Red Line Real Estate

This is the place to go! I have used this place several times and his service is one of few things I recommend wholeheartedly. He found me some fantastic apartments, including the one I’ve now lived in for more than 6 years.
Most of the brokers around here are dreadful. They’re unprofessional, clueless half-​wits trying to make some money on the side while they finish their basket-​weaving degrees. They don’t know anything about the inventory, they don’t know their way around the neighborhoods and they don’t pay attention to what you want. I’ve had horrible experiences wasting countless hours being dragged around to miserable apartments missing features I said were critical (like a gas stove because I love to cook).
John Lowenstein, the one-​man-​show that is Read Line Real Estate, has the opposite of all those bad qualities. He is an absolute professional who has many years of experience and knows the neighborhoods and his inventory. He seems to know what you want better than you do. He may have fewer listings than the big players, but he won’t waste your time visiting a massive inventory of bad matches. It’s been a few years, but last I checked he did it the old fashioned way. You sit down together and talk about what you want and he flips through his binder of listings and makes a plan to go see the best choices.
Start here! It’s possible he doesn’t have something for you, but you can always expand your search later and you’ll learn something from him in the meantime.

Nope. Sorry, John, but comparatively I would not have tried to go through him first based on the good reviews here. I had to call him several times to set up a meeting because he kept insisting I was «too early» to start looking, even though I had found things available on Craigslist during our time frame.
We finally sat down to meet with him at his office, and he began by telling us how our cats were an «unintentional handicap», and then flipped through page after page of apartments that were available, but not pet friendly. I was convinced he may have wanted me to start crying there in his office. We were already stressed out about finding a place to live, so this was completely unnecessary.
He took us to two places that we would never have considered living and then asked that I call HIM back the following week to see what else was available.
I’m sorry but for a full fee, he can’t follow up? I have to do this? Other than having some exclusive listings, what is it that he’s actually doing to help us?
He did not make us feel at ease at all, and we switched to working with Apartment Rental Experts and had a great experience with them.

John was fantastic and easy to work with. He had great inventory, knew his buildings well and helped me narrow down my choices by price, neighborhood and amenities. His inventory was extensive and covered a large price range and range of move-​in dates. He was not pushy at all and made the apartment hunting process so much easier than I was expecting. I would recommend John to anyone looking to move in the area (Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, etc).

I went to John this past spring as I wanted to move Boston to Cambridge. I had a bit of a tricky situation with a past landlord so put a premium on working with a person whom I could be open with. I agree with most everything that was said in the other reviews about his ability to listen to what you want, and focus very quickly on the apartments you are very interested in.
John is not an overly friendly salesperson but he really does want to find you a place you would really like. After seeing a few places with him, he felt a person whom I could describe very honestly to what my situation was. When i did, John was very professional and straight forward about how a landlord would perceive the situation and what he thought would work and wouldn’t work. My sense is that because he does the same things for the landlords, the landlords he works with really trust his judgement.
He doesn’t have every listing so keep that in mind but I would say he is absolutely worth talking to and has some exclusive listings from landlords he has worked with for a decade or more. He won’t waste your time with stuff you are not interested in.
I also get the sense he really loves the business — I think that is part of what makes him really good at his job. And he lets the quality of the places he finds sell themselves rather than trying to push you into something.
I would work with him again in a heartbeat. It made the whole process of searching for an apartment a much more pleasant one.

I saw John’s reviews on Unilocal and contacted him a month or so before I planned to relocate from Seattle to Boston. John set up an appointment with me and arranged for me to see 3 apartments. He was professional and direct and delivered a GREAT beautiful apartment that met all of my criteria plus extra perks: dog-​friendly, off-​street parking, laundry/​dishwasher in unit, hardwood floors and in my price range! He made sure I got the apartment and interfaced with the landlord to make sure everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend John to anyone relocating or looking for an apartment. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and I would surely hire him again.

