Recent comments in /f/CambridgeMA

toboldlynerd t1_je83l8n wrote

Reply to Best Milkshake in the Area? by PM_ME_YOUR_IZANAGI

Not Cambridge, but Ron's Ice Cream & Bowling in Hyde Park and Dedham have incredible frappes. Fantastic family owned business, I've been going my entire life.

My dad first went in the 80s and asked Ron for a milkshake. Ron looked at him, took a cup, shook up some milk, and handed it to him. It was then that my dad from central NY learned that New Englanders call "milkshakes" frappes.

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jjbrucey t1_je7wkcz wrote

Reply to Best Milkshake in the Area? by PM_ME_YOUR_IZANAGI

For a non ice cream spot Mamaleh’s in Kendall has fantastic milkshakes.

And if you want to hit a great ice cream spot Gracie’s next to the Kendall Square cinema is also fantastic.

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charlottespider t1_je7pp3o wrote

Reply to Can landlords ask about your job? by The_other_one_2275

Landlords don't want to rent to families. It's a huge problem in Cambridge, and it has been for more than a decade. Do you have a housing resource through your school? We went into Harvard University housing, and that's the only way my family was able to find a Cambridge apartment 10 years ago. I watched landlords take my application and crumple it up, laughing. Finding an apartment in Brooklyn was a breeze in comparison.

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commentsOnPizza t1_je7h1ut wrote

Reply to comment by Moomoomoo1 in Can landlords ask about your job? by The_other_one_2275

> Pretty sure it is legal to ask about your job

Maybe? It's a bit hard to say. You aren't allowed to discriminate based on source of income in Massachusetts. So if you filled out an application and the landlord emailed you saying, "oh, I don't want to rent to tech workers," it seems like they'd be toast since they're discriminating on the source of your income.

Yes, I think every rental application I've done has asked where I work. However, why should they be asking about something that they're not allowed to consider in their decision?

When you're interviewing someone for a job, there's a reason why you aren't supposed to ask certain questions. Even if it's legal to ask the question, it might not be legal to use the question in your decision. Why did you ask an irrelevant question? Did you ask because you're planning on using that information even though it's illegal to? It's not a great place to be.

As I said, I think every rental application I've done has asked where I work.

> and been background checked

I've never had this happen. I've had to submit a credit report, but that's it. Maybe the credit report seems like a background check?

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commentsOnPizza t1_je7fw83 wrote

Reply to Can landlords ask about your job? by The_other_one_2275

I'm not sure why you started with "job". It sounds like this is just about the fact that you have kids.

Typically, landlords don't want kids in an apartment because nearly all of our housing hasn't been de-leaded. If a kid moves in, the landlord is required to remediate the lead paint in the unit at their expense. Lead paint removal might cost $10,000, the landlord has to pay your moving costs due to the remediation work, they lose any rent while the remediation work is happening, and they have to pay for your accommodations (hotel or whatnot) above what the rent is (so if the rent is $2,000 and the hotel is $3,000, you pay the hotel $2,000 and the landlord pays $1,000).

It isn't legal to discriminate against people with kids under six, but there is a huge incentive to do it.

Somerville's Tenant's Handbook (https://s3.amazonaws.com/somervillema.gov.if-us-east-1/s3fs-public/tenants-helper-handbook.pdf) is probably a good place to start.

It sounds like the brokers aren't asking about kids and you're just bringing it up. Why? They ask about your job and your response is, "I'm starting grad school, my wife works full time, and we have two kids that require expensive de-leading if you rent to me." I'm sure you're not phrasing it like that, but it seems like you're steering the conversation that way (from the way your post is phrased). You don't have to lie. You can just not bring it up and if they ask kinda deflect the issue or change the subject.

> Also, feels like they are discriminating against me, being a grad student.

Ok, this is back to the job. Landlords aren't allowed to discriminate based on source of income in Massachusetts. However, they can decide to go with a tenant with more income. I don't know what your wife's job is, but it might not be as high as others who are looking at places. It's not just proving that you can pay the rent (which can never actually be proven since circumstances change). Someone else might seem more likely to be able to pay the rent because they have a higher income. Often landlords like to see 3-4x the rent as income.

If you're applying to cheaper places, they probably have a huge stack of applicants. I'm guessing if you looked at the Zinc Apartments or something like that, you would have less trouble. The problem is that new buildings are expensive in Cambridge - a 2-bed place there is $4,300-4,600/mo. If you're looking at places at $2,800, there's going to be a ton of competition. It's hard to know whether it's discrimination or random.

You can create a complaint with MCAD, but I've heard that they're pretty backed up.

If the issue isn't cost, the new professionally managed buildings won't have lead issues (since they were built after lead paint was made illegal). If cost is an issue, maybe don't bring up kids until after a lease is signed. However, I should note that if the landlord has to de-lead the unit, you probably won't be able to move in on time. Once the existing tenant moves out, they'll have to remove the lead. I don't know how long that will take, but it will likely require you to move into some temporary housing until your unit is available - just so that you plan for that.

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