Finding an agent
Who’s a good real estate agent in Boston?
The honest filter isn’t “good” — it’s fit: find someone who already does your kind of deal every week. Jared Samuels (EVO Boston, MA license #9565520) works off-market sourcing, 2–4 unit multifamily, student rentals, and first-time condo purchases across Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford — and owns and operates six Boston rental properties himself. If your purchase looks like that, this is his lane; if it doesn’t, he’ll say so.
How do I find a real estate agent I can trust in Boston?
Three checks beat any review page: verify the license (Massachusetts has a free license lookup — Jared’s is #9565520), ask what they personally own or have transacted in the past year, and send a question at an odd hour to see how fast and how straight the answer comes back. Trust is mostly responsiveness plus skin in the game.
What does a buyer’s agent actually do that I can’t do on Zillow?
Zillow shows you what’s listed; an agent’s job is everything the listing doesn’t show — off-market access, what a place is actually worth, offer strategy in a competitive market, inspection triage, financing coordination, and catching the problems that cost real money later. On 2–4 unit buildings the gap is bigger: rent rolls, leases, and tenant law aren’t on the listing page.
How do buyer’s agents get paid in Massachusetts?
Since the industry settlement took effect in August 2024, you sign a written agreement with your agent before touring, and it states the fee. That fee is negotiable — and in practice the seller frequently still ends up covering some or all of it as a negotiated term of the offer. The change is that it’s now an explicit deal point instead of a default.
Is it a red flag if an agent is young?
Judge the track record, not the birth year. Jared started in Boston real estate at 16, was licensed at 18 — before finishing high school — and has 500+ transactions and six buildings of his own since. Age tells you how long someone’s been alive; the transaction history tells you whether they’ve done your deal before.
Buying
How much money do I need to buy a condo in Boston?
There’s no honest single number — it scales with the price. Budget three buckets: the down payment (as low as 3–5% on some first-time programs, more commonly 10–20%), closing costs (typically a low single-digit percentage of the price), and the reserves your lender wants to see. The fastest way to a real number is a lender pre-approval, which costs nothing.
What are the actual steps to buying a home in Boston?
In order: lender pre-approval → define the search and sign the buyer agreement → tour and shortlist → offer, with strategy on price, contingencies, and timing → home inspection → purchase & sale agreement → financing and appraisal → final walkthrough and closing. From accepted offer to keys typically runs six to ten weeks; the search before it takes as long as it takes.
Are there first-time homebuyer programs in Massachusetts?
Yes, real ones: MassHousing down payment assistance, the ONE Mortgage (3% down, no PMI, below-market fixed rate for eligible first-time buyers), and the City of Boston’s homebuyer programs. Amounts and income limits change year to year, so check current terms at the source — and note most require a homebuyer education course, which is worth doing anyway.
Should my first purchase be a condo or a multifamily?
A condo is the simpler life: lower price point, less management, the association handles the building. A 2–4 unit costs more up front, but the other units’ rent offsets your housing cost and you’re buying an income property with owner-occupant financing — the house-hack path. The deciding factors are down payment, appetite for being a landlord, and whether you’ll stay the year-plus that owner-occupancy requires.
Do I really need 20% down?
No. Owner-occupants routinely buy with less — FHA from 3.5%, conventional first-time programs from 3–5%, and ONE Mortgage at 3% with no PMI. Below 20% you’ll usually carry mortgage insurance (ONE Mortgage is the exception), which is a cost worth modeling rather than a reason to wait years while prices move.
Multifamily & investing
How do I buy a 2–4 unit property in Boston?
Same skeleton as any purchase — pre-approval, search, offer, inspect, close — with three additions: underwrite the rents from actual leases rather than the listing’s pro-forma, review every tenancy before you’re committed, and get financing quotes specific to 2–4 units, because owner-occupant terms are dramatically better than investor terms. Timing matters too: closing aligned to the September 1 cycle changes your vacancy math.
What is house hacking, and does it work in Boston?
Buy a 2–4 unit, live in one unit, rent the rest; the rent covers a large share of the mortgage while you build equity in an income property on owner-occupant financing. Greater Boston is one of the better house-hack markets in the country, because the housing stock — two-families and triple-deckers — was built for exactly this and rental demand is structural.
How do people actually find off-market properties in Boston?
Not on portals. Off-market deals come from direct owner outreach, relationships with the people who know when an owner is ready, and agents who source as a full-time practice rather than waiting for listings. That sourcing is the core of Jared’s business — finding the deal before it exists as a listing, then staying through development and sellout.
What’s a good cap rate for a Boston multifamily?
