Preview Properties

I highly recommend Holden Lewis. We interacted with many different brokers during our apartment search over the summer, and most of them were horrible. Holden was by far the best. We didn’t get any runaround, was reliable, would return emails and phone calls promptly and had really good knowledge about the rental market and what to expect.

Shant stopped by on my move-​in day with a wonderful «housewarming gift basket». How thoughtful, especially it came from a real estate agent. And I was only one of his many stops on that big moving day in Boston area. He wanted to make sure that everyone he helped was doing well under the circumstances.
Indeed the world’s best real estate agent ever! Highly recommend!!!

Easily the best realtor I’ve ever dealt with! Stephen helped us find a great place, and was honest with us and readily available throughout the whole process, and just made the entire «Sept 1^st move-​in hell» a lot easier than it should have been.

Realtor I worked with through this company was a prompt communicator and good at showing housing that was a good value within my price range. 75% of the places I visited with the realtor during an hour and a half showing were places I would live in. This is much better than other realtors I have worked with in the Allston/​Brighton/​Brookline areas. I felt good about paying the realtor fee as I felt I got my dollar’s worth. I recommend it highly.

Had a great experience with Preview. Call and ask for Matt, he was very helpful! I had tremendous trouble finding a realtor in Boston who was helpful and he went above and beyond to help me find what I needed and quickly!

Very helpful in finding apartments around Brighton and Allston. Saw 3 places and were filling out the paperwork the same night.

Shant is great! He was so… helpful in getting us a suitable apartment. He is super friendly and answered all our lease related questions.
Our move in date was causing a big problem but Shant convinced the landlady and worked with us during the weekend too. We finally got the apartment right on time. He coordinated with the property manager and got the apartment cleaned before we moved in. Thanks Shant!
P. S. We liked the goodies bag from Preview Properties. Super useful items!

Shant Davidian at Preview Properties is the best realtor I’ve ever worked with! My friends and I have been apartment hunting together for a while now and have worked with a few different brokers and we all agree Shant is by far the best! He is extremely knowledgable and was so receptive to our needs. It seems like every other realtor we’ve worked with was only concerned with getting us to rent the most expensive properties (therefore getting them the highest commission) but Shant really listened to our needs — and our budget — and helped us find a bunch of properties that worked for us. We ended up signing on a GORGEOUS apartment that had everything we wanted and we owe it all to Shant! I don’t ever want to work with another broker ever again! If you want an honest, genuine broker who listens to your needs and truly works his hardest to get you into a great property, Shant is the guy for you!

I’m working with a different realtor now named Shant. Out of the dozens upon dozens of realtors I’ve spoken and dealt with he is the most genuine and truly cares about getting me an apartment. Hopefully we close off a deal soon but luckily I’ll still stay as a client to him if it doesn’t work out. I truly appreciate his hard work and bending over backwards to help. Awesome!

I feel very fortunate to have worked with Preview Properties, especially with our realtor, Doug Goodrich. My boyfriend and I had been looking for an apartment for about 4 or 5 months. We therefore have met many different realtors that we came across during our search. Doug was by far the most honest and professional agent we worked with. While I found that other realtors would often times ignore what we were looking for and tried to push a property on us that would simply not work, Doug made sure to understand exactly what we wanted and he showed us some great apartments that would fit our needs. We were particularly impressed with Doug when he showed us one apt that we were very much interested in moving forward with. After we discussed it further, however, we decided it wasn’t going to work for us after all and called Doug to let him know the same. Other realtors in the past have gotten angry or been annoyed with this but Doug was not only understanding and not at all upset or angry, but he even continued to work with us and show us more properties that we might like. We were finally able to find the perfect place, showed to us by Doug of course. I would recommend him without any hesitation to anyone looking for places in the Allston/​Brighton area!

We had a great experience renting an apartment through Preview Properties. Our agent Stephen was awesome and he helped us find an amazing apartment in Allston. Also, he gave us a referal bonus when one of our friends rented an apartment through Preview.

