Kristian Kotov of Jacob Realty was the real estate agent who was able to assist me in finding an apartment quickly. Very professional, knowledgeable, quality service and handled the process quickly. June 2024: I had to find a new apartment. While browsing apartments online I found a listing by Kristian one weekday morning and called him to let him know what apartment I was interested in viewing. We discussed things I was looking for in an apt, what my income was, apt style/amenities I was looking for and my budget range. Kristian was able to do a late evening showing the same day, and also provide info on other viewings in the area I might be interested in. Kristian answered all my questions, was knowledgeable about the premises, landlord, lease, and next steps to apply. He also let me know he was available by text or phone if I had any other questions about the apartment. Within 48 hours, I signed the lease, provided the deposit and received the keys. Due to my time constraints with work, Kristian was so kind to drive to my workplace (near Jacob Realty) to provide me the keys and receipt. 5 stars! read more

Kristian Kotov with Jacob Realty made it happen!! Stumbled across this 1 of 1 agent while having a difficult time looking for my own place in the Boston Area. As y'all might know, looking in the Boston area isn't the easiest and can cause a lot of stress. Not with this guy, Mr. Kotov helped me find the most ideal place for my price range quick and thoroughly. I recommend you guys reach out when starting your search!! read more

I can't say enough good about Yana Andreeva! I was very fortunate to work with her, she got everything right first time. From the moment I called her to inquire about a listing and until the lease was signed, she was accessible, she was on top of things, she was extremely helpful, great communicator, timely and reliable. Please ask for Yana, when you call Jacob Realty Boston, if you want the best! read more

I cannot stress enough of when I say that when you see any posting, any viewing by them, close the page and walk away. They are by far the worst agency I have ever dealt with in Boston. Basically, my roommate and I were trying to find an apartment in the Allston/Brighton/Brookline area for 7/1/19 for around 2K. Some realtors replied, most didn't. My roommate got in contact with Jason Nicols (who, mind you, I will be reporting to MA Association of Realtors and Boston Housing) and he scheduled something sameday. He was nice, didn't know all the details for some locations but it was something. This is maybe the only part that deserves a star? Maybe half if I could. We agreed on one location in the Brighton area and started the paperwork. This is where it all started going downhill. The amount of times I asked, "Is there anything else you needed?" and got "No, that's it" was ridiculous...only to be told an hour later they needed something else from us. Either it was another form signed, proof of income (why 3 paystubs? Even for my cosigners?? Never explained!) and so on. The worst part is the deadline. "We need this by 4:30PM today"...He said at 2PM while I am at work. You have got to be kidding me. In the end, we gave all our paperwork, got our cosigners and got whatever needed to be notarized. One day goes by. I ask him the status of the apartment - he replied they need a day to decide. BUT HEY, DEPOSIT THE MONEY INTO THE BANK TODAY. Red flags, especially since we didn't get any approval. But, I needed it. I deposited the money on 6/27/2019...First, last month, security and broker ALL PAID. Next day, I was supposed to know the results in the morning. Mind you, this is about 3 days before I am supposed to move out. After 12PM I send a message and what do I get? "They gave the apartment to someone else." Turns out that if you need a cosigner, they take the apartment off hold. Were we notified of that? NOPE. So, thanks the terrible management of this realtor, I have no home to go to starting 7/1/19. I also paid over 4K for everything (that's my share) and don't have the money back as of SUNDAY. I had to leave work early Friday, uber my ass over to them and get a bank check that is still clearing. SO, stay away from this agency. STAY AWAY FROM THAT REALTOR. Thanks for the service! I now have no home as of tomorrow! Edit: I check my bank on Monday 7/1/19 and guess what? The money still hasn't been refunded? So I'm even more screwed then before? Thank you Daniela Alvarado for listening to me when I said I needed the money back the same day! Thank you especially Jason Nicol for your service! read more

Please steer clear. Had the most bizarre, unprofessional experience with Jacob Realty. My roommate and I were looking for 2 bedroom apartments for Sept 1st. My roommate had been communicating with one of the female agents at Jacob for quite some time via phone/email very clearly discussing exactly what it is we were looking for. The two of us went to meet the realtor in South Boston, to view several South Boston apartments. She rolls up in a zipcar, steps out of the car and I am blown away by how unprofessionally she is dressed. She's wearing a belly shirt (seriously), & very short shorts. I work in a very casual work environment and if ANYONE came into my office looking like that (and we don't deal face to face with clients either), they would immediately be sent home if not fired. So that was not a good start. Then she told us she'd drive us to the apartments to show them. They were HORRIBLE. I know that you're bound to run into some shitholes in the apartment search but she clearly didn't listen to anything that we had told her we were looking for. She also didn't have any answers to the simple questions we had such as "is there laundry in the building?" She also brought us all the way out to East Boston, what a waste of time considering we very clearly stated we had NO interest in East Boston apartments, and NEEDED an apartment close to the T- not unreliable bus service. Plus, she was TEXTING while she was driving us around, and almost rear-ended a bus in front of us. Needless to say, we clearly won't be working with her or with Jacob Realty from here on out, especially since we have since had so much better experiences with other companies. read more

