I'm a little confused and disappointed that others on this page have given Harvard Ave Realty such poor reviews. In my experience this agency is as good as it gets. I came to Boston University last summer to take some summer classes - also Boston has been on my list of places to visit for some time. Harvard Ave Realty was incredibly helpful and accommodating in my search for a short term rental for the summer. What I appreciated the most was that this whole process was entirely last minute and yet they still managed to help me find a great apartment close to campus - and within my budget! I would highly recommend Harvard Ave Realty to anyone searching for an apartment in the Boston area. 5 stars!

  Like many, I abhor the Boston housing market. And I find the brokerage system to be borderline criminal, so I'm not often warm towards realtors. But Orit Aviv was different, and tremendously helpful. She did not push an apartment, and seemed honest about its ups and downs. Those are not givens, and good signs-- but where she really impressed me was putting together the paperwork that same day and pushing the deal through. It made the hassle factor for me significantly, significantly less. If I'm ever looking in Boston again, I'd call Orit rather than look through listings. Really that good.

  I never thought I would deal with such a horrible and dishonest realty. It was my first time dealing with brokers in Boston and I had no experience.  The mistakes they made are uncountable. They deposited my money into the landlord's account before the deal went into fruition. They didn't give me any receipt and thought photocopying cash was an acceptable receipt. They modified the address and broker fee on the brokerage disclosure form after we signed the paper. They kept pushing for the deal to happen although it was clearly a complicated situation that we needed to walk away from. They didn't give us the addendum till lease signing day and then blamed us for not taking the house because the realtor worked so hard and they kept demanding their broker fee even though we ended up without a house and even though only 2 of the 4 people signed the broker fee agreement which clearly sated that: all prospective tenants must sign prior to moving forward with the application. when I went to get my money back, they didn't give me all of it, and David, the owner, was very rude to me and treated me disrespectfully and charged me a $200 application fee though only 2 people signed the applications. I am still in the process of the dealing with the landlord to get my money back. All of this wouldn't have happened had they been professional and ethical.

  I really wish I could give this place less than one star. I just saw an ad posted yesterday for what was described as a studio in Brighton for $875 or something. I called the number and the guy who answered, who did not give his name, rudely informed me that the apartment was actually a shared two bedroom looking for a roommate, and that it was already taken. He asked what I'm looking for, and I said I'd prefer a one bedroom or studio since we're a couple with a dog. He then laughed out loud and smugly said "I'm sure I'm not the only person to tell you this, but you're going to have to realllly lower your expectations if you think you're going to find a place, ha!" Really?! What an unprofessional, derogatory response. If he hadn't responded in such an obnoxious way, I would have told him that my budget is far higher than $800 something/month, and maybe he could have found me something that met my apparently laughable criteria. Rather than explain that, I told him I wouldn't be giving my business to such a huge douche and hung up on him. He then called me back from his cell phone to say that he didn't mean to be rude and made some attempts to secure my business. I asked if I could talk to his manager, to which he replied "uh... I actually am the manager" (which I highly, highly doubt). I told him not to laugh at potential clients and hung up again.

Don't give these assholes your business. Not only do they routinely engage in false advertising, their uppity agents laugh at customers seeking their business. I don't think it gets much worse than these guys.

  I see some negative reviews with Harvard Ave Realty, but my experience was with one agent in particular, Dan Patzelt. Dan showed us a place we unfortunately weren't too happy with once we saw the size, but we went back to his office after at 8PM and he sat with us for over an hour going through listing by listing to find something for us. He was candid regarding location, landlords, price points, etc. In the end, we found something in Brookline that was a great deal though another agency, but Dan was still in contact with us.

He sent us an email asking how the search was going and once we mentioned finding a place, not only did he wish us well but he actually gave us a contact to reach out for to rent parking!

If you're looking for a place in Brighton/Allston, reach out to him, I swear he knows everyone in the area.