If done properly, this is good. But if they expect restaurants and other places to drive left overs to places every day by themselves, this program will fail.

It’s absurd by how much food grocery stores and chain takeout places like Dunkin’ throw away. And on top of it, they refuse to adjust their output.

It's not normal. I'm sorry but you guys must be looking at predatory management companies that take advantage of students who don't know about the rental market. I rented as a student in the area and never paid an "application fee," and I know many people who were students after me and also didn't have these fees. But we were looking at crappy apartments in triple deckers and stuff, not corporate-managed buildings that advertise to students.

My understanding is brokers can charge app fees but landlords can’t. Could be wrong though

As someone interested in traveling alone but overwhelmed by how to start, how was going to Disney World alone? Did you ever feel weird about being there alone? How did you decide where to stay and what to do each day?

You generally pay a fee equal to the rent when applying. It is refundable until you sign the lease. After lease signing you generally pay 2-3 other fees equal to one months rent. I’m an agent and I normally consider the first payment as the first months rent but some say it’s the broker fee. While the paperwork at my company says it’s the broker fee. Normally the broker has to present one months rent with apps to the owner/property manager to get it off market and reserved.

Yes - I remember doing the math and it was actually cheaper to uber than to take the T. Now I just want the 3 mile trip to/from the airport to be less than $30-40 lol (The only time I use uber because it's so goddamn expensive now)

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Yeah, the basement of my current home in Somerville definitely had an illegal apartment in it a some point. There are still remnants of tile from a bathroom.

Did you read past the first 3 words?

> unless you have significant building heating that you’re able to piggyback off of.

You said you parents benefit from proximity heating in their apartment, which would prove that no, you can’t get 70+ degree temps and cheap gas bill without outside assistance.

preferable sometimes

I've heard multiple stories from people who bought a building in Somerville or Cambridge (this goes back to the '90s) and find that part of the building had illegally been converted into a mother-in-law apartment or that there was an illegal unit added into somewhere like a basement or an attic.

Ah fuck, ah Jesus. Damnit.

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What is Fox 7?

> What if it's just at night?

So you would have these people sleep in the elements. How progressive of you.

> What if they got up if someone asked?

What if they don't?

>Why don't they make more benches or single seat armchairs instead of these things?

Apparently, your imaginary scenario has some imaginary logistics and imaginary budgets for public benches. I'm just glad that they are -they exist as they are.

If you are a public bench manufacturer, then I'm sure that you can offer Boston a deal on their bid. But I'm also sure that you are just some armchair quarterback, pretending that you know better than the contractors and the other experts who deal with this on a daily basis.

>No doubt you wouldn't sit right next to a homeless person anyways so why do you care so much about this?

Same back to you. Why do you care? The fact is that you are just ostentatiously pretending to care so much about the homeless. The same homeless that you think belong on the streets, in all sorts of weather and otherwise making a mess of a shared public space.

edit: grammar.

Application fees usually cover the cost to run a credit check. It’s called a application fee but it’s just the cost of the company’s fee realtors and landlords use to run credit score checks. I forget the name of it.

Ok so you proved my point?

Ok, that makes sense. I thought it was strange to have to pay the brokers fee before signing the lease...

As for the listings and application fees, I feel like it's normal for housing available to students to ask for application fees... Maybe this isn't the case for apartments that do not allow students, but all my friends who have already moved off campus have paid application fees of ~$50.

Thanks for the info!

That was SUCH unfortunate timing. Ubers were like $5 to go anywhere and it was still a new thing, so you could get a ton of free rides by referring friends. That trial was during my prime “going out” years and we did use the late night T occasionally but if you had more than 2 people it was cheaper to Uber lol

Broker fee before signing the lease? Yikes. What fresh hell is this...

Cool. Except my most profitable building in terms of margins is one that I bought two years ago.

It’s always a huge red flag (and a sad commentary on society) when a tenant is so desperate for housing that they are willing to pay excessive fees up-front.

So I don’t charge them. It would result in only having red flag tenants applying and scare away the best tenants.

You’ll need coffee — the Patriots Day Battle Green reenactment happens at 5:30am! 😳 https://www.lexingtonma.gov/1558/2023-Schedule-of-Events

I almost got my socks wet when I jumped a puddle.

Or they don't pay attention to the other factors. When they kept the T open later, "nobody" rode it because 1) it takes time to change behavior 2) Uber was suuuuuuper cheap then

I’m 41 with three kids and a wife. There is nothing i would rather do than be able to take a few runs alone. Cherish it.