Absolutely refused to have any type of communication regarding moving into a unit of theirs and insisted that we had been contacted when we never were. Would try to email and call and a day before we were supposed to move in still no communication on how we would keys or access to the building. extremely unhelpful and unprofessional read more

Working with Anthony Tse has been the worst experience I have had with a realtor. During a pandemic, Anthony constantly shows our apartment with little to no notice (24 hour notice in lease). He doesnt care about the lease or our health. I had to speak to the owner of the house, who also agreed that Anthony must follow the lease, and give us at least 24 hour notice, but he doesnt care. Anthony cares about the bottom line and doesnt care about you, or your health, or the health for anyone you might come across. read more

Jacob Realty - Real Estate Services Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Very bad experience had a string of unfortunate events because they withheld a lot of information just to make the sale, they dont care very unhappy read more

Let me start by saying the only reason I'm giving Jacob Realty/NextGen 2 stars is because I like my apartment. Now that I've said that... I have never been so frustrated. My 2 roommates and I were looking for a 3 bedroom apartment in Jamaica Plain. We found several places within our price range and I contacted someone at Jacob to set up a showing. I got a response the same day and we set up an appointment for a Sunday (which I was impressed with). Let me include the fact that their ads on Craig's List were disgusting and completely unprofessional, but my roommates and I could see the potential of the places, so we didn't let that deter us. The apartment we liked the most had the worst ad on the site; the place was totally filthy, cluttered and the pictures were very poor quality. If I hadn't had the chance to see it myself, empty and relatively clean, I would have been appalled by their lack of professionalism. The first apartment we saw we decided to take. At the time we were told heat was included and was electric, so essentially our electric was included in the rent. What a bargain! Applications were filled out and approved within minutes. While we were running around town getting our checkbooks, I got a call telling me that heat wasn't included. Whoa. What? I was ticked. Electric heat in an apartment with 10 foot ceilings was going to be expensive. Then it turns out that the heat is gas, but when I ask what the average cost was for the last tenants, that information was nowhere to be found. We bring our checks to the office in Allston (giant pain to get there from Cambridge p.s.) and he had some initial information regarding utilities, but nothing conclusive. We signed the lease anyway, just tired after a long day. Then things started to slide downhill. We had questions for the agent and wouldn't get emails back right away (the problems being blamed on their email system), we had to trek back out to Allston to deliver another check and sign more paperwork - If your main office is on Newbury Street, which is far closer to where all of us work, why do we need to go all the way to Allston to see you? Once the money was in their hands, we heard nothing else. I emailed and didn't get a response, my roommate called and finally got a call back telling us to call the landlord for our keys. I'm sorry, I paid you how much of a fee to do the legwork? So I call the landlord and she tells me that Jacob has the keys. I send yet another email. I'm told to call when I get out of work and find out where the agent is so I can pick up the keys. No offense, but I work until 5 and the last thing I want to do is try and find where in the city an agent is. I call and am told he's in Allston. No frigging way. I tell him that I need to get them from the Newbury Street office. He tells me okay and we set a meeting for the next day. The next day I get a call and he has a showing in Cambridge at 5:30. I tell him to leave the keys at the office and I would go get them. I live on the opposite end of Cambridge and I'm not taking the Red Line at 5pm on a weekday to try and meet you. I get to the office and am looked at by one of the agents like "WTF do you want?". You have how many people working for your company and you don't have a receptionist? The office on Newbury is a cluttered maze of desks, no one is very nice and doesn't pay you any mind. My agent leads me through the maze of desks and hands me a ring of 3 keys. He tells me 2 of the keys are for my apartment and 1 is for the third floor apartment in the same building, but he doesn't know which is which. WHAT?! You are kidding me. I now have to go to the apartment after work, test the keys and then go home to my current apartment on the other side of Boston. This is your job, guys. You are a realty company. I shouldn't have to play guessing games with keys, I shouldn't have to call the landlord for things you should know or you can call for. You get a fee because you are supposed to do this work. If I wanted to do it myself, I would have found the apartment on my own. Now I've been called, emailed and text messaged today because the agent needs to show the third floor apartment today and needs the keys. Maybe you should have labeled them the first time and we wouldn't be in this mess. Save yourself the trouble and use a different company who has some organizational skills or find a place yourself. Seriously. read more

I've had two really excellent experiences with Jacob Realty. My first experience involved a realtor who went above and beyond service. He would drive us to the perspective apartments, have keys in hand (which doesn't always happen) and really worked hard to find us a perfect place. Unfortunately, we ended up finding an apartment through another realty group- which made paying the full realtor fee a bit disheartening, knowing the type of service you can really get. My second experience has been with Oxana, working with me while I'm out of the country looking to find an apartment in the Boston area. While some realtors refused to work with me via e-mail, she continually sent me listings and potential apartments that qualified under all of my criteria. She always responded to me by the next business day and really went above and beyond excellent customer service. She was personable, easy to work with and genuinely friendly- not to mention incredibly easy to get a hold of (I couldn't believe when she answered her cell phone on a Sunday when we were expecting to just leave a message...). I highly suggest working with her in the future, especially if you are signing a lease from out of the city. So for me, Jacob Realty is 2 for 2- a rarity in the realty world- so I definitely will use them again whenever I am looking for my next apartment! read more

