In October 2023, I engaged Skyline to manage a large apartment I own 7 blocks from Harvard Square. 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. read more

I was looking for someone to manage my properties in Boston and I had the unfortunate tragedy of meeting 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. read more

Responsive, professional, efficient and effective. A great experience working with Skyline

After one year, our condo pulled out of SKYLINE REALTY. As a former trustee, I requested a second renovation of our front steps due to deteriorating quality. They charged us a lot and the job was lousy. I reported them to the Better Business Bureau and they took off royally. In addition, I was informed by a trustee that the employees of SKYLINE were trying to throw me off the Board. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE! read more

This review is for Alice, Alex and the Skyline team. I travel for work and rely on Skyline to manage my properties. They have been excellent in helping with renovations and dealing with all aspects of securing tenants and getting me maximum rents. It's good to have a partner like Skyline Realty where I know they handle things on a higher standard like I would if I had the time. The team couldn't be easier to work with and they are very experienced in all aspects of real estate. I highly recommend Skyline Realty for property management! read more

The management is pushy and rude. There's an old Yelp adage that goes something like "If Yelp let you give zero stars..." But clichés aside, I would still give the management at Skyline one star, because they did give me something: the gift of laughter. We ran into some conflict with the management when they (aggressively) interpreted the lease regarding the return of our security deposit. While the lease stated that the tenant must leave the apartment clean (that's reasonable), the "Management & Owner reserves the right to have the premises professionally cleaned and objects removed at tenants' expense. The apartment cleaning fee will not be more that $300-receipt will be provided should the unit need professional cleaning. The amount will be adjusted from the security deposit." (also reasonable). Rather than allowing us to clean our own apartment (and, I should mention, the landlady fawned over us for two years regarding how clean we kept the apartment), the management and owner where rude and borderline dishonest. For example, I received one blunt email from Alex claiming that "the unit must be professionally cleaned" and the landlady reiterated that the unit HAD TO be cleaned professionally. ("Must," "has to?" it was this kind of manipulative use of the imperative that annoyed me; the lease is written in terms of a conditional, but Alex treated it like an imperative). After taking the hit, we received a reduced security deposit (which, side note, accrued "interest" which our landlady claimed to be only $3, but I have an email from the agency a year back stating that it had gained close to $19... again, not a ton of money by any means, but definitely evidence that the situation was handled dishonestly, that there was laissez faire managerial oversight. The next day, I replied to an email from Alex regarding cleaning the apartment. I informed him that we had already turned in our keys and received the reduced deposit and that they could clean the apartment whenever (we left our apartment days before the lease legally ended). My email was detailed and expressed my confusion and disappointment regarding the handling of our security deposit; I even gave him the benefit of the doubt (suggesting that maybe the mix up was on the landlady's end and that she was not being honest with him, etc). He responded to my email in seconds: "There's no shadiness. The unit has to be perfectly clean. You can pay Valerie directly." By this point I was peeved, because the cost of cleaning had already been deducted from the security deposit, a fact he would have known if a) he'd read my whole email and b) read his own lease. I replied with a snarky email that he could get the money from the landlady because she had already withheld the cleaning fee. To this Alex responded with one of the greatest email gems I have ever been blessed with: "I'll forward all this to your mother. Your being disrespectful." [sic] To be fair, I was an incoming graduate student 2 years ago and my mom co-signed for me; since then I've paid rent on time, etc. But, dang! I haven't been on the receiving end of that threat since I was, like, 5 and it was administered by my grandmother. Overall, the management is rude. They will find you a nice apartment, but it'll be a pain when you go to move, and they may stick you with some hidden/not-so-hidden fee. Also, on the comedic side (tragic?), I think it's hilarious that Alex gets on yelp and rudely responds to criticism. That's the kind of minor-league mentality of Skyline, and should have been my first warning that they're patronizing to their patrons (not in the good way). read more

This review is for Isaam! In the sometimes difficult and long process of looking for an apartment, Isaam made my search effortless and fun. Furthermore, his responsiveness and professionalism made me feel truly connected and in-tune to everything that was happening through the process. Thank you Isaam for all of your hard work and patience. I will be sure to refer you to my friends :) read more

