Linden Realty

Linden Realty is an unlicensed broker, and has been reported to the Mass Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
My experience with Xiomara was deeply unsettling. She was utterly unprofessional, repeatedly lied to us, and demanded her fee and a deposit to hold the apartment – the latter of which is illegal in the city of Boston.
Do not work with this company.

The agent for this company Xiomara is very pushy, rude and doesn’t listen to her clients. She tries to make you sign away your rights to work with other companies which is not legal and says that «everybody» does it. She is very dishonest and is the worst agent I’ve ever worked with in my 8 years in Boston, seriously.
Their postings online have pictures of ‘local’ amenities that are not even in the same part of Boston as the apartment, e.g. pictures of Brighton T and Businesses for Jamaica Plain listings. I wouldn’t suggest this company to my worst enemy.

Let me begin with how much I utterly despise apartment hunting. I hadn’t done it in forever, and I was certainly not looking forward to paying extra fees on top of the really high rents in the Boston area. I knew it was going to be pretty tough trying to get a place for Jan 1, particularly with our laundry list of things we wanted: dishwasher, 1 – 2 bedrooms, little to no carpet, laundry in building, pet friendly, in an okay neighborhood, and around $ 1500/​mo. You can laugh at that absurdity right now, but that’s what we really wanted. We were getting ready to settle for less, as we scanned every possible online listings for apartments it was really difficult with realtors who would respond back that the place we enquired about wasn’t available but to check out their other options that included absolutely nothing on our list.
My boyfriend started researching the realtors/​companies as we searched listings, which was super helpful because as we went to set up an appointment with Xiomara, he found a single Unilocal review. With only barely raised hopes, we met up with her and walked through the apartment in our preferred neighborhood, Jamaica Plain. While Linden Realty primarily focuses on Allston, they do occasionally have other listings. I have to agree with the other review, talking to Xiomara for the first time is daunting – we were told to bring our check books with us if we wanted to secure the apartment that we looked at. Seemed reasonable, but daunting. We looked at the first place, which was not bad, but was not ideal. Xiomara insisted on showing us another apartment next door that she was going to be handling even though it was a little more pricier than we wanted to pay. We were reluctant based on price, but once we were inside we knew it was the apartment for us. With heat and hot water included, it evened out to being in our budget. We did end up cutting checks on the spot to secure the apartment while our application processed and they renovated the whole place. What vision! Xiomara was wonderful to us and talked us up to the landlord. Her half-​fee was included in the move-​in costs, but was arranged that so that it wasn’t as soul crushing as other options that had been offered to us by less appealing realtors.
Xiomara was very flexible and understanding, and very open and honest. She listens to what you want and will help you find the right place for you – not just because she has a listing to rent. After dealing with everyone else while trying to find an apartment, it was really refreshing. We just moved in and absolutely adore our apartment.

My last apartment in Packard’s Corner was great for the year after I moved out of a cell-​like room in this creepy old lady’s house in Newton; but after several years plus a couple more, I hated it. The people above me must have been practicing for Riverdance: there was barely a time when something wasn’t crashing against my ceiling. The nest of undergraduates across the hall communicated only in shrieks. People tossed their trash in the stairwell, where it remained for days or weeks until the maintenance man got around to removing it. And there were bedbugs, which management refused to acknowledge until too late and which proved impossible to get rid of. After I’d tossed furniture, clothing and possessions, and was reduced to sitting cross-​legged on a bare floor, staring bleakly into space, I decided that it was time to move.
I spoke to a kid in a realty office near Great Scott. He told me there were no apartments that met my «requirements» for under $ 1,300 and that between rent, broker’s fees and security deposits, I’d have to pay at least $ 5,000 up front. It was the middle of March, I was looking for an apartment for September, and I was hearing the «You’d better find something fast; all the good stuff will be gone in a couple of weeks» speech. And this smarmy punk was telling me that he had just the thing — which he described in vivid detail — but he wasn’t going to show it to me because he didn’t think I wanted it bad enough. I must have looked like I’d never rented an apartment before.
And then I met Xiomara (Zee-​O-​Mah-​Ra) who, I can fairly say, changed my life — or maybe just made me slightly less of a loser. Linden’s rental office is no longer on Kelton Street, by the way, but in the basement of an apartment house at 1128 Commonwealth Avenue. I stopped in one evening after work and my first impression was that Xiomara was typical of realty agents: fast-​talking, a little pushy, always in a hurry. But she told me that all of her buildings were with one property management company, that she didn’t charge a fee, and that because I had a job and wasn’t a student. I probably wouldn’t need a security deposit. I gave her my list: no bugs, no basements, a small building, no undergrads, lots of light, clean. She said, «I don’t have anything for you right now but call me in a week or so. I expect something to come up soon.» They always say that.
I stopped in a few days later but she had nothing. I called a week after that — still nothing. A few more days and the usual «I’m getting new apartments soon.» A few days later, however, Xiomara called me at the office and asked me to stop by after work.
We looked at an apartment in an old, smallish building on Kelton Street. Top floor in the front, decent sized rooms. $ 1,095. The walls looked like they were painted in this century; the floor had a nice shine. But this was the first place I looked at and I was indifferent. Xiomara did her best: «Oh look at these big rooms! Look at this nice wooden floor! This is a great building! You’ll love it here!»
Between Xiomara’s exultations and my natural aversion to making decisions, I had only one thought: Escape. But it was the end of the day, I hadn’t eaten, and my resistance was low. I thought of all the months I’d spend dealing with rental agents, looking at apartments and finding fault with each of them until, at the last minute, I ended up settling for something worse than what I was looking at right then.
I got back into Xiomara’s car, wondering how I could get away from her. We went back to her office. She offered me some ginger ale and put an application in front of me. I told her I didn’t have a check for the deposit. She told me not to worry. I seemed responsible, she said, and she knew I was serious because I called her so diligently for the past couple of weeks. She handed me a pen.
I filled out the application, asking about the consequences if I changed my mind. Xiomara said she wasn’t going to rent me something I didn’t want and that it was OK if I left. I felt a little green but I said I was fine, signed all the documents and brought a check by a few days later. I spent the spring not obsessing about apartment hunting but instead about whether I made a bad decision. I walked past the new place a bunch of times. I found my way into the building and wandered the halls. I stood outside looking up at my new bedroom window, thinking, «It’ll just be for a year. It’s bound to be better than where I am.»
And it is. The building is quiet and clean, and management always seems to be doing preventative maintenance. Xiomara isn’t one of those people who forget who you are as soon as you sign the lease. She waves when she sees me in the street and she asks how I like my apartment. Xiomara comes off a little tough but I think she’ll take good care of you.