Unprofessional and could not answer most of my questions about the buildings or the neighborhoods they showed me. She didn't even know if some of the proprieties had laundry rooms or not. They expect a broker fee for the very low quality apartments they show even though the realtor didn't even show up on time for our appointment. I expect a much higher quality of service if I'm going to pay them to show me a few places. I was told they are also associated with BoardWalk and NextGen so I would recommend not working with any of them. It was a complete waste of my time to see the slums they expected me to call home. read more

Alright so the best way to describe this place is the McDonalds of Realty companies. Big company, ok service, poor products... well I guess the Big Mac is better than a lot of the apartments these guys showed me. It just seems like this company (Jacob and Nextgen) litters craigslist with their fake ads. Anyway, I had to go somewhere else to find quality service and products. Also while I was in there the owner of the company was going off at a realtor. A bit unprofessional I would say. read more

I write this review knowing full well how difficult it has been this specific year to find apartments in Boston. Realtors in Boston really have renters by the throat. If one person does not choose a specific apartment because of the realtor's lack of professionalism, there is another person lined up to take the apartment. These people will get their commission no matter what. I worked with two different people at this company (or rather, attempted to work with them. Conditions were so ridiculous that I never managed to meet them in person or see any apartments at all). Person 1: Seemed normal at first. We set up an appointment for a Thursday evening. She emailed me no more than fifteen minutes before I was to leave work to go to this appointment to tell me that the places she had wanted to show me had been rented. Fine. It happens. But all the apartments you wanted to show me? Nothing else available? We made a second appointment for Sunday morning. She confirmed on Friday and said she would be in touch in the next few hours regarding where we should meet for said appointment. No additional email on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. I emailed her Saturday evening to confirm the appointment and figure out where to meet. Nothing Saturday. I got up on Sunday and got ready for the day under the assumption that we were still meeting, but still no word from her. Finally right before I was supposed to leave to meet her, she emailed me to say that she had been at a wedding the night before and hadn't had a chance to contact me. The apartments had once again been rented. Was I interested in other areas? I said yes, and told her I could get to her office by ten, giving us plenty of time to see apartments. Nothing. No word at all. I wasted a Sunday morning waiting for this person. I understand you are at a wedding. but she could have at least given me a meeting spot before going to the wedding. Also, why would you stay at a wedding for a long time on Saturday night if you know you have an appointment with a CLIENT the next morning? Person 2: I admit I may be partly at fault for this one. I set up an appointment with this fellow via phone. He seemed nice enough, we chatted a bit so he could get to know what I was looking for. Then he asked if I could call him Sunday to confirm the appointment Monday. I said sure, I'll call Sunday. He wanted to secure a time of day, so I said Sunday afternoon. He wanted to set a SPECIFIC time that I would call him, so I said Sunday at 3 PM. So Sunday at 3 PM rolls around, and I'm with my best friend on her birthday. Of course I forget to call. However, I called literally as soon as I got home, left a voice mail, apologized, confirmed the appointment, apologized again, hung up. (In the mean time I had emailed him Sunday morning before going out with some other apartments I was interested in.) I also emailed him that night. I emailed him the next morning, and called him twice that afternoon NOTHING. Nothing, that is, until he emailed me, again, fifteen minutes before I was set to leave the office. He basically said he gave up on me because I hadn't called to confirm. He also said he was away at the lake until recently and didn't have access to his cell phone and email, so he hadn't set up any appointments for us. Now, if he was somewhere without access to email or cell phone reception... a) How could I have even called to confirm at the designated time? b) How could he have arranged appointments for us? He would have had to do so before he left (and therefore still had spaces to show me on Monday) or just planned on flaking out. This business model is not conducive to happy, satisfied customers. I don't care that there are 10 people lined up to take this apartment if I don't want it, show me a modicum of respect as a client and at least pretend to try to help me find an apartment. read more

Wow! If only I had read the reviews before contacting this agency.... Where do I begin? I called Jacob Realty a week in advance to schedule a day of viewings. I let "Kevin" know that I was coming up to Boston for the weekend from New Jersey, and that I really needed to find a rental during those few days. The next day, I called the number associated with Back Bay Pads, which just so happens to be run by Jacob Realty. I talked to "Jared," who promised to show me 3 apartments the day after my viewings with "Kevin." He told me he was going to send pictures and other information on the properties to my inbox, but that email never came. Flash forward to my arrival in Boston.... I showed up to the Newbury Street office 15 minutes prior to my appointment with "Kevin." When I walked into the office, the agents just stared. I said, "I have a meeting with Kevin to discuss rentals." They continued to stare, until one of the agents questions, "Kevin who?" At this point, a red-haired man emerged from a back office and claimed Kevin tried to call me 3 times that morning to let me know that the places he was going to show me were taken. Disappointed, I asked about the listings I was supposed to see with "Jared" the following day. Conveniently, "Jared" was not in the office, and I never ended up hearing from him after our initial phone call. The red-haired man said, "why don't you two (I was with my mom) grab lunch and I'll see what I can do?" After aimlessly walking up and down Newbury Street for an hour, I received a call from another Jacob Realty agent, Jen. Jen took us on a "marathon of viewings" (her words, not mine). We saw about 8 properties; only 1 in the neighborhood I had specified and all 8 above the price range and below the quality of the properties I had seen with other agencies. NEVER AGAIN! read more

