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Newman & Company
Category: Property Management
Neighborhood: Back Bay264 Newbury St
(between Fairfield St & Gloucester St)
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 236-4860
- Nearest Transit:
-
Hynes Convention Center (Green)
4 reviews for Newman & Company
Mark is definitely intense. I found my first apartment through him back in 2002... a two bedroom basement apartment for $1400 (all in) on Newbury and Gloucester. That was a sick deal.
So, when it was time to get a new place in 2007, I gave him a call. Same old Mark. He is a super hurried and ridiculously forceful used car salesman. I gave him my specifications and he took me to a one bedroom apartment that was the size of a closet above a sushi restaurant. For $1400. He wouldn't stop repeating that it was the very last one bedroom apartment in all of Boston. Yes, all of Boston. When I told him I didn't like it, he said I was stupid and if I didn't sign a lease for it right now, I'd be living on the streets. Half way through our drive home, I was so upset I told him to pull over the car and let me out because I would rather walk home then be treated a) like a child b) like an idiot and c) like I owed him a signed lease since he took time out of his schedule to show me the sh*tty apartment in the first place.
The next day I called Fairfield Realty and they proved that you don't have to be a bunch of used car salesmen to match a person to a home.
There is a soft spot in my heart for this scrappy Boston realtor. I've rented two apartments through him (he has a lot of listings in East Cambridge) and both times he's fought to get us into places. "These girls are top notch...top notch," he'll tell the landlord in a frantic voice. "I'll write up a lease right now." He's super intense.
Like the other folks have mentioned, you definitely have to keep on top of this guy. He always tells you to call him back. Always. He is definitely not one of those realtors who calls you every day with new listings. If YOU are persistent, he will get you a good deal.
And, he has good candy in his office.
This is basically a one-man show-- so if you are looking for a crazy abundance of rentals, this might not be the place for you!
Mark, the owner, is hard to warm up to but tries his best to give you options with your budget. He did ask me multiple times if I could stretch my budget a few hundred dollars, which I politely declined as there had been pay cut rumblings at my current job and I did not want to overextend myself. That kind of bugged me, but I think he was just trying to help me out and give me the most for my buck.
He has two girls working in the office (I'm guessing administrative services, etc.) who were super friendly and tried to keep in touch with me via e-mail and phone with updates once in a while. My biggest complaint here was that they are terrible with getting back to you -- I called them on a Saturday and didn't receive a call back until the following Friday evening! You definitely have to hound these people down if you are serious about renting an apartment they are advertising. I think your best option is just to go straight to their office.
I did view a few properties that were being advertised by this company and they were 'eh'. For my price range, I was expecting a little bit more so I ultimately ended up renting from another company. However, I would give them another whirl in the future!
Bumped into this listing on Yelp and had to share my experience from awhile ago:
About 10 years ago I was an 18 year old living in Boston. I needed an apartment and stopped off at Newman and Company's Newbury Street office. Mark showed me a few apartments one of which I liked. We went back to his office, he prepared some lease paperwork and I gave him $150 as a deposit to hold the apartment. The next day he calls me and says that the apartment I want is not available and that he's moving me to another apartment in the same building because some girl needs my unit because she has a piano. I said I wanted to see the other unit and he took me there. I didn't like it. I asked for my deposit back and he refused to give it back to me and said I already signed a lease. But I signed a lease for the other unit that's not available.
Maybe his business practices have improved over the last ten years. But back then it was horrible.
I consider my $150 lesson a gift to all of you to stay away.