Recently, my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of working with Issam Shalhoub of Skyline Realty. Now, anyone who has gone through the process of detailing your requests and contacting realty companies one by one know how much of a complete nightmare it can be. I spent hours speaking with various professionals trying to find exactly the right apartment for us. On a given day, I could contact up to 20 people, tell them exactly what I wanted, and not get a response back, at least in the 2 weeks I spent looking around. Once Issam contacted me back through a Craigslist ad, he immediately inquired into the exact specifications which I was looking for and found a property that not only had every single detail, down to a beautiful brick patio/backyard with a BBQ gas grill for summer grilling, but he even over delivered by not wasting any of our time, and immediately taking us to the house he knew we would love. Issam's professionalism, diligence, and gregariousness made securing our new home, effortless, efficient, and most of all, extremely exciting! I highly recommend working with Issam to find your next home and I believe that his work speaks volumes about the kind of Customer Service you can expect at Skyline Realty. read more

I have a multi-family managed by Skyline Realty for the last five years. From the day I called them looking for a property manager I was treated with respect and great service. Alex and Alice are so friendly and helpful. I enjoy speaking with them and having them educate me on homeowner issues. We had several minor issues at the property like a broken dishwasher, gutter replacement, garbage disposal, and radiators not working over the years, but in every instance, Skyline Realty responded quickly to the service request. If you are looking for a property manager, Skyline Realty is a great company to work with. read more

We had Skyline managing our small, owner occupied condominium in mid-Cambridge for two years. I would strongly advise against their services for management of other small associations. The care and quality of work performed by their contractors - from building maintenance to snow removal, was substandard, expensive, and in some instances resulted in damage to common and personal property. Alex, the CEO, is petty, rude, authoritarian, and extremely difficult to work with. read more

One needs to differentiate between the Realty Services and the Property Management Skyline provides. Their property management business is a means to fleece clients. They charge 2-3 times above the value of the service whether it is construction, yard services, plumbing, etc. They misrepresent their bidding process by using contractors that are part of their company so there is no real bid process. The recommended partnered vendors provide substandard work. They are clever at "stretching" the truth and deflect responsibility whenever confronted with problems as a direct result of the work THEY provided. They talk a good talk but they don't walk the walk - do NOT use this property management company. read more

Every bad stereotype comes from somewhere. Mechanics finding $200 of something broke in your car, old diner waitresses being rude, etc. Skyline lived up to the bad ideas we all have about real estate people. My wife and I went to Skyline based on good Yelp reviews to look into buying a condo. After explaining to Alex that we were funding our mortgage through FHA, he promptly ignored us and showed us about 10 condos or so, all in our price range, we later learned that none qualify for FHA funding. We saw one we liked and put in an offer. The offer was accepted. Then we find out the condo did not meet FHA restrictions, which were either single family house, or 4+ units. The condo was 3 units. How someone in real estate does not know the specifics of FHA loans is beyond me. He then told us that the house was still ours, and we should just get a regular mortgage. We explained that based on the housing crisis (something else I am sure he is aware of) we would need 20% down right away, and he said "well you don't need 20% if you get an ADJUSTABLE MORTGAGE". After this debacle, I came back to look at the Yelps again and guess who reviewed the company and gave it 5 stars? Alex. The realtor. Who works for Skyline. Go somewhere else. read more

I read good reviews of Skyline Realty, but unfortunately, my experience was terrible. I worked with Skyline to find an apartment in Cambridge. The agent did not have a car, so we had to use public transportation--which he expected me to pay for. That's fine, I guess, but tell me ahead of time so I'm not fumbling around for coins to pay for bus fare while it's waiting. The agent didn't know the bus schedule, so we ended up having to wait for over 20 minutes two separate times, and as a result, we weren't able to see many units. He was completely unprofessional, taking at least 3 lengthy business calls while showing me apartments. Worst of all, when we were late getting back to his office, someone called to find out where he was because his next client was waiting. In response, he blamed it on me, saying--right in front of me--"My client was late this morning. I had no control over the situation. My client arrived late." ??? I had arrived 7 minutes late due to a train delay, but we didn't even leave the office for over an hour after I arrived, because he was disorganized and still printing things out for my appointment, so to blame our late return on me was unreasonable. To say that it was my fault right in front of me was appalling. Overall, I would not have even considered renting an apartment through Skyline because of this horrible experience, but unfortunately, someone else got the apartment I really wanted through another company. Predictably, once my roommates and I committed to the apartment, the difficulties in figuring out the details of the lease only got worse. The agent gave us the wrong information about who to write our deposit check to, causing us to almost lose the apartment. We also could not get a straight answer about how to handle the co-signer issue, among many other problems. The only positive part of the entire experience is that we ended up with a decent apartment with a great landlady--who has been warned not to work with this agency in the future. Admittedly, the apartment's very important, but I am disappointed that this agent and company got any money from me, as this was certainly the worst customer service I have ever experienced. read more

