Living in Boston is great. Living in Fenway can be even better, and life in Symphony just might be the best of the lot. But how do you find an apartment for rent in Symphony? What are the pros and cons of living in Boston’s Northeastern/Symphony neighborhood? How do you get started finding the right apartment? And how do you know which apartment listings are current, up to date, and frankly, honest?
All good questions. Read on for the answers.
Finding an Apartment in Symphony, Boston
Finding an apartment in Symphony is more or less the same as apartment hunting anywhere else in Boston. Still, there are still some tips and strategies that can help you find the place that’s right for you.
But first, a quick point of clarification.
What’s the Difference Between Fenway and Symphony?
Whether you’re just now moving to Boston, or are a long-time New England resident, it’s not unusual for some confusion to creep in. You may ask yourself, where is Symphony? Is there any difference between Symphony, Kenmore, and Fenway? Does this have something to do with the orchestra, or what?
Reasonable questions! Thankfully, there’s a simple answer. While Fenway counts as a single neighborhood for city administration purposes, it has a few distinct districts within it. In general, you can think of the neighborhood as split between West Fenway, and East Fenway/Symphony, or just Symphony.
Essentially, Symphony, MA, takes its name from the Boston Symphony Hall on the east side of Fenway, as does the T-stop of the same name.
It Pays to Plan Ahead
Let’s get back to the issue at hand: finding apartments in Symphony, Boston. While there’s no right or wrong way to go apartment hunting, you can save yourself a lot of hassle by beating the crowd. Apartments in Symphony don’t stay on the market for long: this is definitely a situation where the early bird gets the worm.
Step One: Scouting and Research
Before you start looking at apartments in Symphony, Boston, you’ll want to sort out exactly what it is you’re looking for. This is when you want to hammer out logistics. Will you be living on your own, or do you plan to share the space with a roommate or roommates? Do you need a pet-friendly pad? What’s the price range you’ll be comfortable in? Will you be relying on public and overland transportation, or are you going to need to sort parking out? Getting a handle on these details ahead of time, and you’ll avoid any nasty surprises.
Step Two: Apartment Picking and Early Viewings
Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to zoom in on specific apartments that catch your eye. Now is when you really want to get on a site like Symphony Apartments.com, and start pulling up specific listings. Sort by the number of bedrooms and your acceptable price range, and start picking out your favorites to visit. Most leases in Symphony, Boston run from September to August, but due to the extreme demand, it helps to start looking at places in December or January.
That might sound a little extreme — and in other markets, it would be! — but rentals in Symphony move fast. If you want the pick of the litter, you’ll want to act well in advance.
Pro Tip: Find Deals in the Margins
When sorting through different properties, see what comes up by setting a maximum price range, but leaving the minimum blank. You never know when something that checks all of your boxes might be available on a deal – especially if you’re renting in the off-season, and comfortable taking a shorter lease at a reduced cost – so keep your options open. When contacting the real estate agent for the property in question, feel free to ask if they have anything else that might meet your needs: you just might find the apartment of your dreams, at a price that makes you smile.
Make Sure your Sources are Current
National chains have a wide reach, but little oversight at the local level. This means it can be days, weeks, even months before a listing is updated. There’s nothing worse than sorting through a virtual stack of properties to find the right one, only to find out that it’s been rented out for weeks but the agent forgot to update the listing. Save yourself the hassle, and use a locally-sourced service like Symphony Apartments.com
Visiting Apartments, and Closing the Deal
Time to get up close and personal. Now is when you want to visit apartments in person, get a feel for the location, the layout, the building. By this point you should have several properties that interest you, so make a point of visiting them as quickly as possible.
Schedule Viewings in Bunches
Using a locally-sourced website like SymphonyApartments.com ensures that the listings you browse are up to date and accurate. Another useful thing about using a local service is that one agent usually manages multiple properties – so when you’re looking at listings, your top 10 apartments in Symphony are much more likely to be managed by the same person, which makes scheduling viewings a breeze.
Ideally, you can visit your top 5 apartments in Symphony over the course of a day or two, rather than juggling five different agents’ schedules, and trying to match them up with your own.
Seal the Deal
If you fall in love with an apartment in Symphony, make a note of that, but finish your visits. Once you’ve done your due diligence, however, you will want to act fast: properties don’t stay vacant for long in Symphony, Boston, so be sure to strike while the proverbial iron is hot.
Living in Symphony, Boston
All of Boston is a great place to live, but Fenway/Symphony has some great things going for it. Close enough to catch a Red Sox game, but not so close that the game always catches you, no matter what. With the Boston Museum of Fine Arts just around the corner, the Back Bay Fens just a skip away, a Whole Foods nearby, and of course, the Boston Symphony Hall and Huntington Theater Company all right outside your window. It truly is a remarkable place to live.
As always, if you have any questions about renting apartments in Symphony, or anywhere else in Boston, feel free to contact us, or sound off in the comments below. Good luck, and happy apartment hunting!