I can’t say enough good things about John that haven’t been said before —
the reviews are great because John is great!
We called John about 3 months before moving and asked for a timeline of when it would be good to visit the area since we were moving across the country — he gave us a two week window and within a few days we made an appointment with him and booked our tickets to come out and see the area. Since his schedule fills up fast, I highly recommend calling farther in advance than you’d expect to for an appointment and for a time frame to look at properties in relation to when you need to move.
We called just slightly too late (by a few days) and had to book flights that had just crossed the time frame from affordable to ridiculous, an expensive mistake. Nevertheless, John made the rest of our experience pretty seamless. Due to work and life commitments, we flew out with 1 day available to work with John and because of these reviews, decided to put all our eggs in one basket and only make an appointment with John. I felt very confident that this was the only realtor we needed to see, and I was right!
Overall, the experience was excellent and very buttoned-​up. John knows the Somerville and Cambridge area backwards and forwards, and that a big secret to his success. The man is efficient, efficient, efficient and will get you in and out of properties without making you feel rushed. He’s not an overly friendly and smooth talking kind of guy, but a direct and nice professional — and he gets right down to business. This is not the kind of person who is going to talk you into things — he lays down the facts and give his opinion about the value you get in one property vs. another, etc. Exactly what we wanted. Ask away and he probably has an answer for you about just about anything you can think of in the area. We came in concerned about our location relative to the subway lines and price, and he helped us to see that there are better locations that take the same amount of time to commute from for a better value if you are open to riding bus lines. After being in the area for a few weeks, we can see that he hit that nail on the head and we made a better choice because of that information.
We also mistakenly forgot to adjust to our phone calendars’ time-​zones to the local est time, and received a call from John asking if we were planning to come by for our appointment with him. He was very understanding and tried to move things around with his schedule to accommodate us, which I appreciated considering it was our mistake. At the end of the day, we saw a large handful of properties, much more than we expected after delaying our appointment. We had plenty of choices to make, along with some some insightful information about the area to help in our decision making. The next day, we hopped back on a plane and were so relieved to have found John to navigate the whirlwind process.
We’re living happily in our new place and driving past Harvard, we fondly think of John and «the center of the universe.» Ask him about this you’ll see what I mean.
Thanks so much, John!

This guy is great! Collected a whole bunch of information about what we wanted and where, what are budget was, must-​haves, etc. We set up a meeting a couple days later to see some apartments. John took us to four great apartments that were beautiful, modern, and updated. Not like the slum dwellings some «Experts» showed us a few days earlier! We ended up taking a place the same day (something I never thought I’d do) because it was too nice of a place and $ 300 below our budget!

My girlfriend and I moved to Boston from out of town. We drove up over a weekend on a mission: find an apartment. We were starting from (almost) zero: we knew we wanted a place in Cambridge, and that’s about it.
On the drive up, we were literally calling realtors on out of the phone book. (Phone book? Yeah, phone book!) We were feeling pretty good, because we had meetings with ten or so realtors lined up for that weekend. Each realtor got our constraints: the rent had to be so-​and-​so, it had to be within such-​and-​such distance of a T stop, had to be available on such-​and-​such date, etc.
We went through realtor after realtor who showed us nothing but crap. Literally every place we saw wasn’t what we asked for in some important way… the rent was too high, it was too far from a T stop, etc. We were starting to get a little nervous, until finally we met John Lowenstein.
We got off to a rough start: he said (like all the other realtors) that he had a bunch of places to show us. We kind of snapped at him, along the lines of, «[sigh], Okay, look… these places that you’re showing us, do they fit all the criteria we actually told you on the phone? Are we going to see that one of them is actually a mile from the nearest T, or that one of them is actually $ 300/​month more than what we said our budget was?»
His response was deadpan: «I wouldn’t waste your time or mine showing you apartments you already said you didn’t want.»
Finally… someone who gets it.
(And it kind of makes me wonder what the other guys are thinking. «Gee, maybe they won’t realize that $ 2400 is actually more than $ 1700»?)
Anyways, you know the rest of the story: all the units we looked at fit our criteria. We picked one. We moved in. It was nice.

John at Red Line was very helpful in finding me a rental apartment in Somerville. I came in December, in the off season, and simply knocked on his door (by the way, according to John, I could not just do that in the summer — it is best to schedule an appointment a couple weeks in advance and then you will have 3 hours with him to find an apartment that suits you best from those that are currently on the market). John was very friendly and immediately showed me an apartment that he thought I would like — we drove there, I did like it, and that was it.
The application process is also quite easy, if you pass the credit/​reference check you are basically approved and you will not compete against other applicants. John was also very knowledgeable about the apartment itself (he has worked with the landlord for 19 years) and for questions he could not answer, he would immediately call the landlord and find out.
All in all, this was a very pleasant and unstressful experience — if you are new to town or simply do not want to make apartment hunting your full-​time job, and are okay with the one month fee, simply go to John and he will likely set you up with something you like.

