May 31: The date that many of the surrounding Medford and Somerville leases end for Tufts students. As seniors prepare for graduation and their move beyond the Hill, the search for housing commences. And the best time to start is now.
Graduating senior Claire Lyse Guitmann is all too familiar with the undergraduate and postgraduate housing market in Boston. Guitmann is a licensed real estate agent in both New Jersey and Massachusetts. She decided to pursue her license after a sports-related injury led her to leave the Tufts softball team.
“I went home to Jersey, made some things happen, got my license [and] closed a couple small rentals. … The rentals I had closed were some of the most impactful that I have ever done,” Guitmann said. “I had helped somebody who had just recently come from Colombia and was trying to find work here. … It had taught me a lot of foundational work that I needed to be able to implement a business plan.”
Guitmann’s father was the one who motivated her to pursue the rental market near Tufts.
“Once I saw how much I enjoyed it and how much I loved it, [during] my junior fall, I decided, ‘I’m going to launch a campaign to start this business,’ which [is] ‘Lease with Claire Lyse,’” Guitmann said. “The business blew up much more than I ever thought it could. I ended up getting an award in my office for Coldwell Banker called the International Sterling Society Award.”
Guitmann recommends that those looking for housing talk with a realtor to learn more about the market, search for roommates early and tour multiple units. She warns that many of the listings on sites like Zillow are used by agents to phish for clients. The benefit of working with a trusted realtor is that they are able to easily verify the accuracy of the listings, but one major misconception is that there are no more broker fees. Guitmann explained that if a group is working with a broker, they are opting in to receive additional help in their search, meaning they will be charged a fee. But if a group were to find a property through a listing agent, then the no broker fee is applicable.
As for desirable neighborhoods in Boston, Guitmann is a fan of the North End, Fenway-Kenmore and Back Bay.
“I just love the energy. They’re very young, graduating kind of vibe,” Guitmann said. “Regarding pricing, they’re not the cheapest. So the way you can navigate that is either [to] live with roommates to potentially bring down the cost per person. But if you’re looking to live somewhere that’s a little bit more cost-effective, you could look at Mission Hill [and] right in Allston.”
Guitmann graduates this May and will be staying in the area to continue expanding her business in Boston.
“It’s scary to be graduating, and everyone around me is getting a job, and I’m not doing the same thing. … Having to accept taking that step and believing in myself has been something I’ve been struggling with the last few months because I’m very nervous. But I’m very grateful I have a very supportive family that has my back through all of this,” Guitmann said.
Sophomore Lexi Trifon interns for Guitmann and is helping to expand her business. Trifon first met Guitmann when searching for housing last fall.
“It came about very naturally. It started as a friendship, and then sort of worked its way into a business partnership,” Trifon said. “I’ve been shadowing [Guitmann] — so coming with her on tours and learning from different associates. And it’s been a really great opportunity to apply what I’ve learned at Tufts to a more business-centered field.”
Trifon is the current president of the Tufts Real Estate Society and has used the position to transition the club to be more “experiential focused.” The student organization recently worked with Harvard’s Undergraduate Real Estate Investment Group to establish a Boston undergraduate real estate collegiate network.
This summer, Trifon will intern at a commercial real estate trade association, and in summer 2027 at an investment firm focusing on real estate.
Ranjita Singh-Ortiz is a broker and the owner of Cambridge Premier Realty, managing 10 agents and covering Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, Malden and some parts of Watertown. Singh-Ortiz started her journey in real estate back in 2006 to supplement her income as a student. In 2016, she officially launched her company, Cambridge Premier Realty.
“When I started real estate back in 2006, we were one of the few agencies. … We only advertised on Craigslist. Pricing work was very different. I mean, you could get a one-bedroom apartment for $1,400. You could get a two-bedroom apartment for $1,800. … And now you can’t even get a decent one-bedroom for $2,900,” Singh-Ortiz said.
She explained that the market fluctuates. It was a renter’s market when she started, and then it swung to the landlord’s market or seller’s market. Now, in the past couple of years, it has been swinging back.
“The inventory is so expensive in the area, a lot of people are trying to move out. … They’re willing to go a little bit further to get better value for their money,” Singh-Ortiz said. “It’s shifting the market to lowering the price [with] more inventory, and thus, the renters have more options to pick from.”
Singh-Ortiz also recommends starting the search early. Prices can differ due to fluctuating demands, depending on the month one is looking at. For students contemplating renting versus buying in the coming years, Singh-Ortiz explains that a major pro of buying is that it builds equity.
“[There are] a lot of opportunities for young people to invest [and] to think about buying. Mostly, I would suggest that if you are able to, invest money in real estate,” Singh-Ortiz said. “All these areas that we talked about — Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Malden and Everett — are appraising in value. So even if somebody has to move away, you can always use that as investment property. The rents are growing. The [values] of the properties [are] going up. … [Besides the down payment,] another very important thing is credit score. If you don’t have [a] good credit score, you will end up paying [a] higher interest rate.”
Jeffrey Zabel is an economics professor at Tufts who recently did a piece on affordable housing on the podcast EconoFact Chats.
“There’s a rent control ballot initiative that’s going to be on the November ballot: Should we have statewide rent control? And so that’s a very contentious issue right now,” Zabel said in an interview with the Daily.
Zabel explains that many economists are against rent control because of the unintended consequences. For example, lower-income households are not necessarily the ones receiving the rent control. Instead, others are occupying these spaces and refusing to give them up even as their incomes increase, making them no longer eligible.
“There’s a disincentive for landlords to maintain their places if rents are capped. [Additionally,] there’s an incentive then to take them and make them into condos [so] they’re no longer [rentals],” Zabel said.
One solution Zabel points to is providing low-income households with rental vouchers. This would mean qualified renters could find their own units, pay rent equal to 30% of their income and rely on the state or federal government to subsidize the rest. However, landlords could respond by increasing rents due to the induced higher demand for housing.
“[One] problem is that the budget is very limited, so only about 20% of eligible low-income households actually have vouchers,” Zabel said. “To me, that’s a real problem, and I’m actually looking at doing some research to look at what happens if we were to increase that to 30% or 40% or even 100% of eligible households.”
Some policies that affect the general market include the MBTA Communities Act, which is intended to encourage towns to densify and develop multi-family housing near public transit stops if possible. Another is Chapter 40B, where towns must have at least 10% of their housing be affordable. If they do not meet this, then developers are allowed to build at a higher density and bypass certain local zoning laws as long as 20–25% of their units are deemed affordable.
Yet, Zabel explains that factors like tariffs are contributing to increased construction costs, making it less profitable for developers to build. Another factor is immigration. A significant number of construction workers are immigrants, and without them to fill those jobs, developers have to pay more for labor.
Ultimately, while the number of jobs continues to attract Boston’s graduates to the area, the high rental prices are causing an increasing number to move away. Zabel explains that other places, like the South, are starting to compete with Boston as they offer diverse job opportunities as well as a lower cost of living.
“It’s something that the policymakers are well aware of around here. … It’s easy to know, [but] it’s hard to do anything about,” Zabel said.