The Realtor we had messed up our first choice apartment and was slightly less then competent. It hurt really bad to pay a months rent for the Realtor fee after the failed first attempt. They also put extreme pressure on you to rush into putting your money down on one apartment claiming they go fast... they go fast because all of Jacob Realty's Realtors show the same handful of apartments to everyone ignoring the rest of the ones in the building. To add insult to injury, Alpha reality is plastering the entire area now with lower prices and NO Realtor fees for the same apartments Jacob Realty shows off. Do not waste your time and money if you are looking in the Northeastern/ Fenway area or at Alpha Reality apartments. read more

As far as realtors go, Jacob Realty has gone above and beyond my expectations. I used Jacob Realty for the first time last year when I needed to find a two bedroom apartment in the North End for $2,000. Let me tell you that is was nearly impossible and I was incredibly lucky to find a place in late June! This made it possible for myself and my incredibly picky roommate to have a place to live for the upcoming school year. After we signed the lease the realtor that we used, John, was amazingly helpful when it came to payments and helping us out. Now this year I need to find a new place to live and so I went back to Jacob Realty. We had a pretty tight budget, and other realtors kept trying to get us to push it beyond anything we could afford. John found my two roommates and I the perfect apartment that had everything we asked for! Not only was it within budget but the apartment has a dishwasher, garbage disposal and free laundry in the building. Something the other apartments we saw did not. The entire agency was incredibly helpful in getting all three of us to see the place. John answered calls on the weekend and spoke to my roommate's parents without any worry whatsoever. In the end twice Jacob Realty has provided great service and has been incredibly helpful with the entire moving process. read more

I don't think this place deserves even one star. My friends and I went to look at an apartment with a realtor from Jacob realty, and on three different websites it was clearly stated that the apartment requires "no realtor fee". After the showing, we were very satisfied with the place and went to submit an application, and the realtor told us that there is indeed a broker's fee involved. When we showed him the websites about no realtor fee he started saying that those websites are wrong, and that we have to pay the realtor fee. Sketch much? So we argued that we wanted to talk to someone else about it, and the realtor reluctantly connected us to a few people, but they all said that it's not the company's fault. The manager even said "Why didn't you ask the realtor about the fee?" Talk about ridiculous, right?! All in all, DO NOT GO TO THIS REALTY. They are not responsible, definitely not honest, and look for ways to rip you off. read more

These five stars belong to Wilfredo E. Míguez of Jacob Realty. Wil helped us rent our condo with ease. He was on top of all the paperwork, got back to us immediately with any question we had, and found us great renters. Seek him out! read more

If only a .5 star was possible, AVOID AT ALL COSTS After having lived in a studio with my significant other for a few months, we agreed we would try to upgrade to a 1 bed 1 bath. I found a decent looking, pet friendly place in Malden, the video on the site showed a well-kept, carpeted 1 bed room apartment with ample closet space. I sent an email to Dani Zhao asking (since the kitchen had been left out of the video) if there was a dishwasher included and how far the closest T station was. She responded in two short emails saying 'yes call me' and 'malden center'. The fact that she failed to answer one of my questions should have been a tip off. But we proceed to set up a showing, and go to meet her at, presumably, the apartment I had inquired about. When we show up, we realize that it was instead her home, and that she had 'lost her keys' (even though there were no other cars parked in site) and asked if we could drive her and another girl that we didn't know to the showings. I was disgruntled, but said ok, this should have been a huge red flag. She proceeded to set up GPS on her phone and hand it to my s/o so they could direct while I drove, but she kept getting phone calls and snatching it away from them. I also realized maybe a bit too far into this drive that we were headed not only away from Malden (where I had originally inquired about) but FAR past where I already live! Much too far to be anywhere near any T station. She ends up taking us to some high end condo place that is waaaay out of our price range, and when we say as much, she asks if we'd still like to see the 1 bedroom in Malden. We say yes, thinking 'finally, the one we're ACTUALLY interested in'. So we again all pile into my car and drive back to Malden, but the apartment she takes us to is a COMPELTE DUMP. It's not a 1 bedroom, it's a studio. It has a gas stove with holes in it, the shower curtain has MOLD EVERYWHERE, the back of the fridge is exposed in the front door closet, there's no dishwasher like I had specified was a necessity, the ceiling was basically falling down, and there were no amenities included in rent! She smiled and acted so excited, like this was the best find ever since it was only 3 minutes from Malden station, but everything else about it was AWFUL! This was NOT the apartment shown on the site or in the video; it had NONE of the things I had inquired about that she said it included! A COMPLETE SCAM if you ask me, DO NOT USE THEM, they will lie to you about where they are taking you, and maybe even make you drive them there yourself! read more

