Monthly Archives: February 2013
Back Bay Fire. First Block of Comm Ave. Feb 20th
Not your average walk to work today. Looked like a multiple alarm fire on the first block of Commonwealth Avenue on the odd side of the street. I didn’t see any flames, just a bunch of smoke so hopefully all the trucks were more precautionary. I hope everyone is ok, but the 4th and 5th floors look to be a total mess. I believe the fire was located at 17 Commonwealth Avenue.
329 Columbus Ave #4. New 2 Bed Rental
Condo Quality 2 Bed in the Heart of the City. Steps from everything Back Bay and the South End. Great light and great open living floor plan. This apartment features a renovated Kitchen with Stainless steel appliances, Washer Dryer in unit and Hardwood Floors. Utilities not included.
Available March 1st 2013 $2500
@Homes_Boston. “Top 100 Twitter Users in Boston”
Was On Twitter today (as usual) and noticed I was mentioned as a “top 100 twitter user in Boston”.
Not sure what metrics were used here, but I’ll take it! There are some pretty popular users in the top 100, so i’m pretty excited to start making some lists. The entire list can be seen on Evan Carmichaels Website here. I really wasn’t aware of this site, but according to Alexa.com, his rank is 11,930 globally so thats pretty legit if you ask me. He writes an entrepreneurial blog and has a big focus on social media. Big thanks to Evan and be sure to follow me at @Homes_Boston on Twitter.
Keep Tweeting!
Inexpensive 2 Bed on E. Brookline St. $2200
I usually don’t get 2 bedroom listings in this price point but this could be a great starter apt in the South End. It’s also quite close to the Boston Medical Center and would be a good option for medical students moving to the area. This apt has been recently renovated. Brand new appliances in kitchen and new granite countertops, hardwood floors throughout, full parking included. Pets are possible
Real Estate Rap Video “Sellin Homes”
I somehow came across this on Twitter yesterday. I have to say that this video did take a lot of effort and this guy really is a real estate agent. I wonder if he saw an uptick in business after making this? I’m thinking maybe not, but I’m really glad he made this.
And no, I will not be making my version any time soon.
Rental on Briggs Place / Shawmut Ave in the South End
I took some photos the other day for a new listing on Shawmut Avenue for a new 1 Bed listing in the South End. I though it was pretty fitting since its also on a small private way called Briggs Place. I have to say, I was pretty upset I didn’t have a few million in my pocket to buy the whole building a few years ago when it was being sold as a shell. Oh Well.
Here are the stats.
1 Bed, Brand New, 525sf, Central Heat Central AC, Hardwoods upstairs, high end kitchen, tons of light. MArch 1 $2600
Boston Blizzard 2013
Here are a few pics from the weekend.
173 Commonwealth Avenue
Comm Ave Mall
Commonwealth Avenue Road Closed
Blizzard Bikers
View from the Westin
Back Bay Dog
Blizzard of 2013
More Snow Pictures in Boston
Last night I met up with a high school friend in town for business. I decided to walk home and was glad to see it just started to snow. Good thing that I usually have my camera on me. Here are a few of the pics
Frozen Public Garden Pond
Snowy Boston State House
Frog Pond
George Washington Statue in the Public Garden
Ice Skating on the Frog Pond
Walking Home
What a Real Estate Scam Looks Like on Craigslist
Yup, recently I found out that one of my recent, but old rental listings was turned into a scam on Craigslist. I’m not sure why people choose this as a profession, but I think people who do this are the scum of scum. Just Saying. I thought I might use my blog to show people what one looks like and possibly make it a learning experience for someone.
Just recently, I was contacted by 2 people who almost got scammed by this, and they followed up to see if it was too good to be true. It had the correct address in the listing so the prospective tenants looked it up in various other locations and found out that I was the listing agent. If you search long enough you can find out that I had the exclusive agent although the listing is all over different websites .Both People reached out to me in confusion I was asked a lot of questions that made me uncomfortable, but i guess they are protecting themselves since they aren’t even sure i’m reputable. I read the original email by the scammers and i noticed that they said that they were cheated by their listing agent (read below) and that might deter from someone reaching out to me because they think i’m the deceptive one.
Here is the original email response from the scammers (with location, phone #’s and names omitted) the description is pretty much the same that I wrote. My personal thoughts are in red. This message below is in response to the original ad after this kid replied to the listing. I do not have the original listing link unfortunately. I didn’t include the email from the scammed kid, but I feel bad that he went as far as he did.
Hello,
Thanks for the interest you have shown towards our House for rent.We are pleased that you have an interest in our house, Our lovely home is still available for lease and we want responsible adults/family who are neat and also believe that they have what it takes to take the house.I am currently living in (West Africa Nigeria) for a Missionary Project prayer crusade (the first warning sign, missionary project and Nigeria) I came over here with my wife and daughter we decided to stay here for few years because we like it here and its warm, We will be very pleased if we can find the right tenant to rent our home, As soon as we are settling down here, I had a thought of selling the house so I have to look for an agent after getting one, we got a deal but later he try to scam us and forge some documents to win the house because we send the keys to him and we later go to court and get the house back. (great use of english here and agents don’t do this, that would make the cover of the Boston Globe). We would have given the same agent this job, but want to rent the house out ourselves and I do not have anyone in the area I can leave the keys behind with. If you notice the price we are offering is far below normal price (warning sign #2) and I this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the entire care for the property. I know there is no way we can be sure that you are the right person to live in the house because we would not be able to meet physically (warning #3) before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the property. The property is available for as long as you want and if you drive by the house you may see a sign there, you have nothing to worry about it belongs to my former realty so you don’t have to call them because they do not have access to the house anymore.(warning #4) due to my transfer and I will be here for as long as 5 years that is why am renting out my house so if you belief you can take good care of the house and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the house if you can promise me & my family that you will sure take very good care of the house for us as if it was your own.The house is located at:(The Real Address Here) St Apt 1 Boston, MA .This 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms (only 2 beds)Nice size family house on a quiet tree line street area.The rent is $900 monthly (really $3700) including utilities and $600 for security deposit.built-ins and arched doorways.Kitchen is bright and cherry with all wood cabinets and plenty of counter space. Open dining room and large living room.with about ~1,500 sqft (no 1500 sf unit would ever rent for $900 in the back bay, not even close)
Below is the Rental Application form, fill it and get back to us, I can see your willingness in leasing our home and hope we will never have regrets in leasing our home to you.
