he felt a person whom I could describe very honestly to what my situation was. When i did, John was very professional and straight forward about how a landlord would perceive the situation and what he thought would work and wouldn't work. My sense is that because he does the same things for the landlords, the landlords he works with really trust his judgement. He doesn't have every listing so keep that in mind but I would say he is absolutely worth talking to and has some exclusive listings from landlords he has worked with for a decade or more. He won't waste your time with stuff you are not interested in. I also get the sense he really loves the business - I think that is part of what makes him really good at his job. And he lets the quality of the places he finds sell themselves rather than trying to push you into something. I would work with him again in a heartbeat. It made the whole process of searching for an apartment a much more pleasant one. read more

John is expert at learning our requirements and then helping us consider them based on our reaction to each viewing

Each of the reviews below speak the volumes of appreciation, quality, humility, and incredible professional service Mr. Lowenstein provides. My husband and I are two formerly out of state residents from NY, moving for my graduate studies in Boston. John came highly recommended by a student in my program, who, through her landlord, met John. John was incredible considerate, professional, fast, and as real as it gets when it comes to price, location, amenities, compromise, and commute. He finds the best deal for your dollar, and, prior to scouring something that might not quite fit your ideal he will even give you several changes to weed it out before you look at it - to see if YOU are sure, not if he is sure for you. That's right - John is probably the only broker who actually cares and works for YOU. It took us two tries and he found us a beautiful charming apartment in Medford that matched our prior hometown exactly. He went well out of his way to even get us an appointment with the landlord, smoothly go through guarantor papers, and additional paperwork. Professional, realist, and extremely considerate. John is a true gem. read more

I just got booked an apartment through John and I have to say he was great. My roommates and I had been looking for a place for 2 straight weeks working with more than 4 realtors and couldn't find a place that fit our location preferences and budget. We set up a meeting with John and it took him one showing to find a place that we ultimately signed the lease for (the apartment we found only was shown through John.) We had a little bit of a unique situation in that one of our roommates was out of the country, however, John worked with us to be able to secure the place and communicated what he needed throughout the process. John is definitely someone you should set up a meeting with if you are looking in the Cambridge / Somerville area. He knows the area well and has a number of good relationships with landlords. Please Note: His schedule is pretty busy so I would reach out to John sooner rather than later. It look us 1 1/2 weeks to find a time that worked for both of us. read more

I had a great experience with Red Line Real Estate! I worked with three different agencies when I was moving to Boston, and this one was definitely the best. Every apartment John showed me was nice and within my price range. Unfortunately, someone else got the apartment I really wanted, so I had to go with another place through an awful agent, but I highly recommend John and Red Line Real Estate. Absolutely give John a call if you are looking for a place in the area. read more

I wish I could add to the glowing reviews for Red Line Real Estate, but unfortunately I can't. My boyfriends phone conversation with John this afternoon was so absurd and unprofessional, it would be almost laughable - if I wasn't pissed off and disgusted. We found his reviews here on Yelp and thought we could give him a call. We thought that maybe dealing with this so called professional with 20 years of experience under his belt and "exclusive" listings would be a breath of fresh air, since the majority of real estate agents in this city seem to be 25 year old doofus's straight out of college who got a real estate license because they didn't know what else to do with themselves and it sounded like a quick buck. Sadly, I'd prefer to deal with one of those guys - even though they barely know anything about the apartments they show and lack basic social skills - over an asshole who thinks it's appropriate to hang up on people. At some point during the conversation, John asked my boyfriend if we had ever had any bills go to a collection agency - upon which he answered honestly "yes, most likely". to which John replied "I'll never be able to get you approved, good luck" *CLICK* ............................. Really? that's how you treat other people? I don't care who you are, how much money you have, where you're from - I was certainly not raised to treat anyone that way and so I don't expect to be TREATED that way, especially by someone I was looking to hire to perform a service for me. He is not in a petty business - he's dealing with people who are trying to find places to LIVE in a shitty economy in one of the most expensive cities in the United States. I don't fault him for not wanting to take us on - fine, it's your business, your prerogative - but please, BEHAVE LIKE AN ADULT and have the decency to treat the person on the other end of the line like an equal. That really isn't too much to ask, although apparently John is a realty rental God, who only deems you fit to work with if you have stellar credit and a fucking halo over your head. read more

Actually listened to us and our needs and preferences. The first place he showed us we're still living in four years later.