This is the worst realty brokerage I've ever dealt with---our realtor Tyson blew us off not once, not twice but THREE TIMES. There was a property that was really nice and we were interested in Dorchester. Great--we scheduled a viewing for Thursday. We show up, Tyson does not. When we call him, he claims he's had "car trouble" and can't make it today but would be happy to reschedule for Saturday, no problem. Red flag number 1. We preemptively negotiated the rent down a bit because we were ready and eager to move forward, provided that we could just view the apartment. We started getting upset with him when on our second appointment date that Saturday when he called us 20 minutes before we were going to head over, claiming he couldn't find a key(??) to the apartment and needed to reschedule. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Not sure. He placed the blame on a delinquent property manager who may or may not even exist. Red flag number 2. When I got cross with him that day and told he was being unprofessional and putting us in a bad spot, as we had another offer waiting for us that was due on Monday, he started getting angry at me and claiming that he "worked really hard" and "earned this listing." Then why not be a professional and show up to a property we want to view when he tells us that we passed the application process with flying colors and that it's ours for the taking? I thought these guys get paid on commission---absolutely zero urgency. When I didn't hear from him on Sunday to reschedule AGAIN, I called Jacob Realty, who informed me the place had already been rented. WTF? Not even 5 minutes later, Tyson called me claiming he had an "exclusive" on the apartment and to please not call his workplace because it's "secret" and the other realtors don't know about it. Willfully ignoring the many red flags that have already surfaced, I foolishly believed that perhaps this was true. We REALLY wanted this place. Finally, on our third attempt to reschedule a viewing for Monday, after failing to provide any updates on when he can show it to us that day, I call him and he tells me that the apartment is actually $50 MORE than it was originally listed, that the rental application with the lower rent was "laughed at" and he probably couldn't show us the place. Ok-thanks for wasting our time. And being a jerk about it. Do not work with this guy or this realty firm altogether. Straight up liars and comically unprofessional. read more

I just signed a lease via Jacobs in Brighton, which is a major step in the process of moving north from Florida. I worked with Sophia and she made the process about as easy as it gets. She had a good grasp on what I was looking for and stayed within my price range in showing apartments. Sophia was on time to our appointment, sought out apartments in addition to the one I chose after looking online, and gave meaningful input along the way. Once I picked a place I like the leasing process was easy; she did all the work, really, and communicated very well along the way. I wanted to give four stars, because who's ever perfect, right? But I can't really think of anything that could've gone more smoothly. Five stars it is. Good work, Sophia. read more

If there were negative stars,I would give it. From start to disastrous finish, Jason, our broker bungled every part of our transaction. He didn't explain any of the paperwork, didn't fill in his parts, lost our deposits and then miraculously found them when we showed receipts. He constantly needed more info, but only gave us hours to comply. In the end, the apartment was given to someone else! The move was supposed to happen on Monday July 1st, and he told us the Thursday before that that we would get an "email" Friday morning to let us know if we got it. There was no indication that there was any issue until then. We wasted weeks on him and ended up losing out on the$50 application fee. BEWARE- They area sham! read more

Received a call tonight threatening that I'd be sued if I didn't remove my review. Seems professional to me.

Worst real estate agency ever. The person running this company knows nothing and doesn't care about any of his employees or costumers, he's a greedy, dirty, egotistical person and the way his office is run is completely dysfunctional. Tony or Anthony is supposed to be one of the best agents there and deals with most of the bigger deals ... he completely dropped the ball on us and was very unpleasant and rude to work with. He was unresponsive, didn't do anything he was supposed to do, and almost lost us a couple hundred thousand dollars in a property 1041. Luckily we caught it in time and fired him. He also did a lazy, terrible job selling our multi families by only showing them to his "big investors" (his friends)instead of listing them. He repeatedly told us we wouldn't be able to get any more then what they sold for... found out he was incredibly wrong. Biggest mistake of our lives was working with them... and we will all carry regrets and anger for the rest of our lives. Especially because these properties were our life savings. it's the blind leading the blind and they are all arrogant assholes! Beware they also own Nextgen realty, boardwalk properties.. and a couple other ones. I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone so do yourself a favor and do not get involved with these snakes. read more

A few years ago my husband and I were searching for an apartment, and a coworker recommended we use Jacob realty, as she had had a good experience. We tried calling the main agent that she recommended, and after he passed us off to another agent, everything went downhill very quickly. Our agent canceled with us twice in a row (we never actually met us in person), and after I sent him an email saying how disappointed I was in how his customer service was (he would call us 20 minutes before our appointment, long after we had already left to meet him, as everyone knows, moving from Brighton to Cambridge/Somerville it takes more than 20 minutes to get there, even by car). I also copied his boss on the email. He responded with the most condescending, unprofessional email I have ever received in my entire life. If you work in the customer service industry (and let's face it, realtors are in that industry), you have to be willing to suck it up and pretend like the customer is always right, even when they are not. He was extremely defensive, and really very unprofessional. His boss did apologize and offer to work with us, but after that initial experience we wanted nothing to do with that office, and have told friends and family looking to rent to avoid that office like the plague. read more

Crap company. Crappie management especially Mike Madison. Bad training. Inaccurate database. Don't treat u like a human. Rather like a number. Desk fees of $75. High turnover read more