(Note: I am writing this as a tenant, not a property owner) Alex was our property manager. Pros: Alex was very responsive - he typically replied to our emails within 24 hours. He also addressed nearly all of our requests. In general, Alex was fair - he clearly communicated the expectations that were expected of us and frequently referenced back to the lease agreement. Cons: Alex is not great in the tone and style of his communications. He was often curt and impolite in his emails. For example, he once wrote "THEY SHIPPED YOU A PART AND WILL BE THERE TOMORROW SOMEONE MUST BE THERE." In a customer service business, I would say that friendly customer service is the area that he has the greatest room to improve upon. read more

My fiance and I were having a difficult time finding an apartment in Cambridge on the Internet (on Craigslist, etc) from the SF Bay Area. So, when we got here we thought we'd have a difficult time, but with the help of Skyline Realty, we didn't. Our broker, Jim, was very professional and responsive to all of our concerns and needs. We stopped by Bayside Realty as well, but to be honest, it seemed pretty shady and not very professional. Go to Skyline and ask for Jim, he's great. read more

If I could give Skyline Realty zero stars I would. They are the most unprofessional agency I have every encountered in the Boston/Cambridge area. Rude, unprofessional and down right despicable. The management will send you hostile and threatening emails for absolutely no reason and will not return your phone calls or email responses when asked. The CEO Alex Haider is the most rude and egotistical person who has no right speaking to any customer or tenant the way that he does. Do not rent from this agency, spend your hard earned money elsewhere. read more

Jaclyn was such a sweet agent to work with! She was honest and every time I questioned something, she helped me do my due diligence by finding out more about the building. When something seemed like it wasn't going to be the right fit, instead of trying to screw us over like many people would, she just told us that it wasn't going to work because of X Y and Z, and then sent over other options. I loved working with her and highly recommend! read more

Buying and selling property is not a trivial process (even though the television shows make the transactions seem like magic --- and the subsequent paperwork a piece of cake). Especially in today's ever-evolving market (from FHA loans to fluctuating interest rates to listing prices that seem frenetic), you need a professional on your side --- someone who has been through the churn: the good times, the okay times, and the bad times of Boston real estate. Alex of Skyline is just that person. My wife and I have known Alex for over a decade --- he first helped us rent an apartment in Somerville; buy our first condo in Jamaica Plain; and this past month, managed the sale of our JP property (we sold nearly at list) and the purchase of a new one in Arlington (we paid well under list). In short, we are "lifers" when it comes to Alex. Professional: Absolutely. Alex quickly becomes your confidant---finding out what you want and not wasting your time. Moreover, he knows the market (he is not going to put you in a place that will leave you in the lurch). He is also brutally honest (especially when you need him to be). In the case of our buyer, Alex even stepped in after her realtor went AWOL. Trust me, if you have ever dealt with an incompetent agent, you will soon see the value of working with someone who really cares about what he does (and knows the complexities of the regulations). Buying/selling is very very stressful on its own. Real estate is a combination of gut instinct (I want that!) and trust (I am confident that someone has my back). You need someone like Alex who is both excited (he loves what he does) and grounded (he knows his stuff). Personal: Unless you are part of the uber-wealthy jet set, you need to *heart* your realtor. We *heart* Alex. He was there for us when we needed him most. And unlike many of the other agents we worked with (esp. on the seller side) he actually *shows* up. We were aghast by the number of who seem to have no interest in doing their job. If your home is truly where your heart is, working with someone who looks beyond the transaction is essential. As important, Alex is fun, good humored, and easy to work with. If you have someone great, you will spend a lot of time with him/her hunting houses. He made the search process less of a chore and more of an adventure --- and kept our spirits up when we continued to utter "they want how much?! ... for that?! ... Who puts two massive bathrooms in a 1,000 sq foot condo? ... Wow, the view is of a wall!" Connected. Alex knows great people. From our banker to our lawyer to contractors, he is well connected. Each link in the chain was equally strong in our case. As we experienced some ups and downs (alas, which is normal) with our sale/purchase, having an excellent team on our side helped to preserve our sanity. All of them worked together --- and were on our side. Again, as mentioned above, we also encountered other lawyers and bankers (of the sellers of the place we bought) who had zero interest in the human side of the job. We experienced everything from overt sexism to dumb last minute provisions to rudeness to indifference. As for our team, we plan to invite everyone who helped with our sale/purchase over for dinner. Everyone deserves a gold star. Exceptional: Alex, and by extension, his team at Skyline is fantastic. If you take the process of buying and/or selling a property seriously and have the necessary patience and humor to navigate the challenging market, you will be in the best of hands. read more