I had a great experience with Red Line Real Estate! I worked with three different agencies when I was moving to Boston, and this one was definitely the best. Every apartment John showed me was nice and within my price range. Unfortunately, someone else got the apartment I really wanted, so I had to go with another place through an awful agent, but I highly recommend John and Red Line Real Estate.
Absolutely give John a call if you are looking for a place in the area.

I wish I could add to the glowing reviews for Red Line Real Estate, but unfortunately I can’t. My boyfriends phone conversation with John this afternoon was so absurd and unprofessional, it would be almost laughable — if I wasn’t pissed off and disgusted.
We found his reviews here on Unilocal and thought we could give him a call. We thought that maybe dealing with this so called professional with 20 years of experience under his belt and «exclusive» listings would be a breath of fresh air, since the majority of real estate agents in this city seem to be 25 year old doofus’s straight out of college who got a real estate license because they didn’t know what else to do with themselves and it sounded like a quick buck.
Sadly, I’d prefer to deal with one of those guys — even though they barely know anything about the apartments they show and lack basic social skills — over an asshole who thinks it’s appropriate to hang up on people. At some point during the conversation, John asked my boyfriend if we had ever had any bills go to a collection agency — upon which he answered honestly «yes, most likely».
to which John replied «I’ll never be able to get you approved, good luck»
*CLICK*
…
Really? that’s how you treat other people? I don’t care who you are, how much money you have, where you’re from — I was certainly not raised to treat anyone that way and so I don’t expect to be TREATED that way, especially by someone I was looking to hire to perform a service for me.
He is not in a petty business — he’s dealing with people who are trying to find places to LIVE in a shitty economy in one of the most expensive cities in the United States. I don’t fault him for not wanting to take us on — fine, it’s your business, your prerogative — but please, BEHAVE LIKE AN ADULT and have the decency to treat the person on the other end of the line like an equal. That really isn’t too much to ask, although apparently John is a realty rental God, who only deems you fit to work with if you have stellar credit and a fucking halo over your head.

Each of the reviews below speak the volumes of appreciation, quality, humility, and incredible professional service Mr. Lowenstein provides.
My husband and I are two formerly out of state residents from NY, moving for my graduate studies in Boston. John came highly recommended by a student in my program, who, through her landlord, met John.
John was incredible considerate, professional, fast, and as real as it gets when it comes to price, location, amenities, compromise, and commute. He finds the best deal for your dollar, and, prior to scouring something that might not quite fit your ideal he will even give you several changes to weed it out before you look at it — to see if YOU are sure, not if he is sure for you. That’s right — John is probably the only broker who actually cares and works for YOU.
It took us two tries and he found us a beautiful charming apartment in Medford that matched our prior hometown exactly. He went well out of his way to even get us an appointment with the landlord, smoothly go through guarantor papers, and additional paperwork.
Professional, realist, and extremely considerate. John is a true gem.

John is great. My girlfriend and I had been looking for apartments for months with a huge variety of different real estate agents but nothing was working out. One appointment with John and he found us a perfect place, exactly what we wanted, slightly under our budget. Yes! He has a bunch of exclusive listing too, which is great. DEFINITELY give him a call!

I just got booked an apartment through John and I have to say he was great. My roommates and I had been looking for a place for 2 straight weeks working with more than 4 realtors and couldn’t find a place that fit our location preferences and budget.
We set up a meeting with John and it took him one showing to find a place that we ultimately signed the lease for (the apartment we found only was shown through John.) We had a little bit of a unique situation in that one of our roommates was out of the country, however, John worked with us to be able to secure the place and communicated what he needed throughout the process.
John is definitely someone you should set up a meeting with if you are looking in the Cambridge /​Somerville area. He knows the area well and has a number of good relationships with landlords.
Please Note: His schedule is pretty busy so I would reach out to John sooner rather than later. It look us 1 ½ weeks to find a time that worked for both of us.

John is a straight shooter and found my husband and me an adorable apartment in our price range when all the other realtors I contacted said it wasn’t possible. He was professional and incredibly efficient and I was happy to pay for his services.