There seems to be mixed reviews about Jacob Realty depending on the realtor, but I worked with Nicole Yoshikane and had a great experience. She was highly professional, attentive, and genuine. We ultimately weren't able to find an apartment with her, but I still highly recommend her services! read more

Writing from the perspective of a Landlord; The Good: If you list a place with them, you get agents from this office and two or three other agencies that are affiliates of them. I have ABSOLUTLEY no idea how this tangled web works but so be it; the more reps on the case the better. The second part of the good is the agents appear to be young and energetic and there doesnt appear to be exclusivity to the listing so you get the sense that they are fighting to fill your spot. I'm not sure if this is the norm at other agencies or what kind of work environment this creates but when agents were trying to schedule a listing they were highly motivated, the follow up steps is where things trail off BIG TIME.... The Negative: Part 2 of the positive may lead into this. The other side of the young and energetic coin unfortunately in my case also meant unorganized. scatter brained, and unprofessional 99% of the time. It was almost impossible to tell who I was dealing with when I would listen to the post showing incoherent voicemails I would get. Im not renting Back Bay Townhouses so I dont expect an eloquent soliloquy, but could you please turn down your car radio, speak clearly, and I dont know, maybe leave a name and number to call back??? Heres a free tip Jacobs, why dont you have your agents create a standardized voice greeting on their cell's or create VM boxes housed at the office. When I tried to return calls I would almost always get automated VM greetings with no name or information if VM picked up at all. Do agents use payphones or prepaid 7-11 phones? Maybe it makes things that much easier to claim you didnt get a message when the caller can never be sure who they called back. Oh and finally my door was left blatantly OPEN after their agents showed the apartment a few times. OK so the reason they earned a second star was they did successfully rent the unit. I should classify that by saying, they found tenants, I did most of the organizing from there. I did get some great tenants but timing needed to be changed a bit on the move in date thus altering the lease. The agent that rented to the unit, blatantly said to me, " UHHHHHH changing contracts is a lot of work, I really dont want to" WHAT??? I worked it out with the tenants on my own but that was the nail in the coffin for these guys. I will NOT be renting my units with them again. Jacob's if you want to run a chop shop, at least get the basics down. read more

As a renter for the past several years, I've had to deal with rental companies a lot (Boston, Cambridge, Somerville). They all are unprofessional and are not worth the fee you paid. I thought I'd finally have found something good with Jacob Realty, but I was lied to by the agent when I signed the lease. I was forced to pay a higher rent than when I initially signed the lease. I also found myself doing the agent's job with having to deal with the property management company myself. What did I pay 1month rent fee for? Ah yes I remember, I paid a fee to have to deal with the management company, and to receive incorrect information about my lease that ended up costing me more. incredible. read more

We first called Jacob Realty on advice from a friend. Ultimately that friend was embarrassed with the experience we had. The first person we called took some info, apparently wasn't interested in our "small time" business and told us to call the office. Where we had to give our information again. We were then assigned an agent who never actually did anything for us. After having the agent cancel twice while we were on the way to meet him we finally gave up. The agent responded with a very nasty email saying we were being unreasonable because one time was due to car trouble and another time it has snowed. Snow and car trouble happen but you probably would have found out about them more than 20 minutes before you were supposed to be somewhere considering you admitted your commute was over 20 minutes. Did I mention the email reply from the agent was nasty? I've worked in retail, in malls, in tourist destinations. I've seen nasty customers and equally nasty customer service people. The email from the agent was one of the worst pieces of communication I've ever seen in a professional situation. The agent's boss tried to make things right but we had had enough of getting jerked around by this company. There are plenty of realty agencies around and really all they're going to do is the same internet search you can do yourself and then take you to look at places. I'd strongly recommend going with a different agency that appreciates customers. read more

I spent months using a variety of real estate agencies to find an apartment in the Back Bay, and Jacob Realty Inc was by far the most unprofessional experience of my life. Upon entering their modern office on Newbury Street, my roommate and I were not greeted, but rather ushered to sit down until our gum-chewing agent could speak with us. She walked us over to her desk and carelessly threw a chair next to hers for me to sit on -- her body language clearly reflected her hatred of her job. While we described our ideal apartment she began instant messaging her friend about oral surgery. Then she proceeded to call her mother and discussed where to receive cheap oral surgery for her friend (apparently Harvard, BU, and Tufts are your best options, in case you care...). My roommate and I left there as soon possible and never followed up(nor did she with us). I wish I could remember her name so you could steer clear. read more