My girlfriend and I moved to Boston from out of town. We drove up over a weekend on a mission: find an apartment. We were starting from (almost) zero: we knew we wanted a place in Cambridge, and that's about it. On the drive up, we were literally calling realtors on out of the phone book. (Phone book? Yeah, phone book!) We were feeling pretty good, because we had meetings with ten or so realtors lined up for that weekend. Each realtor got our constraints: the rent had to be so-and-so, it had to be within such-and-such distance of a T stop, had to be available on such-and-such date, etc. We went through realtor after realtor who showed us nothing but crap. Literally every place we saw wasn't what we asked for in some important way... the rent was too high, it was too far from a T stop, etc. We were starting to get a little nervous, until finally we met John Lowenstein. We got off to a rough start: he said (like all the other realtors) that he had a bunch of places to show us. We kind of snapped at him, along the lines of, "[sigh], Okay, look... these places that you're showing us, do they fit all the criteria we actually told you on the phone? Are we going to see that one of them is actually a mile from the nearest T, or that one of them is actually $300/month more than what we said our budget was?" His response was deadpan: "I wouldn't waste your time or mine showing you apartments you already said you didn't want." Finally... someone who gets it. (And it kind of makes me wonder what the other guys are thinking. "Gee, maybe they won't realize that $2400 is actually more than $1700"?) Anyways, you know the rest of the story: all the units we looked at fit our criteria. We picked one. We moved in. It was nice. read more

I can't say enough good things about John that haven't been said before --  the reviews are great because John is great! We called John about 3 months before moving and asked for a timeline of when it would be good to visit the area since we were moving across the country -- he gave us a two week window and within a few days we made an appointment with him and booked our tickets to come out and see the area. Since his schedule fills up fast, I highly recommend calling farther in advance than you'd expect to for an appointment and for a time frame to look at properties in relation to when you need to move. We called just slightly too late ( by a few days) and had to book flights that had just crossed the time frame from affordable to ridiculous, an expensive mistake. Nevertheless, John made the rest of our experience pretty seamless. Due to work and life commitments, we flew out with 1 day available to work with John and because of these reviews, decided to put all our eggs in one basket and only make an appointment with John. I felt very confident that this was the only realtor we needed to see, and I was right! Overall, the experience was excellent and very buttoned-up. John knows the Somerville and Cambridge area backwards and forwards, and that a big secret to his success. The man is efficient, efficient, efficient and will get you in and out of properties without making you feel rushed. He's not an overly friendly and smooth talking kind of guy, but a direct and nice professional -- and he gets right down to business. This is not the kind of person who is going to talk you into things - he lays down the facts and give his opinion about the value you get in one property vs. another, etc. Exactly what we wanted. Ask away and he probably has an answer for you about just about anything you can think of in the area. We came in concerned about our location relative to the subway lines and price, and he helped us to see that there are better locations that take the same amount of time to commute from for a better value if you are open to riding bus lines. After being in the area for a few weeks, we can see that he hit that nail on the head and we made a better choice because of that information. We also mistakenly forgot to adjust to our phone calendars' time-zones to the local est time, and received a call from John asking if we were planning to come by for our appointment with him. He was very understanding and tried to move things around with his schedule to accommodate us, which I appreciated considering it was our mistake. At the end of the day, we saw a large handful of properties, much more than we expected after delaying our appointment. We had plenty of choices to make, along with some some insightful information about the area to help in our decision making. The next day, we hopped back on a plane and were so relieved to have found John to navigate the whirlwind process. We're living happily in our new place and driving past Harvard, we fondly think of John and "the center of the universe." Ask him about this you'll see what I mean. Thanks so much, John! read more

I saw John's reviews on yelp and contacted him a month or so before I planned to relocate from Seattle to Boston. John set up an appointment with me and arranged for me to see 3 apartments. He was professional and direct and delivered a GREAT beautiful apartment that met all of my criteria plus extra perks: dog-friendly, off-street parking, laundry/dishwasher in unit, hardwood floors and in my price range! He made sure I got the apartment and interfaced with the landlord to make sure everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend John to anyone relocating or looking for an apartment. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and I would surely hire him again. read more

