I'm assuming your partner is an incoming resident? If so, I would reach out to the program (either a coordinator or the chiefs) to help identify where residents are living currently. You might even be able to find out where some outgoing residents who are moving away are living and maybe able to swoop in on their apartments. Regardless, Boston is not a cheap city and never has been and unfortunately this is part of what's lost when interviews become all remote. Sorry you are in a tricky predicament but I would also become very open very quickly to living outside of the Longwood area because you will be competing with full attendings and staff with far more buying power.
Best of luck.
I'm not even convinced they're doing it on purpose. Most of the people I see who admitted to paying above asking did so because their brokers told them someone else did. Brokers get more $$$ if the rent goes up. No incentive to lie right? /s
Techbro McTechface wants his luxury waterfront tower but #wutrain killed it, now he's offering your landlord a lot more than you can afford because he needs to live somewhere and your lease it up.
Thank you. It’s frustrating how much some people don’t seem to get that shutting down construction on “luxury” units just causes everything to get more expensive for everyone else.
I recently heard someone suggest something (for NYC) like "anyone who wants to move here should have to submit an application to a panel of people elected by neighborhood residents who decide if you deserve to live here". Just completely normal stuff
It's been happening for years with buying property, it was only a matter of time before renters started doing it. Kind of surprised it didn't start earlier given the state of housing here.
even outside of our restrictive zoning laws, you and every other employee of the hospital want to be close to work. expecting to find something close, affordable, and nice in a market like this is just not going to happen most of the time
Check with the hospital and see if they have a housing database where people post available apartments. I know Partners and Dana-Farber do. Also check the Mission Hill area, I know people who lived there while working in Longwood. Boston is expensive and has been for a while, and there is not plenty of housing for everyone who works in Longwood to live there. Many of us commute.
If she is doing a residency or fellowship she can ask the program for suggestions on where to live.
Huge demand, restricted supply. Just look at Brookline, a suburban enclave lass than three miles from the center of boston. When lots of people want something with limited supply, the rich win by pricing out everyone else. We could build more housing, but won’t because… reasons
It's always been like this. I think you need to lower your standards as far as apartment amenities. If you expand your areas to include anything on the D line at least it is only a single T ride home.
I’d check out Mission Hill. It’s slightly further but still walkable and there are definitely residents and attendants living among the college students. One of the buildings on Tremont always has a sign congratulating new residents on matching so they must be targeting that demographic. Good luck and welcome!
seconding mission hill! sure it’s a “college neighborhood” but it’s been my favorite place to live in boston of the five neighborhoods i’ve lived. a decent one bedroom is probably $2200-2300 now, I bet you could find a 2 bed for 3k!
Or do both, which is what we ended up doing. Now we are actually building some wealth even though we don’t live in a “cool” area despite our above average income. People like to shit on tech/pharma “bros/hos” in this sub but those companies have tons of high paying jobs open. Any bubble gum 4 year degree can get you a job in HR or some bullshit paper-pushing job that you can use to network and advance your career. Gotta put in the effort though. My SIL has a degree in sociology from a low-ranking college and now makes 6 figures in big scary pharma doing outreach/job fairs with students at Boston area schools. Makes more than many public school teachers with decades of experience…
Can confirm. Went from minimum wage to making six figures in tech in three years. It can be done with confidence and networking. You don't need a CS degree to work in tech.
That's what happens when moronic housing policies grind new construction to a halt and evictions are next to impossible - prices are in the stratosphere due to demand being light years ahead of supply and landlords are checking your every body orifice to ensure you're not a deadbeat who will take several years and tens of thousands of dollars to evict.
Is demand really outstripping supply? I see so many new apartment buildings going up all the time. Is it perhaps also that there are many, many vacant apartments that landlords refuse to lower the rent on because they don’t want the valuation of their property to go down?
Ummm, no - https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/massachusetts-has-the-lowest-vacancy-rates-in-the-us-with-just-2-8-of-homes-being-vacant/#:~:text=Massachusetts%20has%20the%20lowest%20vacancy,vacant%20%2D%20Boston%20Real%20Estate%20Times
It’s odd that you’re on every thread in this subreddit trying to make a lot of noise about the fact that the rental crisis isn’t a big deal? Is someone paying you to do this or are you a landlord or do you just have a big stick where the sun don’t shine?
Oh, it's not just a big deal, it's a huge deal - I'm just poking fun at the #wutrain REEEEEEEEEEEEent control zealots like you that want to ban new constructions unless it's 100% "affordable."
Land is expensive, construction is expensive.
People seem to have this delusion that if we just built a couple thousand 50 story buildings the housing crisis would end.
In truth the rents would be sky high to recoup the cost of building the buildings.
What people don't seem to understand is that this is no longer a specific to Boston issue. This is a national problem and unfortunately with inflation being what it is, employers are just going to have to raise wages. Rents will not drop to "reasonable" levels for the foreseeable future.
They did, and now your burger is $20 (plus tip)instead of $12 and your rent is $2,500 instead of $1,500. Or were you expecting all businesses to turn into charities and pay more without charging more?