My experience with this company started out really well, and quickly went sour. I hope I never again have to deal with the lack of professionalism that I experienced at Jacob Realty. My friend and I were looking for a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Boston. We ended up with two realtors, boyfriend and girlfriend, at Jacob Realty, which at first I thought was cute. It soon became apparent that this was the worst situation. We found a place in Beacon Hill, though it was above our price range, the realtors convinced us it was this or nothing else. We handed them a check, signed the initial application and felt pretty good about finding this cute little place on Beacon Hill...until we woke up the next morning. As if realtors don't bombard you enough we had double the realtors and therefore double the bombardment. One would call and say the apartment was no longer ours because someone had beat us to the punch, then the other one would text me saying that, no, in fact we still had the place, not to worry. At one point, I was even told that I needed to write a check for $10,000 or I would lose the apartment. Well in the end, we were actually beaten to the punch and the apartment was never actually ours to begin with. Apparently, another person had made an offer on the place before us the night before, and the landlord had accidentally missed that call from the other Jacob Realty agent. So now, we had no apartment, and Jacob Realty had a check for the amount of one month's rent. We asked for the check back or for it to be voided. One realtor insisted that the check was voided, but just to be safe, I temporarily moved all the money from my checking account into another account. And sure enough, I get a call from our other realtor, saying that the accountant took our check to the bank ON ACCIDENT to get it deposited and there was nothing they could do to stop that from happening. So I was lied to. The check was indeed deposited, and because I no longer had funds in that account I was charged a fee. When I called Jacob Realty to explain to our realtors that they owed me the amount of the banking fee, I was hung up on. After finally being able to get in contact with them (because now that we were no longer important to them, of course we're the ones begging to talk to them) our two realtors bullshitted a timeline of events, explaining that we actually had the apartment for a period of time and that it is protocol for all checks to be immediately deposited. They said it was OUR FAULT for draining the account and so, no, they will not refund my bank fee. Had we left the funds in our account they would have happily written us a refund check. HA HA in my opinion. We asked them to present the check with the time stamp from the bank, and of course they said that would not be possible. Therefore, if our timeline is correct, documented by both texts and emails, we never had the apartment and therefore that check should I have never been on its way to the bank. Obviously, they were just after the money in the end. No surprise this company has a lawsuit filed against them. In the end, my friend and I won. Within 24 hours we had a new realtor and found a cheaper and better apartment in a more ideal location than the ones this dynamic duo at Jacob Realty were showing us and to think they told us there were no more options for us... Two words about this company: steer clear read more

AVOID AT ALL COST! Not only did they lie to me about their available apartments, they showed me the worst places that DID NOT meet what I had requested and after I had moved in, the information they had given me was WRONG. Now I'm in a 12 month lease at an apartment that I HATE. When I did further research and asked around, I found out that these people LIE, CHEAT AND STEAL to get their money. I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN! read more

My first Yelp review. I'm not a big Yelper, but this business was so bad I feel a moral obligation to help make sure no more customers get ripped off. It's not fair to call Jacob Realty (or NextGen Realty, or Boardwalk Properties -- all the same) a "business." It's actually a criminal organization masquerading as a realty company. They make money by lying to customers, saying whatever they need to in order to get a deposit, and then cutting off all contact. Here's one of the games I think they play: Scour Craigslist for real listings posted by landlords directly. Spam and *re*post that information but switch the contact information around so renters call them instead of the landlord. (The landlord still knows nothing.) Tell renters the landlord hired them, make renters sign "lock in" documents so they can't work with the landlord directly. Show the place, telling the landlords that the *prospective tenants* hired them. Hopefully, if the unprofessional agents don't screw up too badly, they get a lease signed and collect a month's value in realty fees. Mission accomplished: Jacob Realty illegally inserts itself into a transaction where it never belonged. Get in the way of this scheme, and the "CEO" of Jacob Realty will threaten to sue you unless you bring him thousands in cash within 24 hours. How'd I know they were never authorized to show the place to begin with? During the rental process, the landlord gives me a call asking why my rental agent is screwing around, going back and forth saying I want to renegotiate the rent! I ask, "*my* rental agent? Renegotiate the rent?!" Even if the whole operation weren't criminal, it would just be an atrocious realty company. Agents had no clue what they were doing and couldn't answer the simplest of questions about the place. Hard to get in touch, sporadic contact, just like the other reviewers have mentioned. Jacob Realty, NextGen Realty, and Boardwalk should lose their accreditation. I urge anyone who has had a bad experience with these firms to file a complaint with the Mass. Division of Professional Licensure: http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/docs/dpl/complaint.pdf read more

I had a great experience working with Jacob Realty and have always referred my friends there! All the agents my friends and I have worked with have delivered, nor just the apartment we were looking for, but professionalism, reliability, and knowledge. My agent walked me through the whole process and made me feel at ease knowing I was in good hands. I'll be sure to call them if I ever need the again! read more

Jacob Realty is literally the worst realty company I have ever dealt with. They are unprofessional, unresponsive, unorganized and clueless. The property owners, "director of sales" are slow, don't know what they are doing, cheap and only care about taking your money. Never. Again. read more