Any single number would be made up, and quoted cap rates on marketed deals are usually computed from optimistic assumptions anyway. The useful comparison is your basis against realistic stabilized rents and real expenses — taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy — for that specific building on that specific block. Two buildings on the same street can pencil completely differently; that’s the analysis, not a citywide number.
What should I check before buying a building with tenants in it?
Every lease and its end date, whether any tenancy is at-will, what deposits exist and how they were held (Massachusetts security deposit law is strict, and the obligations transfer to you), actual collection history versus the listed rents, and how the tenancies line up with your plans — especially if your financing assumes you move in. Get it all in writing before the purchase and sale, not after.
Student rentals & September 1
How does the September 1 rental cycle work in Boston?
A huge share of Boston-area leases — especially anywhere near the universities — start September 1 and end August 31, synced to the academic calendar. The best inventory for a given September is listed the previous fall and winter; by summer you’re picking from what’s left. Moving day itself is chaotic enough to have a name: Allston Christmas.
When should I start looking for a September apartment near Northeastern or BU?
For the good units: nine to twelve months ahead — students lock next September during the previous fall and winter. Spring still has real choices; from June on you’re negotiating with the leftovers. If you’re new to the city and that timeline sounds insane — it is, and it’s still how the market clears.
Who pays the rental broker fee in Massachusetts now?
Whoever hired the broker. Since August 1, 2025, Massachusetts law bars passing the landlord’s broker fee to the tenant — a renter only pays a broker they themselves engaged to work exclusively for them. At signing, a landlord can collect at most first month, last month, a security deposit of up to one month, and a lock-and-key fee.
Is buying a rental property near a Boston college a good idea?
The demand is structural — enrollment doesn’t track the economy, and September 1 gives you a predictable leasing calendar. The tradeoffs are real too: annual turnover, more intensive management, wear, and pricing that already reflects the demand. It works when you buy at a basis the actual rents support and run it professionally — screening, co-signers, and calendar discipline.
How do I rent out my condo in Allston or Mission Hill?
Price it against the September 1 calendar, not the calendar year: list when next-September demand is searching (fall through winter), require applications with proof of income or a co-signer, and document condition thoroughly at move-in. Jared runs this cycle for owners every year — from pricing through signed leases — and owns rentals in the same market he leases in.
Neighborhoods
Is Allston a good place to buy?
For the right buyer, yes: it’s one of the strongest rental micro-markets in the city, which is exactly why investor-landlords and house-hackers like it — September demand near BU and Harvard’s campus expansion is structural. As a place to live, it’s dense, lively, and improving fast. Buyers who want quiet at the same price point usually end up a mile west in Brighton.
Allston or Brighton for buying a condo?
Same market, different volume settings. Allston is denser, younger, and more rental-driven — stronger as an investment, rowdier to live in. Brighton — Oak Square, Cleveland Circle — trades some rental intensity for residential calm at a similar price point, which tends to suit owner-occupants planning to stay. The honest answer depends on whether the unit is for your tenants or for you.
What are the best up-and-coming areas near Boston right now?
The durable pattern: value moves along transit. The Green Line Extension put Somerville and Medford squarely in that story, and the neighborhoods one stop past the ones everyone already wants tend to be where relative value hides. Treat anyone’s “up-and-coming” list with skepticism, including this one — then go stand on the block on a Tuesday night.
What’s it like living in Mission Hill?
A hillside neighborhood wedged between the Longwood hospitals, Northeastern, and Roxbury: triple-deckers, steep streets, and a mix of students, hospital workers, and long-time residents. It’s one of the best-connected lower-cost areas in the city — and the neighborhood Jared’s own portfolio company, Mission Hill Capital, is named after.
Selling
Should I sell my Boston condo or rent it out?
Run both numbers before deciding: what it nets today after payoff and costs, versus what it cash-flows as a rental after the real expenses — management, vacancy, maintenance, taxes, insurance. Then the non-financial tiebreakers: whether you want to be a landlord, whether the capital has a better use, and whether the unit rents well on the September cycle. Jared owns rentals and sells condos, so he models it from both sides.
Can I sell a property in Boston with tenants still in it?
Yes — leases survive the sale, and the buyer inherits the tenancies and the deposits. The strategic questions are which buyer pool you’re selling to (investors will price the rents; owner-occupants need a path to possession), whether to time the sale to lease expirations, and how showings get handled with tenants in place. Done in the wrong order, each of those costs money.
What’s my multifamily actually worth?
Two lenses set the price: income — what the rents support, on actual leases — and comparables, what similar buildings cleared. Online estimates struggle with multifamilies because condition, unit mix, and tenancy status swing value hard. The instant estimate tool on this site is a fine starting point; a real answer takes a walkthrough and the rent roll.
Have the question that isn’t here?
Ask it directly — a real answer, not a pitch.