Apartments

To lease (rent) an apartment you should consider following points:

1. Lease period and deposits

Usually there are two types of lease depending on the period of lease: 6 months lease & 12 months lease. (In some places the allow 3 month lease too, but the rent increases in that case). Most of the cases you get 1 months rent free in case you select 12 months lease and you get half months rent free if you select 6 months lease, You have to pay 1 months rent as security deposit and some amount around 10$ to 15$ as key deposit.

Rent for the apartment in basements is less than other apartments. Very few people prefer to stay in basements because of security reasons. So when you ask about availability of apartments it is possible that the Manager will say only basement apartment is available. Hence insist for apartment on first or second floor if you don't want a basement apartment. Otherwise after renting a basement apartment you will realize that apartments other than in basements were also available.

2. Utilities

Check whether your rent includes utilities such as hot water, Cable etc. Otherwise you end up spending around 100$ to 150$ for electricity bill if you have to pay for hot water.

3. Lease Terms

Understand the lease terms properly because some of the times you need to break the lease. if you want to break the lease

a. You have to give 30 days notice.
b. You lose your security deposit
c. In some cases they (the apartment management) try to find somebody who wants to rent your apartment. If they don't get anybody within 30 days period You have to pay 1 month's rent extra. In this situation you lose your security deposit plus one months rent. Get these terms clarified before signing the lease papers.

4. Lease Breaking

Suppose 3 people are sharing an apartment and all three have their names on lease papers. In case one of the three wants to leave before the lease period is over, you need to take a letter from him saying that all further paper work can be done by the other two people. This letter is required when your lease period is over or even if you want to break the lease before that period is over. If you don't have such a letter you won't be able to break the lease unless all three have signed the lease break paper. In such cases you also end up losing your deposit. This is true even for normal termination of lease period. Be careful and understand these terms and conditions fully.

5. Damages

After renting an apartment carefully observe if there are any types of damages in the apartment. If you see any, ask your Property Manager to make a note of it. Otherwise they will deduct some amount from your security deposit when your lease period is over.

6. Downgrading and Upgrading

If you want to move to 2 bedroom apartment from 1 bedroom apartment you have to pay some 100$ to 200$. Many cases downgrading i.e. moving to 1 bedroom apartment from 2 bedroom apartment is not allowed. Get clarification on all such points while signing lease papers.

7. Electricity and Telephone connection

After you rent the apartment you need to inform your local Electric Supply company that you will be staying in that apartment from so and so date and that they may bill you from that date. Ask your local telephone company for a telephone connection by calling them up. Most of the business takes place on the phone. Surprisingly all work gets done and promptly too.

8. Maintaining an apartment

In most of the apartments you have a cooking range, oven, dish washer, refrigerator etc. Use aluminum foil to cover part of the cooking range (other than coils) so that it remains clean and in the end you don't need to spend time in cleaning it. Dish washer soap is available in liquid or in powder form. Dish washer inner surface starts becoming blackish after some days. The cleaning liquid can be used to clean it. This can be done once a month. Clean your oven once in a month using oven cleaning liquid. Use plastic garbage bags in trash cans so that you can just take the bag and dispose it in the central trash, usually provided in the apartment complex.

9. Laundry

If the apartment itself does not have a washer/dryer, there will usually be a common laundry room in the complex where you can do your weekly washing/drying. Such common machines usually are coin operated machines so you'll need a few quarters and also your own favourite detergent powder.

Decorating and Furnishing your house

Of course this is not an advice for interior designing but to make your APARTMENT look like a HOME. Home is not a place with four walls, but where you have furniture also :-). The greatest place to get the things you need for your house is a Garage Sale. You can get things like Sofa sets to Wall paintings very cheep from this source. Everyone will be amazed if you have a full furnished house in a few months.

Garage sale is a second-hand, used things sale which includes household items such as furniture like couch etc, appliances such as T.V., stereo, clothes/jackets, other used items.

This is held in peoples garages or backyards generally on weekends. They are a nice place to buy furniture from, which is usually in good shape. Anybody who wants to sell old used things, can hold a garage sale and put up a sign near the house announcing such a sale. The prices are negotiable. Generally people advertise through local newspaper ad columns. The early morning time on Sat. and Sun. between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.is the best to hunt around for used things in garage sales.

Apartment Hunting, Room rents and Realtor list

Arranging for accommodation should not be a problem at all. Though Sanskriti is not officially going to offer any such service, all board members and other members will be willing to help you on this matter. It is advisable that you contact your department seniors for accommodation. Do not expect accommodation for more than a week to 10 days. This is more than sufficient time to recover from jet lag, finish your paper work and also find an apartment to move into.

Remember that you are being put up at the expense of the person who has taken you in. All your expenses and will be born usually by the members of the house though it is advisable that you at least offer to pay up for your stay. Also you will be an extra member and so will be a disturbance in the life that they are used to. So it is expected that you strive hard and find a way to take your load off them as soon as possible.

Under any circumstances, do not expect to be put up for more than 10 days.

NOTE: If you have any relatives or someone else who is well settled here and can put you up, please stay with him till you are comfortable. This will not only be more comfortable for you, it will provide space for some other person who may not be as lucky to have someone in Boston.

Finding permanent accommodation is not a problem as there will be seniors graduating this summer. In many cases you can just join the same household that has offered you temporary accommodation. Seniors will tell you where to find good deals on apartments. Remember that a good place to socialize with seniors and help yourself is the InfoCommons (the general computer lab) located inside the Snell Library complex. Another place where you can bump into seniors is the Curry student center. The onus is on you to contact your seniors and ask for guidance and help.

Room rent

Rent in Boston varies between $350 - $400 for a shared room, and from $550 - $700 for a single room. Multiply 400 with 4 to get the total amount u pay when u sign the lease (1st month + last month + security + realtor's fee) Thus, this totals to $1600. Some apartments may not have a fee, and some may not have a security deposit.

Generally, the farther the apartment is from Northeastern, the cheaper it is. But in your first semester, you don't want to stay too far away from the school. Once you get to know Boston much better, you can move out on the T line.

Realtor list

Once you arrive, you can lookup these realtors in the neighborhood to search for an apartment

1. Boston Union Realty - 79 Westland Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 421-9111

2. East Coast Realty - 103 Hemmenway Street Apt B1, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 536-2900
3. Alpha Management - 617 789 4445
4. Symphony Properties - 2 SYMPHONY ROAD; BOSTON MA 02115 - 617-536-1400 Website
5. Northeastern Metro Realty - 58 Gainsborough Street BostonMA 02115 - 617.437.7405 Website
6. Sutton Real Estate - 617-536-3110 - 295 Huntington Ave. Suite 204 Boston 02115
7. HRST Realty Trust - 315 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 236-7093 - (617) 267-6983 - (617) 572-3683
8. Huntington Realty Management - 327 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 247-2354
9. Joy Realty Associates Inc - 24 Westland Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 267-2087
10. Kensington Realty Trust - 100 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 437-0875
11. Net Realty - 250 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 266-1980
12. Reynolds Realty - 331 Huntington Avenue Apt 14, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 262-4588
13. Star Realty - 895 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 731-0955 - (617) 731-0609
14. Stevens Realty - 69 Gainsborough Street Apt 2, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 236-4442
15. Unique Realty Trust - 47 Symphony Road, Boston, MA 02115 - (617) 424-0142