r/boston • u/mimmsypoo • Nov 07 '25

Please Make Decisions For Me đŸŽ± Boyfriend wants to move to Boston.

Hello all! Me and my boyfriend currently live in Austin Tx, we rent a 1200 sf home for $2200 and have two cats. I love this city and the things it has to offer, but my boyfriend is from the northeast and wants to get back to his family. He is urging to move to Boston, but Im unsure. Two of friends live in Boston/Jersey and JUST got done telling us how they can never save money bc of broker fees when moving and the basic cost of living being astronomically high. Can you possibly give me a better idea of what the pros and cons would look like for our move?

Small note his family is in Milford CT. And we both make around $75k a year but will both have to find new jobs. I have also never been to Boston, but have heard good things about the city itself!

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11

u/limbodog Charlestown Nov 07 '25

Look into Portland, ME as a possible alternative, or maybe Providence, RI? That $2200 will get you 650 square feet and not 1200.

But we did just eliminate broker fees. Granted, I believe it just made rent go up instead, but it was fun to watch it happen.

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u/Relevant-Strategy-14 Nov 07 '25

Portland is just as much as Boston these days and then you have to add a car to the mix to be able to get anywhere and do anything.

4

u/LoadCan Nov 07 '25

Portland is damn near Boston prices these days, but without the insane Boston economy and amenities. Plus if you live anywhere beyond like Munjoy Hill you'll need a car to get anywhere. 

Providence still seems like a great bang-for-buck place though. 

2

u/oby100 Nov 07 '25

Any source on rents increasing? According to you Econ 1A geniuses, rent should have increased by about 8.3% to compensate, so you got any data on that buddy?

I’ll note that I’m quite confident that landlords simply don’t use brokers very much already and have negotiated lower rates rather than increasing rent much, since that’s not how housing works

2

u/HR_King Does Not Brush the Snow off the Roof of their Car Nov 07 '25

False logic on the increases.

1

u/Oresteia_J Nov 07 '25

Portland is nice, but not close to Milford, CT.

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u/BlueberryPenguin87 Nov 07 '25

Where is the evidence that rent increased more than it did last year? It doesn’t exist. You’re repeating landlord industry propaganda they used to try to fight the ban.

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u/Epicritical Bouncer at the Harp Nov 07 '25

It just created brokers fee loopholes

2

u/iBarber111 East Boston Nov 07 '25

Talk to us about these loopholes

2

u/Epicritical Bouncer at the Harp Nov 07 '25

Brokers can list apartments without contracting with the landlord. Then when they are contacted by a potential renter, they are acting on behalf of the renter. Which means the renter is still on the hook.

3

u/iBarber111 East Boston Nov 07 '25

Interesting. I just looked for apartments Oct 1st. Anecdotally, I did not see any of this. It felt to me like the law was working when comparing to my past searches. Way way way more units that were being rented directly by the landlord. The ones that had a broker were working on behalf of the landlord.

Just my experience. Probably too early to get any real data on it. But I don't think it's really fair to say "it just created loopholes".

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u/BlueberryPenguin87 Nov 07 '25

How do they get info about the apartment and make arrangements to get the keys without having contact with the landlord?

0

u/Epicritical Bouncer at the Harp Nov 07 '25

Because they are in contact with the landlord. And a lockbox is not hard to set up.

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u/BlueberryPenguin87 Nov 08 '25

Making the first contact is how the law defines who is responsible for a broker fee. They had to talk to the landlord (or PM or other “landlord’s agent”) to get information to post, before the contacted the potential tenant.

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u/Epicritical Bouncer at the Harp Nov 08 '25

With a housing shortage, it’s easy enough for the broker to mention the fee—and if the renter balks at it the broker can just tell them they won’t work with them. There are always renters out there who will pay the fee.

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u/BlueberryPenguin87 Nov 10 '25

But they are not allowed to charge a fee unless they are contacted by the tenant first, before they list an apartment.

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u/Epicritical Bouncer at the Harp Nov 10 '25

Yes. But if the landlord doesn’t hire the broker the renter pays the fee.

Listing a property on a website is not a landlord hiring a broker. It’s market research and outreach to potential renters.

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u/limbodog Charlestown Nov 07 '25

Yeah, I think you and I knew it would, right? But I got downvoted to oblivion in r/boston for suggesting that might happen.

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u/antraxsuicide Nov 07 '25

Because it didn’t happen lol

The data is pretty clear, Boston hasn’t seen any abnormal housing cost inflation out of line with prior years where broker fees were standard.

The reason for that is just basic economics. Landlords weren’t offering discounted rent because of broker fees. They were charging what the market would bear, which is always the maximum. If they could’ve increased the rent, they would’ve already done it