Had a great experience with Zachary Chapline of Preview Properties as my girlfriend and I were searching for a fall apartment in the neighborhood this winter/​spring.
All told I think we spent 3 – 4 months on the search and didn’t feel pressured or manipulated at all. We even put a deposit down on a place but later wanted to back out and keep looking and he was totally cool with it. Returned our money no questions asked. Not what I have come to expect from dealing with realtors in the Allston/​Brighton area over the last 7 – 8 years!
I would recommend Zach and Preview Properties to anybody looking to rent in the Allston/​Brighton area. All around great and stress free experience… these guys are definitely vested in maintaining a good and honest business.

The realtor and Property Manager for my apartment are both with Preview Properties. I have had a less than stellar experience:
–The rent was hiked up a little from the posted price. I was told due to improvements they were going to make before I moved in. They only followed through on some of those improvements.
–The realtor had a hard time getting the current tenant to let us in to see the apartment initially. Now, because of the experience I’ve had, I suspect maybe that tenant was just pushing back on the Property Manager.
–The Property Manager, Ross Mason was incredibly unprofessional. In the first incident, he emailed asking if we were okay to show to prospective tenants at such and such date and time. I responded in the affirmative. And then, for some odd reason, he started emailing one of the other roommates that he’d never had communications with to notify he was coming over. Of course no one saw those emails so as a result he showed up a couple times with strangers while one us was in their underwear. Awkward!
–A month away from move-​out, Ross emailed us to say that he will make an initial inspection on the 28^th and a final inspection after move out. He advised us to fill and paint any nail holes (that’s usually covered under wear and tear but sure, whatever). On the 21^st he emails us to say he is coming on the 22^nd for an initial inspection and a final inspection on the 28^th. When I call him to ask that we stick to the initial schedule he gets sort of nasty. He says he can come over whenever he wants with 24 hours notice and since he’ll be in Cambridge it has to be tomorrow. (Keep in mind we’re about 2 miles away from their office.) Then he tells me I’m being confrontational and sketchy. Just for wanting to stick to the plan mind you! This guy should not be in a client-​facing role.

While I do not have experience with the relator themselves, They are listing addresses on Zillow of single family homes in the Oak Square area of Brighton that are not and have never been for rent – along with bogus pictures. I was told by Justin of Preview that this was normal for them and common practice so that other relators don’t rent their listings. In Boston where people get an owner occupied abatement and where there are groups of home owners that have banded together to better their neighborhoods, it is a dishonest business practice that could cost an unsuspecting homeowner their abatement and or legal fees. It also has caused potential renters time and money uselessly driving by a property that was never listed.
When my neighbor called she was told that another neighbor on the other side was looking to rent their apartment. Another single family home that is owner occupied and not for rent. Maybe one bad egg out of the bunch? We talked to more than one person at Preview and they think this is OK.
Preview needs to realize deceiving potential customers and property owners is just BAD business.

After traveling such a long way and encountering many services which tried our patience during our relocation from Austin, Justin Pepple from Preview Properties provided us with a professional experience. With very short notice and little to go on, he was able to understand our needs and interests. It was very cool to meet a Bostonian who was both friendly and knowledgeable about the area: he was a gentleman. We were able to lease a property that we are excited about! We will visit him again if we are in the market to lease or purchase another property. Thanks again to the friendly staff at Preview Properties.