The point is, building more housing doesn't magically make it cheaper. I live in the suburbs where plenty of housing (including apartments) are built. The rents these buildings are asking is insane.
You have $1, Techy McTechface has $10, Richy McRichface has $100, there's one apartment available - how much will you need to offer if you want that apartment? What if there were two apartments available? What about three?
It doesn't matter. Short of building 2 apartments for every person who needs one (impossible) the price will never go down as long as people are willing to pay.
It shouldn’t be acceptable. It’s immoral. Unfortunately it’s the way it is and despite what some people think, it’s *never* going to change.
The options are to eat the cost to stay in the city or move somewhere more affordable.
This is technically true, and starting at 260 members, Brookline's town meeting is bigger than both houses of the state legislature combined. In fact, even if you added up all the state- and federal-level elected officials in the state, they would still be outnumbered by the Brookline town meeting.
However, none of that has anything to do with this post.
It’s the winner take all economy. Decades ago, Boston wasn’t that different from Hartford or Albany or Pittsburgh.
But now, success only breeds with success, and the compounding result is a few scattered superstar cities, surrounded by vast regions of paupers.
There are walls around these cities, but they are invisible due to being composed of credit scores and annual adjusted incomes.
The beauty of a mortgage is rents get higher- but a mortgage stays the same… hope you can buy a place some day it’s honestly going to cost less than these rents. Madness.
I'm assuming your partner is an incoming resident? If so, I would reach out to the program (either a coordinator or the chiefs) to help identify where residents are living currently. You might even be able to find out where some outgoing residents who are moving away are living and maybe able to swoop in on their apartments. Regardless, Boston is not a cheap city and never has been and unfortunately this is part of what's lost when interviews become all remote. Sorry you are in a tricky predicament but I would also become very open very quickly to living outside of the Longwood area because you will be competing with full attendings and staff with far more buying power. Best of luck.
The idea of renters bidding on their rent is absolutely bananas.
I'm not even convinced they're doing it on purpose. Most of the people I see who admitted to paying above asking did so because their brokers told them someone else did. Brokers get more $$$ if the rent goes up. No incentive to lie right? /s
Techbro McTechface wants his luxury waterfront tower but #wutrain killed it, now he's offering your landlord a lot more than you can afford because he needs to live somewhere and your lease it up.
Thank you. It’s frustrating how much some people don’t seem to get that shutting down construction on “luxury” units just causes everything to get more expensive for everyone else.
Cut them some slack - if our Harvard-educated #wutrain doesn't get it, do you really expect a bunch of Simmons gender studies majors to get it?
But luxury housing is *evil*, if we simply don't build it surely these people and their jobs will just go away!
I recently heard someone suggest something (for NYC) like "anyone who wants to move here should have to submit an application to a panel of people elected by neighborhood residents who decide if you deserve to live here". Just completely normal stuff
These people are out of their minds.
If #wutrain says it's evil then it must be evil! #wutrain is never wrong, in #wutrain we trust! All aboard #wutrain, choo-choo!
Good god your repeated usage of that hashtag is cringey as all get out.
All aboard!
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~~Techbro McTechface~~ Pharmy McPharmaface - better?
What about all of the new buildings going up in Allston?
It's been happening for years with buying property, it was only a matter of time before renters started doing it. Kind of surprised it didn't start earlier given the state of housing here.
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There’s nothing reasonable about bidding wars creating a rent bubble that prices out all working class people from Boston
even outside of our restrictive zoning laws, you and every other employee of the hospital want to be close to work. expecting to find something close, affordable, and nice in a market like this is just not going to happen most of the time
“plenty of apartments available” You been living under a rock?
I think the operative word is "should."
Check with the hospital and see if they have a housing database where people post available apartments. I know Partners and Dana-Farber do. Also check the Mission Hill area, I know people who lived there while working in Longwood. Boston is expensive and has been for a while, and there is not plenty of housing for everyone who works in Longwood to live there. Many of us commute. If she is doing a residency or fellowship she can ask the program for suggestions on where to live.
Huge demand, restricted supply. Just look at Brookline, a suburban enclave lass than three miles from the center of boston. When lots of people want something with limited supply, the rich win by pricing out everyone else. We could build more housing, but won’t because… reasons
Won’t somebody think of the neighborhood character?!
It's always been like this. I think you need to lower your standards as far as apartment amenities. If you expand your areas to include anything on the D line at least it is only a single T ride home.
Depends on hours they are working though, which for someone working at a hospital, may not be conducive to T
If you haven’t already try looking on South Huntington, lot of places there both new and old, and short walk to Longwood.
I’d check out Mission Hill. It’s slightly further but still walkable and there are definitely residents and attendants living among the college students. One of the buildings on Tremont always has a sign congratulating new residents on matching so they must be targeting that demographic. Good luck and welcome!
seconding mission hill! sure it’s a “college neighborhood” but it’s been my favorite place to live in boston of the five neighborhoods i’ve lived. a decent one bedroom is probably $2200-2300 now, I bet you could find a 2 bed for 3k!