SUMMARY: The company was extremely unprofessional. They lost my credit check info sheet with ALL of my personal information and never found it. They refused to offer me any discount on the realtor fee for losing my form, and were extremely rude to both me and my girlfriend. They are a shady, disorganized company with zero customer service. Do not trust them. FULL DETAILS: I have never had a problem with a realtor before this experience. My girlfriend put a deposit down on an apartment and filled out her credit check form. I was away that day so my realtor told me to drop off the credit check form with anyone at the office because she was away on vacation by the time I returned. About a week after I dropped it off she emailed my girlfriend stating that she really needed my form. When I informed the realtor that I had dropped it off, she assured me she could find it. A few days later she told me she couldn't find the form. She tried to pressure me several times to sign a new one, assuring me that they'd find it in a day or two. I refused to sign a new one without a reduction in realtor fees because then they would have no incentive to look, and I didn't want the risk of identity theft. She told me to come into the office to show her where I dropped off the form. When I arrived she walked up to me with a new form in hand and tried to pressure me to sign it. I repeated my position. The realtor refused to reduce the realtor fees, and finally offered me a refund of our deposit. Later that day, I contacted the manager of the office on the phone because I still wanted the apartment, but couldn't justify paying a full fee to a company that lost my personal information. The manager was extremely rude, and implied I dropped the form off at a different realty office and that it was somehow my fault. I live right around the corner from the realty office and had been to the office to meet the realtor before, so there is no chance I dropped it off in the wrong place. She assured me that if I had dropped the form off, it must have been shredded because they never leave sensitize information lying around. Finally, the manager asked me to come into the office to speak in person and try to identify with whom I dropped off the form. When I went into the office she was 20 minutes late meeting me. While waiting in an empty office (only one person in the back room) I noticed a box of documents next to me. The box had the exact same credit check sheet I filled out complete with the person's social security number...lying RIGHT next to me for 20 minutes with no one in the room. Once the manager arrived, she was immediately rude and never really apologized for being late. She soon brought up how they never leave sensitive forms out. I pointed out the box with the credit check sheet lying on top. She tried to make excuses, rather than admit a mistake. She told me that the realtor did her job and that I needed to take responsibility for the form being lost. I repeated that that the realtor told me to leave it with anyone in the office. The manager repeated her position, and began raising her voice. She continued talking over me throughout the course of the conversation. At one point I had to ask her to please calm down and speak in a normal tone, because she was so worked-up. I never raised my voice, nor did I ever resort to name-calling or any other rude behavior. I merely asked for a reduction in the realtor fees to compensate for the risk of identity theft. After a several minute tirade, she said this was not an option, so I asked for a refund. She printed out a check, thrust the forms into my girlfriends hands (after a long search to find them) and walked away without saying a word. I stood there awe-struck for a moment before walking away shaking my head. I am very happy I got away from this company at that point in time. I did some searches afterwards and read some horror stories (on local.yahoo I think?). STAY AWAY. read more

I just filled out an app with Lane from Jacob Realty. Hes done a really great job so far negotiating fee and rent for me. He even came to me, to make things easier. Very professional, nice guy. Highly recommended. read more

I wish I can give them less than 1 star. My friends and I agreed with the realtor/broker to meet at 3 near the apartment we were going to look at. By 3, we were already there waiting for him. I received a text from him that he was still on Mass Ave. and Newbury. Basically he just left his office. We waited 15 minutes for him in the cold. First red flag. Very unprofessional. We're at the front gate now and he is rustling through all the keys. He realized that he didn't have the keys to the front doors. He tried calling some numbers on the directory, hoping someone would let us in. That didn't work. We waited 5-10 minutes until a friendly resident finally popped the door open for us. Second red flag. We finally get to see the apartment and we loved it. We asked him several questions, but he was very clueless and could not answer them. He said he'll get back to us, which is not a big deal. We decided right then and there that we're going to rent this apartment. We travel back to the office to fill out some paperworks. I remember that the ad posted said there is NO FEE. I questioned him about it, he denied it. I showed him the ad on multiple sites (hotpads and zillow) and they both said no fee. He gave us excuses of how they used a generator to formulate all the descriptions and are then sent to these sites, that is why they have the same mistakes. When asked why the descriptions were not identical, he could not answer. When this could not be resolved, we ended up speaking to John on the phone. John was supposedly the manager and is in close contact with the landlord. He was not helpful at all. He informed us that he was not aware that the ad said there are no fees and blamed the sites for altering the description they sent in. Basically gave us a bunch of excuses. He told us it's not considered false advertisement since it was not intended. However, the ad on hotpads and zillow still says no fee. Is it now? We're unhappy with John and his dishonesty that we wanted to speak to someone that can help. Our realtor was very reluctant to give us anyone's number or email or find someone to speak to us. He said that the person in charge is too busy to assist us. The realtor also mentioned that he still has to process the application form and needs to put in a few words for us to the landlord so that we're accepted. Is he implying something? After spending 1 hour+ at the office, he finally got Demetrios, the CEO of the company, on the phone. He offered us 10% off of the realtor fee, what a joke! Everyone here just wants your money. This company is dishonest and deceiving. BEWARE read more

The realtor was sweaty and unkempt. We met with him 2 times and both times he was unprepared, late, and unprofessional looking. He kept us waiting when it was time to show the apartments and didnt have keys prepared even though we confirmed meeting times. The paperwork is kind of hard to understand, but whatever. The realtor held us to the dates specified in our paperwork, but he didnt keep up with his end with supplying keys during the lease signing. During that time the paper work was not organized and again he was late and sweaty. It took him 3 days to email us copies of our agreement, after he said he would send it that day, and after I emailed him to ask the status. Clammy hands. read more