Total agreement with the other 5 star reviews of John. I’ll give you the nutshell of our experience as I accompanied my girlfriend on viewings:
*John did not use bullshit real-​estate pressure tactics or say anything that closely resembled bullshit.
*Total straight-​shooter. He was upfront about any deficiencies, the pros as well as the cons. I felt he was honest with us.
*John was expert at learning our requirements and then helping us consider them based on our reaction to each viewing. Each viewing was based on our reactions to the last and all were contenders.
*Well informed. He knew the bus routes and times, brought us a map so we could visualize everything. He knew the background of his landlords and even some of the tenants.
*Super organized. We wasted no time. He had the keys as well as laminated pages on each of his properties.
Johns a bit stoic, but he’s a solid guy. There’s a lot of sleeze in the real-​estate business, but John truly earns his fee. We haven’t decided on his properties yet, but we were glad to have made an appointment with him. It reminds you that you don’t have to deal with hyena salesmen when looking for an apartment.

Shame on me for waiting so long to review John at Red Line Real Estate!
I found John through Unilocal last year when my boyfriend and I were shopping around for an apartment in Somerville. We were so, so ready to escape the gum-​adorned, glass-​strewn streets of our terminally hip Allston neighborhood.
John’s a highly efficient one-​man operation. If you meet with him, you’ll spend 10 – 30 minutes in his office, going over your requirements (price, amenities, distance from T, and more specific things) before heading out in his spotless car on a whirlwind tour of available places. Even if you’re meeting for the second or third time, he likes to sit down again and see what you thought of your last visit.
We were pretty annoying customers. We barely knew Somerville (luckily, he has a giant map on his wall, to show you where and how far away everything is), we were wishy-​washy on what we could pay for a nice 1-​bedroom ($ 1200! No, $ 1400! No, uhhh, uhhm?), and yet he was patient and made sure we understood the pros and cons of various neighborhoods.
He’s a champ at getting keys to a place last-​minute so you can run over and check it out. On one meeting I had with him, we saw 8 places in an hour, and yet I didn’t feel rushed or freaked out. He had a variety of places that met our criteria, and was able to help us articulate what we liked or didn’t like about each place. We saw a place in a 1970s-​style building that was fine, with a gorgeous roof deck. The awesome deck was totally warping our perception of the decent apartment. He looked at us and said, «…It’s nice, but I bet you don’t go on that roof deck four times.» And he was SO RIGHT!
Finally, we saw a lovely, lovely place. The building was impeccably clean, the original woodwork was lovingly cared for, the retro intercoms were still mounted on the walls, and off-​street parking was incredibly cheap. And, of course, the place was great and the price was right. We’re living there happily now, and we have no plans to move until we have to. I’ve paid fees to brokers before, but I never felt that anyone deserved it until John.

John of Red Line Real Estate is the most attentive and genial agent/​broker whom I’ve met in Boston.
My experience with real estate agents here, which is not atypical, is that they are brash, methy, bait n’ switch con-​artists. They put the pressure on and make you feel like a dolt for hesitating or vacillating. John was unlike any of the prior agents in that he wanted to know all the things that I was looking for in an apartment like price, location and amenities and then he ONLY showed me places that met the criteria. Imagine that, an agent who only shows you places that you’d want.
I did not end up renting an apartment through Red Line. Red Line Real Estate deals exclusively with rental properties in Cambridge, Somerville and Arlington. I decided to live on the Boston side of the rivah and I’m a little disappointed in myself for forking over a broker fee to an agent who failed to treat me with even half the respect that John did.
The next time around (because it seems there’s always another move around the corner) I’ll seek John’s assistance again.

Let me begin this review by saying that my husband and I did not end up renting our apartment through Red Line Real Estate. However, we still feel this company is one of the best out there, and John is an unbelievable resource for anyone on the hunt for an apartment in the Boston area.
John is incredibly professional and responsive, works very quickly, and will get the job done for you. While he might not have the slickest operation in town, I definitely believe he is, by far, the most efficient. The apartment we ended up selecting was listed through another agency, but throughout their entire process, my husband and I were whispering to each other that we wished John were handling it.
Thanks for all your help John!

If you want a really glamorous apt with a fancy office, this is not the place to go. But if you want a nice clean place at an affordable price with someone who actually listens to what you want. then, John is your man. He asks you what you are looking for. and I was very specific… and he was able to deliver. Another great thing. at each of the places, he asks you if this the type of apt you’re looking for, rate it to the other place, etc. He gave me a lot of choices and I was thoroughly satisifed with him.
One thing. he does make you sign a form that says that whatever you see. you must sign a lease through him. That’s not a big deal since he should get credit where it is due (and the broker fee).