I agree with everyone's reviews thus far. I just made a cross-country move from California and John was extremely helpful and efficient. I managed to view apartments and sign a lease the same day. I went into this as informed as I could, yet still somewhat clueless and I appreciated John's honesty, professionalism, and expertise. A guy who knows how to ask the right questions and even pushes you think about other options you may not have considered while being respectful of your needs and desires. I have yet to move into my apartment, but I'm really satisfied with his work thus far. read more

John is a straight shooter and found my husband and me an adorable apartment in our price range when all the other realtors I contacted said it wasn't possible. He was professional and incredibly efficient and I was happy to pay for his services. read more

We found John Lowenstein's business by searching Yelp for the Cambridge/Somerville realtor with the highest rating, and based on our experience with him we are happy to contribute to his high rating here on Yelp. John has extensive knowledge of the area. He has been around the Cambridge area since his days as an undergrad at Harvard, and knows the local rental market quite well. We had a list of preferences for our place that was several items long, as well as a fairly restrictive area in which we wanted to live. Additionally, we wanted to sign a lease and move in within a few days. John found us an ideal location (ideal as in we could not have handpicked a better location) in our price range, and the place was quite spacious to boot. He worked with the landlord (he has good working relationships with many landlords in the area) and arranged it so that we signed and moved in right on schedule! His ability to find us the perfect location on a budget and within a deadline went well beyond what we expected from a broker. read more

It doesn't seem like Lowenstein needs more positive reviews, but here is one anyways. I was looking for an apartment a year ago and was struggling with the cesspit that is the Boston real estate market. On a lark, I called up Lowenstein, and he found me a terrific apartment well within my price range, arranged everything for me, and didn't try any of the shady tricks one expects from brokers. My landlady later told me that she would have rented the apartment to another couple, except for the fact that Lowenstein had vouched for me and she trusted his judgment. read more

John at Red Line was very helpful in finding me a rental apartment in Somerville. I came in December, in the off season, and simply knocked on his door (by the way, according to John, I could not just do that in the summer - it is best to schedule an appointment a couple weeks in advance and then you will have 3 hours with him to find an apartment that suits you best from those that are currently on the market). John was very friendly and immediately showed me an apartment that he thought I would like - we drove there, I did like it, and that was it. The application process is also quite easy, if you pass the credit/reference check you are basically approved and you will not compete against other applicants. John was also very knowledgeable about the apartment itself (he has worked with the landlord for 19 years) and for questions he could not answer, he would immediately call the landlord and find out. All in all, this was a very pleasant and unstressful experience - if you are new to town or simply do not want to make apartment hunting your full-time job, and are okay with the one month fee, simply go to John and he will likely set you up with something you like. read more

John finds high value (not price) apartments and comes through in the clutch.

John was exactly what I was looking for in a realtor. He was patient and honest with us about all apartments he had to show us within our range. He was willing to keep meeting with us even after we were a bit indecisive at the beginning of our search. He was straightforward about the pros and cons with all the apartments he showed us and made sure to only show us ones that fit within our criteria or that we had signed off on seeing based on a description. Most importantly he didn't use an shady tactics and never tried to pressure us into rushing into something. And in the end we found a great apartment in a good neighborhood through him. I would recommend John to anyone looking for a place in the Cambridge/Somerville/Watertown area. read more

Glad to see John does so well on Yelp. Initially I wasnt too excited about working with a realtor, since that would likely come with a rental fee. However, I would have been more than happy to give one months rent to John. He's been around Cambridge for his entire life (local HS grad and Harvard undergrad), which is an incredible asset in knowing the real estate market. Huge help in finding an apartment in Harvard square and a pleasure to half a day with. read more

Went out with John a couple of times to look for apartments in Cambridge and Somerville. I found John to be very straightforward, down to business, and honest. Never pushy or deceiving like most realtors you encounter. Did not end up taking an apartment with John simply because what I was looking for was not there at the time. However, I would recommend John to anyone looking in the Somerville/Cambridge area. read more

