Century 21 Avon

Excellent brokers! I worked with Hamid and Sue — they were both immensely helpful in securing my apartment. They were very friendly and responsive immediately to my needs and questions. Sue showed me the apartment right away, and Hamid followed up with the lease signing and other logistics. Working with them made my apartment search and move smooth, pleasant, and successful. I am so appreciative of their caring, thoughtfulness, and efficiency, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a fantastic broker!

Not great. Paul showed me three or four apartments that were in the area I was looking for, but were seriously deficient in other ways (reeking of smoke, windows that literally faced a wall, appliances that were actually 30 – 40 years old). I also felt like he was trying to pressure me into taking something I didn’t like. He told me that once you’ve seen a few places you’ve seen them all and should stop looking. He also tried to persuade me to put in an offer on the windowless one when I said it was sort of okay. He also kept telling me that if I saw something I liked on Craigslist, I should tell him so he could be the one to show it to me (essentially, that I should do his job for him).
I’m sympathetic to the fact that people can be picky and unrealistic and that must be frustrating, but the fact is, I found much, much better options in the same area through other agents. In fact, everything they showed me was better than what Paul had to offer. When I said no to the last place he showed me, he sent me a sort of rude kiss-​off email, which was fine by me, since I’m very happy with the new place I found through a different agency.

Holy crap, I had a GOOD experience with a rental agency in the Boston area!
Don’t screw around. Call this place, ask for Paul. After living in the area for five years and looking at zillions of places with zillions of agents, I can safely say he is The Best. He showed me three units. Every single one was someplace that I would actually consider living. I had really unrealistic expectations (a loft that would accept cats and was convenient to get to MIT), but he somehow found us candidates. When the one we loved was about $ 100 over our budget, he worked some real estate magic to try negotiating with the company that owned the unit. Then, he even went out of his way to hold an open house and found a tenant for the apt we were leaving! Seriously.
Go with Paul for someone who won’t waste your time.

These guys were tremendously helpful, and by far the most resourceful and responsive agency I used. I worked with Paul, and he provided me with the most promising rental listings in the area, he was very patient with my unusual and difficult requests (especially regarding helping me find a place that was pet-​friendly!). Even more helpful than all that, though, was that he was very generous with his time – he took the time to really discuss what my wife and I were looking for, he spent a lot of time showing me around Cambridge and Somerville, and was very good a following up. Over the few days that I worked with him, Paul gave me a lot of very useful background information on the area, which was extremely helpful in reaching our final decision about where to rent. In addition to all that, I never felt that I was getting the «hard sell” – they were very patient and willing to help me find the place that would be the best fit.

I worked with Anna and had the best experience. After trying other agents in the area who were rude, unhelpful, and generally lacking knowledge about realestate completely, Anna was a breath of fresh air. We walked in to her office, she asked what type of apartments we were looking for and went back to look up our options. After showing us what she had, she drove us to each property, carefully explaining the buildings, spaces, and neighborhoods. She had great, personal advice for each place and really made an effort to make sure I found something that felt like home. I never felt rushed or pressured about anything
Finally, Anna was wonderful about explaining the process of signing the lease and filling out the application. Other agents I worked with basically threw the paperwork at me with no explanation and then demanded their check. Anna explained every step, sat with me as I worked things out and made the whole process very clear.
I absolutely love my new apartment and owe it all to Anna. I highly recommend working with her.
Sarah

I worked with Anna, and while she was very nice, she failed at listening to our requirements. First apartment Anna showed was nice but $ 300 over our budget. Next two apartments were in apartment buildings (which I said we’d prefer to avoid), with tiny prison-​like windows (bright was one of our top asks), and one of the apartments had carpeting (we asked for HW). All in all, considering that I only had 3 days to find a place, my time would have been better spent elsewhere.

I think this one of the few scrupulous agencies in the Harvard Square area. I worked with Sue in the rental department. She took me around the neighborhood twice to look at possible apartments. She was always upfront about fees, about what was available, and about the condition of the apartments, and never tried to deceive me or to push a unit that would obviously be a bad fit (which is more than can be said for most rental brokers in the area).
We were trying to start a lease during during an unpopular month (May), so unfortunately the available options were limited and we couldn’t find anything suitable through Century 21 Avon. However, if I’m looking to rent in the area again and need a broker, I would not hesitate to get in touch with them.
Pros: honest, helpful service
Cons: somewhat limited selection, website listings are not kept up to date

I am writing a review on this place after one phone call to inquire about rental property. The woman I spoke with was hella rude, and acted like I should shift my whole schedule around to come see a house that was above my price range and that she had no pictures of. If these people are so annoyed by having someone call about a property (which they no doubt collect a huge fee for) why are they set up for this? Yuck! Blech!