I looked for apartments with Nick, who was incredibly attentive and easy to work with. There are 3 of us, and while I grew up in the area (sort of), we were first time renters outside of college and therefore had a ton of questions and uncertainties. Nick was responsive and helpful and although I felt we were bothering him, he never gave off that impression and consistently reminded us that he was there to help us. A truly excellent work ethic.
The reasons that I’m giving 3 and not 5 stars were by no means «deal breakers» — we are living in the apartment, after all, but there were a few elements of the search that I felt were a bit arduous:
–The 3 of us wanted a two-​bedroom, and this was made clear at the beginning of the search. However, we didn’t find out until we put in an offer that we would probably have to pay more than the asking price because we have more people than bedrooms. I was surprised that this hadn’t been brought up before, especially because we looked in an area full of undergrads where people constantly share rooms.
–We were ultimately charged an extra $ 200 a month and I was not allowed to speak directly to the landlord to negotiate. I was assured by Preview that the original price+200 was final, but it seemed off that I wasn’t allowed to even contact my landlord to discuss.
–The 3 of us each required a guarantor form assuring that we could afford the apartment. I previously thought that only one would be okay, but my boyfriend and I had not begun our jobs yet and our roommate was still living in Virginia so perhaps we were a special case. At any rate, we had to have all of our parents attest to our financial responsibility and get notaries to sign the forms, and I was additionally asked to provide proof of the Virginia roommate’s savings account in order to make sure we could afford the apartment (which made me feel super weird so I didn’t do that). It was a true hassle that I think could have been addressed by a single guarantor form or perhaps simply by the lease that stipulates eviction if we don’t pay rent.
–We did not have our landlord’s contact info until 6 days before move-​in, despite earlier requests. When I called him that day to coordinate keys and whatnot, he was «surprised» that I hadn’t gotten in touch sooner. He also expressed that he had wanted to redo the floors for us, which is a great (and free) opportunity that we had to miss out on because there was no way for us to reschedule the ⁹⁄₁ move as late as August 26^th.
So okay, my list of cons sounds large but that’s only because I went into detail. It really was a positive experience overall and despite some of the hassles, we enjoyed working with Preview. Nick and the other realtors were honest, not all about the upsell, and never gave off the impression that they were only there for the commission. It was comforting and made me feel like I could trust the process and trust Preview. Plus, they gave us a totally unmerited but still wonderful goodie bag for move in day, filled with trash bags, light bulbs, toilet paper, a shower curtain, sponges, wipes, and a bunch more. It was literally an entire reusable shopping bag full of stuff, and it was incredibly generous and thoughtful. Overall, definitely mixed reviews but I would use Preview again and I would recommend it to first-​timers in the area. Next time I’ll just try to address the «cons» up front and hopefully things will be a bit more streamlined.

I worked with Danielle and had a very good experience overall. I must commend her persistence and ability to eventually find a place that was exactly what I was looking for.
Danielle did a great job figuring out precisely what I was looking for in an apartment and was available on short notice as well as in the evenings and on weekends. There were a few hiccups (no access to keys for a couple places), but we all know that everything doesn’t always go smoothly. She definitely pulled through while being personable and accessible. I would gladly work with her in the future.

I had a a very pleasant experience with Preview Properties thanks to my agent Norris Duncan.
Norris is probably the best and nicest agent in the Boston/​Allston. He is honest, courteous, does not push you, is very prompt with the paperwork, and really helps out with getting you the apartment you need. He even stayed long after hours to accommodate my schedule. I really cant find anything to complain about.
I would highly recommend asking for Norris if you will be looking for apartments.

Edit ²⁄₂₁: My former «realtor» has threatened me with a lawsuit for posting a review that was 100% true and factual. Considering I have no real assets I don’t know why I feel threatened, but I just don’t want to deal with that nutcase anymore.
The owner of Preview Properties is a very respectful and genuine businessman, so I wouldn’t tell anyone not to use this service. I would just never EVER recommend the «realtor» I worked with. End of story.

First (and most likely only) place you should go for apartment hunting.
The place itself is gorgeous and very inviting. Being asked to wait here is something to actually look forward to.
Originally, the apartment I wanted was taken. But the agent I worked with found me and my two other friends a great apartment in Brighton that we immediately acted upon with no hesitation, thanks to his smart recommendation. My experience with other agents has been people that have no social skills nor any knowledge of what they are showing, resulting in a «if you like what you see, let me know» kind of situation, whereas this agent knew exactly what we were looking for and gave us a great breakdown of what to expect and know about this apartment.
This place is your best bet, do not bother with other places.