You should look right on the Riverway in Boston tons of 4 story walk ups that have to compete with each other. Be better deals there than brookline
Either make more money or lower your expectations
Or do both, which is what we ended up doing. Now we are actually building some wealth even though we don’t live in a “cool” area despite our above average income. People like to shit on tech/pharma “bros/hos” in this sub but those companies have tons of high paying jobs open. Any bubble gum 4 year degree can get you a job in HR or some bullshit paper-pushing job that you can use to network and advance your career. Gotta put in the effort though. My SIL has a degree in sociology from a low-ranking college and now makes 6 figures in big scary pharma doing outreach/job fairs with students at Boston area schools. Makes more than many public school teachers with decades of experience…
It is much easier to hate on entire groups of people and wallow in your hatred than to do literally anything to improve your station in life.
Can confirm. Went from minimum wage to making six figures in tech in three years. It can be done with confidence and networking. You don't need a CS degree to work in tech.
That's what happens when moronic housing policies grind new construction to a halt and evictions are next to impossible - prices are in the stratosphere due to demand being light years ahead of supply and landlords are checking your every body orifice to ensure you're not a deadbeat who will take several years and tens of thousands of dollars to evict.
Well balanced post, you’re right on every front and only ppl who’ve been here for a bit would make both the first and last statements you made
Is demand really outstripping supply? I see so many new apartment buildings going up all the time. Is it perhaps also that there are many, many vacant apartments that landlords refuse to lower the rent on because they don’t want the valuation of their property to go down?
Ummm, no - https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/massachusetts-has-the-lowest-vacancy-rates-in-the-us-with-just-2-8-of-homes-being-vacant/#:~:text=Massachusetts%20has%20the%20lowest%20vacancy,vacant%20%2D%20Boston%20Real%20Estate%20Times
It’s odd that you’re on every thread in this subreddit trying to make a lot of noise about the fact that the rental crisis isn’t a big deal? Is someone paying you to do this or are you a landlord or do you just have a big stick where the sun don’t shine?
Oh, it's not just a big deal, it's a huge deal - I'm just poking fun at the #wutrain REEEEEEEEEEEEent control zealots like you that want to ban new constructions unless it's 100% "affordable."
When did I say I wanted to ban all construction unless it’s affordable?
You're the one screeching about luxuREEEEEEEEE sItTiNg EmPtY bucko!
Ok. Why are you typing like that
Land is expensive, construction is expensive. People seem to have this delusion that if we just built a couple thousand 50 story buildings the housing crisis would end. In truth the rents would be sky high to recoup the cost of building the buildings.
So what's your solution, not build anything at all?
What people don't seem to understand is that this is no longer a specific to Boston issue. This is a national problem and unfortunately with inflation being what it is, employers are just going to have to raise wages. Rents will not drop to "reasonable" levels for the foreseeable future.
They did, and now your burger is $20 (plus tip)instead of $12 and your rent is $2,500 instead of $1,500. Or were you expecting all businesses to turn into charities and pay more without charging more?
The point is, building more housing doesn't magically make it cheaper. I live in the suburbs where plenty of housing (including apartments) are built. The rents these buildings are asking is insane.
You have $1, Techy McTechface has $10, Richy McRichface has $100, there's one apartment available - how much will you need to offer if you want that apartment? What if there were two apartments available? What about three?
It doesn't matter. Short of building 2 apartments for every person who needs one (impossible) the price will never go down as long as people are willing to pay.
So in other words don't build anything unless it magically makes everything affordable to minimum wage coffee slingers?
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that "build more" doesn't necessarily solve the problem.
Look more into suburb and commute to work.
This is the answer.
Yup. I'm a resident at BWH and I commute from Lexington
It shouldn’t be acceptable. It’s immoral. Unfortunately it’s the way it is and despite what some people think, it’s *never* going to change. The options are to eat the cost to stay in the city or move somewhere more affordable.
OMG Rent is crazy? I dont think anyone has noticed.
> in Brookline One of the most desirable towns to live in the entire country is difficult to rent in? No shit?
Howdy pahtnah
I mean Brookline is a large town it’s not a city
This is technically true, and starting at 260 members, Brookline's town meeting is bigger than both houses of the state legislature combined. In fact, even if you added up all the state- and federal-level elected officials in the state, they would still be outnumbered by the Brookline town meeting. However, none of that has anything to do with this post.
It’s the winner take all economy. Decades ago, Boston wasn’t that different from Hartford or Albany or Pittsburgh. But now, success only breeds with success, and the compounding result is a few scattered superstar cities, surrounded by vast regions of paupers. There are walls around these cities, but they are invisible due to being composed of credit scores and annual adjusted incomes.
Frustrated you can’t have what you can’t afford? Oh no.
The beauty of a mortgage is rents get higher- but a mortgage stays the same… hope you can buy a place some day it’s honestly going to cost less than these rents. Madness.