BELOW IS THE RENTAL APPLICATION FORM (nobody puts an application form in a few lines like this)
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF?
FULL NAME__________?
HOME PHONE ( )_________?
CELL PHONE( )____________?
DATE OF BIRTH___________?
OTHER PHONE ( )__________?
CURRENT ADDRESS_______________________
REASONS FOR LEAVING?______________________
ARE YOU SINGLE OR MARRIED__________?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE LIVING IN THE HOUSE___________?
DO YOU HAVE PETS___________?
DO YOU HAVE CARS___________?
OCCUPATION_______________?
IF THE HOUSE IS BEEN GIVEN TO YOU,HOW LONG WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY_____________?
MOVE IN DATE___________?
ARE YOU READY FOR THE DEPOSIT___________? (what? you mean are you ready for the scam? who asks this?)
WHEN DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVED THE ENTRANCE KEYS/DOCUMENT___________?
Perfect location on charming (real address here), steps to the Prudential Center, the Green Line, Copley Place, and Back Bay Station. This spacious parlor duplex features a large master bedroom on the upper level. The lower level has a large 2nd bedroom, guest bath, and an expansive living/dining/kitchen area with full height windows. The eat-in kitchen opens onto the patio and features granite counters, stainless steel appliances w/gas range, and cherry cabinets. W/D in unit and Central Air.Must see to believe! My husband would like to speak with you over the phone also,you can reach him anytime on (they list 2 international #’s here which is also skeptical)
God Bless You and your entire family.
(they used my real owners name here which is creepy that they found it)
This was the 2nd Follow Up Email
1)Entrance and the rooms keys
2)Paper/Permanent house form(Containing your details)
3)The house documentary file
4)Payment receipt
My husband would like to speak with you over the phone also,you can reach him anytime on (they give 2 phone #s here, both international and i wonder if they lead to a real person…but i’m not going to test it) you let me know the best time we can reach you. Do let me know if you are ready to move forth so that I can forward you the rental agreement and the details you will use to make the payment to us.I will be looking forward to hearing back from you again,thanks for being so honest with us and God bless you abundantly. (and bless you scumbags too)
So pls get back to me today.
I await your reply ASAP.
The sad thing is that this was an 18 year old kid who was looking to move to Boston. He had a budget and was doing a year abroad at an amazing non-profit company. He filled out their application and almost went through with it until his mom got involved. Personally i can’t ever imagine someone falling for this, but they do!! These Ass Faces put a big damper on my day and made me lose a little faith in humanity. I just want to do my job and maybe help out someone in the future. Happy Craigslisting!!!
Parking Garages in Boston
Online Garage Parking Resources
This weeks blog idea was to compose a bunch of garage parking options for downtown boston. I reached out to my “Twitterverse” aboout garage options someone suggested I check out Primospot.com . This is a great tool for Parking Spaces in the Downtown Boston neighborhoods. It has a lot of garages that i never heard of, but as for a real estate needs they list a lot of hourly and overnight parking lots, but don’t necessarily have many listed with monthly rates (which is what residential people are looking for). Since I do a lot of business in the South End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, I noticed that they were missing out on a few good parking options, and some of the pricing on the list didn’t truly reflect the real pricing. I think it’s a fairly new site so over time this could iron itself out.
A few other big resources of parking in Downtown Boston garages are Pilgrim Parking and Central Parking. These 2 companies manage a large percentage of parking garages in Boston.
According to Pilgrim Parkings Website, they manage about 26 parking garages and have them all over the Greater Boston areas. Since they manage the site and all their rates and locations, I would assume all rates are fairly up to date. There are a few garages that are missing on Primospot.com that are on pilgrims site.
Central Parking Systems is a massive company that manages parking spaces all over the country. They manage some of the larger garages like the Prudential Center and Boston Common and post deals on their website
Tips:
- “Reverse Commute Price” this is a really good option for some residents. This is the option that reduces the price by restricting garage usage. If you are a 9-5er, this is a great option to look into because the times you cant use the garage are usually 8-6 and you get weekends as well. Some garages give “sick days” but you have to look into that.
- Don’t wait till January to get a “winter parking spot. Nobody likes digging their car out of the snow and yes, its a smart thing to get a garage space for the winter to avoid the hassle of winter (if you can afford it). The only issue is that everyone else is thinking the same way. Don’t wait for the 1st big storm to hit because it might be too late and the garage (closest to you) might not have any monthly spaces left. This tends to happen more with the smaller garages like at Atelier 505 on Tremont. I’ve had many clients miss out due to a full monthly parking capacity.
- Do your research. Parking is all about demand and availability. Prices can sway heavily and if you are willing to walk an extra few blocks or so, you can save a bunch
This month I will be featuring other parking options around the city, including alley parking options which is an entirely different story.