I totally agree with Liam there... Jim is awesome. He's so unlike the normal realtor out there. Sure he's trying to make some money, but he's honest and fast and doesn't bog you down with endless details and fake humor and BS... that stands for BULLSHIT. Also, he gave us $25 gift certificates as a thank you for using him. HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!! Way to go Jim... you're giving Skyline Realty a good... no GREAT name. read more

Any dear friend or family member who asked if I would recommend Skyline Realty property management to manage their high value real estate in a mature, protective and peace-of-mind manner, I would say no and suggest they look for a different Boston area property management company. That is my personal opinion. read more

Out of 6 or so realtors I worked with while on my 4 day trip to Boston to look for a place, Jim O'Loughlin (jim@skylinerealty.com) was by far the best. First of all, he maintained email contact with us before the trip, asking for feedback on units he thought we would like. As a result, by the time I got to Boston, he had a very good idea of what we were looking for. Out of the 4 units he showed, we would have been happy taking 2. At the end, we fell in love with Beacon Hill and decided to live there instead, but I would not hesitate to recommend Jim to anyone looking for a place on the Red Line - Central/Davis/Harvard/etc. read more

Skyline Realty managed a property in which I was recently a tenant. In dealing with Alex I found him to be professional, responsive and fair. My maintenance requests were taken care of usually on the same day I submitted them and they recently have put a new system in place that allows tenants to pay rent and submit requests online. Very convenient. I wouldn't hesitate to rent from them again or to use them in any other capacity. read more

Just closed on my first house with Skyline and my experience with them was nothing short of friendly and professional. I really am new to the whole market and I must say that they make it personal to ensure you have the home of your dreams. I thought that the whole process would be extremely painful but was pleasantly surprised at the way Skyline provided me with the help to not only purchasing a home, but understanding all the steps in between to getting there. I worked with Alex and was truly impressed at how much he will take your side and fight for you in making sure you get what you need. Highly recommended!!! read more

I contacted Skyline on a routine matter. A former tenant of one of their apartments had left behind something of value which I wanted to try to retrieve. Alex, the CEO of Skyline, emailed me back with a very, very rude email, way out of line in response to my very brief routine question. I called Alex on the phone to try to make some headway, and he was even more rude on the phone. Regardless of whether I should or shouldn't be able to retrieve the property that was abandoned in the apartment, there was no reason why Alex should be so rude on email and on the phone with someone who is completely calm. This is not the interface that I would want representing any property I have to rent out. read more

Update: In response to Alex's comment, I thought he should know that my boyfriend was being overly polite and apologetic because he was afraid to speak his mind lest our deposit be withheld. In fact, it was his idea to pull out of the deal altogether and go another route. read more

I guess for you to understand how much I appreciate this company you should read about a bad review I wrote about another company: If it was two weeks ago, I would have written a pretty good review for Boston Realty Source. My boyfriend and I were looking for an apartment before he left for Ghana for two months and we made an appointment with BRS at 10am. I took time off of work to see apartments and when we got to the office, our broker was unprepared. We didn't see the first apartment until 12pm. Despite the delay, we loved the apartment. It was above our budget (our broker didn't listen to our preferences) but we decided to take it the day that we saw it. We also signed the lease and handed in all of the checks on time. I was ready to write a good review for Boston Realty Source. For the next week, I called the company just to confirm everything and they never called me back...it wasn't until my boyfriend was gone and I ended up in the hospital that they decided to tell me that the landlord accepted another lease first. Still, I understood their business and decided to get all of our checks and money back. It has been one week, 20 calls, and 5 text messages later and I haven't gotten any of our money or checks back. It's impossible to get into contact with these people. All I have to say is that I can't see this realty company getting its act together so be careful. For anyone in my position, I suggest Skyline Realty in Central Square. The broker that I worked with, Melina, acknowledged every phone call, text, and email. I didn't even have to send out that many because she actually did her job. Within 2 days of finding out that we lost the apartment, Melina found us another one on the same street that actually was LESS than the rent we were willing to pay. She even drove to my workplace to drop off a coat that I forgot at her office and brought the lease with her so that I didn't have to take time off of work. This realty company is really efficient and considerate...a rare find for this market in Boston. read more