John is great. My girlfriend and I had been looking for apartments for months with a huge variety of different real estate agents but nothing was working out. One appointment with John and he found us a perfect place, exactly what we wanted, slightly under our budget. Yes! He has a bunch of exclusive listing too, which is great. DEFINITELY give him a call! read more

John was fantastic and easy to work with. He had great inventory, knew his buildings well and helped me narrow down my choices by price, neighborhood and amenities. His inventory was extensive and covered a large price range and range of move-in dates. He was not pushy at all and made the apartment hunting process so much easier than I was expecting. I would recommend John to anyone looking to move in the area (Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, etc). read more

John was the best. I told him what my boyfriend and I were looking for and he found us something much better. He was responsive and professional. I would recommend him fully to anyone. read more

Even though I didn't end up renting a place from him, I still strongly recommend John. Last summer, I had a long, frustrating search for a new apartment after losing mine in a fire, and I can't tell you how many realtors I had to deal with who were rude and unprofessional and didn't listen to me. John was none of those things. He was great about listening to what I wanted and showing me only what met my criteria. The only reason I didn't rent the place he showed me was because I'd just filled out an application for another apartment and shortly after he showed me the place he did, I found out I was accepted for it. But if I'm ever looking for an apartment again, I would not hesitate to use him and you shouldn't, either. read more

I contacted John back in March to look for a late summer/fall apartment. He recommended we contact him closer to May to schedule an appointment to meet. John is a professional. He is very thorough and knowledgable about the parts of the city he covers. He respects your budget and won't go over it. I have been renting around Boston for around a decade and he was able to offer new helpful advice. My partner and I met at his office for an initial meeting and we kept in contact via phone and voicemail. We probably viewed about 5 or 6 apartments. They were all nice and well maintained. We didn't end up signing through him but I would still highly recommend him. read more

My wife and I met with half a dozen apartment brokers, and John was hands down the most professional and knowledgeable person we met. He listens well and stressed that he didn't want to waste our time showing us places that we knew we didn't want. As soon as we said a place wasn't good enough, that was it; there were no sales jobs or "but what about..", he simply asked us what we didn't like and then we went on to the next one. He asked a lot of questions that were designed to help us figure out how we were willing to prioritize different factors; things like "would you be willing to walk further to the T if you had a dishwasher". Every place he showed us was clean and well managed, and he was very open and up front about the warts as well as the benefits of different places. Next time I move, he will be the first agent I call. read more

After moving to Boston and spending a couple of weeks going through Craigslist listings, meeting a few so-so apartment brokers, and seeing a bunch of awful apartments, I found John at Red Line Real Estate. We sat down, he asked questions about what I was looking for (location, number of bedrooms, wood vs. carpet, parking, dishwasher, etc.), he pulled out his book of properties, made a list and off we went. He showed me five places, all of which were the best I'd seen so far and all were reasonably priced. I ended up taking one of his apartments after looking around a bit more with another broker. If you're looking for an apartment in Cambridge, Somerville, or Arlington (maybe other areas nearby), try John first. I'd suggest giving him a phone call with your apartment wish list. read more

Based on the other reviews, I had high hopes for John at Red Line Real Estate. However, I found John to be unprofessional compared to the other five brokers I worked with. Whereas other brokers had already asked me detailed questions over the phone and prepared a list of apartments ahead of time, on the day of our appointment John kept me waiting 20 minutes and then, once he let me in his office, began flipping through his binder to think of apartments for me to see. He did not narrow the list enough - I do not agree that it is wise to look at 8 or 17 apartments at a time; it is the broker's job to narrow the list ahead of time. I also found that other brokers - especially Matt E. at Apartment Rental Experts and the guys at Bayside - listened to me much more carefully about what I value in an apartment, and were willing to quickly check on the computer for anything new on the market. John kept suggesting I see some places that did not fit my criteria. I suspect he was picking up on the wrong things as he listened to me. If you value your time and want someone who respects it, you should probably look at Maven or Apt Hub, or -- especially -- Apt Rental Experts, Bayside, and Apt Rental Exchange. read more