Basema at Skyline is the best. Last fall, my girlfriend and I decided to move to Cambridge. We had seen an ad for a decent looking place on Craigslist, a posting that Jim at Skyline had put up. I drove up from New Jersey to see the apartment, which after falling in love with, I signed for that day. Unfortunately, after three weeks of uncertainty, it turned out that the owner of the property decided he wanted to hold on to it to sell. After this news, Basema started sending me new listings over email every day, like she was determined to get us into a place. After a few days, she called me, saying that she had a place I had to see. She didn't have any pictures, but she insisted that it was perfect for us. I trusted her, and drove up that night. She even gave me money to come up the second time, because she wanted to make sure that that wouldn't get in the way of me coming up right away to see the place. So we met in the morning, had a coffee, and then went over to the apartment. She was right, I loved it. I called my girlfriend to tell her about it, and we decided to sign for it. This time it ended happily, and now here we are in our new apartment. If it weren't for Basema, I'm not sure where we would've had to settle for. read more

I had a very smooth move with Skyline. After just moving to the Boston area, I walked in off the street and met with a realtor (Alex), who immediately took me around to see some places. He was very helpful and friendly, and over the next few days worked around my schedule to help me secure a wonderful apartment. read more

I was a home owner whom skyline managed my property. I own many more properties around USA and was adviced to ask skyline reality to manage my property. They managed my property for one year until I terminated the management contract. It was the worst year I had and I do not advice any home home owner to use Skyline. Alex was very rude and unethical . I must say that I have never met him and we communicated via email.But his emails were mostly rude. I have lost so much money by renting through them as he has never produced any receipts of the expenses he claims he did. I had to terminate the contract and bear all the losses just to get away from Skyline. I am currently happy with my new management agent who is taking care of all my properties in Boston and Cambridge. read more

Stephanie Granda (stephanie@skylinerealty.com) at Skyline totally saved us when we needed to find a dog-friendly apartment with a reasonable commute to work, on pretty short notice. We were moving to Cambridge from another state and I came up on a quick two-and-a-half-day, pound-the-pavement-and-find-a-place-to-live mission. By the end of the second day, I'd found nothing workable, and out of several other realtors I'd set up appointments with, three of them had cancelled on me within an hour of our appointments - the trip was a total hell. At the end of that second day I started calling every realtor I could find in the area, and brave Stephanie called me back. She was gracious, kind, straightforward, and honest, and worked out an appointment for the next morning in the (beautiful and convenient!) place my husband, dog, and I happily moved into last week. She was friendly, efficient, and an absolute pleasure to work with. Thank you!! read more

I would never leave my property under the management of Alex. He is condescending and dismissive in every way. He will not let you speak when you are trying to tell him something. We called him to tell him there was something that needed to be fixed in the house we were renting and before we had even said anything he said, "I know. I know. I know." We hadn't told him what was wrong so unless he can read minds (which I'm sure he thinks he can do) then there's no way he could've known what needed to be fixed. We are not confrontational people at all, but Alex seems to always want to pick a fight, and demands the last word on everything. A phone conversation with him is essentially useless because he talks over you the whole time. He used to manage a property we rented until he was basically fired because of how awful he treated the owners and us (the renters). I do agree with the other reviews that Stephanie is very nice; but she's not nice enough to make up for the horrific nightmare you're in for if and when you have to deal with Alex. I am shocked that a person as dismissive as him can even stay in business. He must act very differently until you sign over your property to be managed by him and then that's when his true colors start showing. His behavior toward people is unacceptable. Notice how Alex has responded to all of the yelp reviews that say anything bad about him. He HAS to get the last word, but he IS always wrong--being rude and mean is always wrong, especially if you act this way with those whom you do business with. Take your business to another realty company!! This place does NOT deserve our business unless Alex is gone. read more