Marketing & leasing
Professional photography, syndication to Zillow, Apartments.com, and the Boston-area MLS, plus our own list of saved-search renters. Average listing-to-signed-lease: nineteen days.
Homes for rent · 10 available
Brick and brownstones. Honest requirements. A team that has been here.
We've managed apartments around Cambridge and Boston since 2008. Today that's roughly 80 units across Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Allston/Brighton — and every listing shows credit, income, and pet rules upfront, so you know if you'll qualify before you apply.
Three doors, one firm
Whether you rent, own, or already live in one of our buildings.
01
For prospective renters
Browse the eighty units we manage across Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Allston/Brighton. Credit, income, and pet rules sit on every listing.
Browse available units 02For Boston-area owners
Hand the keys to a firm that has managed pre-war Cambridge buildings since 2008. Most of our owners have been with us a decade or longer.
Owner services 03For current residents
Pay rent, file a maintenance request, or message Eleanor, Theo, or Priya directly — all from the resident portal.
Resident portal17 yrs
Managing Boston-area rentals
< 6h
Inquiry response
4.7/5
Resident rating
91%
Renewal rate
What we handle
A full-service firm, kept small on purpose.
Northwind manages roughly eighty units end-to-end: marketing, leasing, screening, rent collection, maintenance, owner reporting, and Massachusetts compliance. We don't subcontract the parts that matter.
Tenant screening
Credit pull, income verification, prior-landlord references, and Massachusetts CORI where permitted. Every applicant gets a written decision, usually within one business day.
Rent collection
Online portal with ACH or card. Owner draws are deposited on the 8th of each month — same day, every month, since 2008.
Maintenance coordination
Charles River Trades has been our primary vendor since 2011. Emergency calls answered live, 24/7. Routine work orders scheduled within forty-eight hours.
Owner reporting
Monthly statements with photo documentation on any work over $250. Year-end 1099s and Schedule E packets delivered by January 20th. A real human on email.
Compliance & evictions
We handle Cambridge rental registration, Boston ISD inspections, lead-paint Letters of Compliance, and the rare housing-court filing. We've executed three evictions in seventeen years.
Just listed
New on the market this week
A handful of units that opened up recently. Boston-area rentals move quickly — most of ours are signed within three weeks of listing.
Somerville, MA
Davis Square Modern — 2BR with private deck
- 2 bed
- 2 bath
- 1080 sqft
$3650/month
View detailsWhere we operate
Four neighborhoods, on both sides of the river
About eighty units across Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Allston/Brighton. Filter the map by area or bedroom count.
City Beds
Where we operate
Our communities
No surprises
The same requirements every applicant sees.
Boston rentals are competitive enough without hidden criteria. These are the standards across our portfolio — individual buildings may differ slightly, and the listing always shows the actual rule.
Minimum credit score
650
Income to rent
2.5× monthly rent
Eviction lookback
7 years
Criminal lookback
7 years, case by case
Pets
Most buildings — $40/mo flat
Co-signers
Accepted at 4× income
Application fee
$50/adult, refundable
Why Northwind
A small firm doing this the long way around.
Northwind started in 2008 with four buildings in Cambridgeport. Two recessions and seventeen years later, we manage about eighty units. We've never gone after a thousand-door portfolio. We're trying to be the firm that does this well in one corner of one city for thirty years.
I.
Requirements upfront
Every listing shows the credit minimum, income multiple, pet policy, co-signer policy, and application fee before you start. The Boston rental market is hard enough without surprises after the tour.
II.
A team you reach
Our office is on Mass Ave between Central and Harvard. Eleanor, Theo, and Priya answer the phone — usually within a few hours, always within the business day.
III.
Move-in ready
Every unit gets a full turnover between residents: paint, deep clean, professional inspection, and any deferred maintenance addressed. It's how we operated in 2008 and it's how we operate now.
IV.
Built for renewals
Our average resident stays a little over three years. We price modestly at renewal (typically 3-4%), fix things quickly, and don't nickel-and-dime on move-out. The math works.
Resident voices
Three of the people currently living in a Northwind unit.
I called four places about a Cambridge 1-bedroom. Three asked me to come tour before they would even share the credit minimum. Northwind put it on the listing. I applied that night and signed the lease the following Monday.
I've rented in Cambridge for twelve years across four landlords. Northwind is the first one that called me back the same day on a heating problem in February. Renewing again this spring.
Theo walked our unit himself before the move-in inspection. Found a slow leak under the kitchen sink we never would have caught. They fixed it before we got the keys. That's the difference.
Accreditation
Member firms and standards we hold ourselves to.
NARPM
Member firm since 2012
IREM
Certified Property Manager (CPM)
BBB
A+ accredited, zero unresolved complaints
Equal Housing
Fair Housing Act compliant
How it works
From browsing to keys, usually three weeks
Boston timing is its own thing — September turnover dominates the calendar — but most off-cycle leases close in about three weeks.
I.
Browse
See every available unit on one page. Filter by neighborhood, beds, or rent. We refresh listings the day they hit the market.
II.
Tour
Schedule with our leasing team or take a self-guided tour with a one-time access code. Evenings and weekends both work.
III.
Apply
The application takes about fifteen minutes. $50 per adult applicant, refunded if we deny without reviewing.
IV.
Move in
Sign the lease digitally, pay first month plus security, pick up keys at our Mass Ave office or arrange a building handoff.
From the journal
Notes on Boston-area renting, building care, and neighborhood history.
Practical pieces from Eleanor and Theo on the September rental rush, what a Cambridge triple-decker actually costs to maintain, and how the income-to-rent math really works in this market.
Common questions
What renters and owners ask most.
If your question isn't here, Eleanor or Theo will write back personally — usually within a few business hours.
How does the September turnover work in Boston?
About 65% of Boston-area leases turn over on September 1st, tied to the academic calendar. Listings for September go live in late May, and most are signed by mid-July. We accept off-cycle leases (any month) at all of our buildings, but inventory is much thinner outside the September window.
What credit score do I need?
Our standard minimum is 650. A handful of buildings sit at 620, and a few owner-occupied two-families go higher. The exact number is on every individual listing — we never advertise one minimum and screen to another.
Are co-signers accepted?
Yes, at every Northwind property. Co-signers must show 4× the monthly rent in verifiable annual income and pass the same credit and background screen. Common for graduate students and recent transplants — about a quarter of our applications include one.
What does the application fee cover, and is it refundable?
$50 per adult applicant, which covers the credit pull and CORI check. If we deny without completing the full review (for instance, the unit goes off-market first), we refund automatically within five business days. That's not standard in Boston — we wish it were.
How does maintenance work after I move in?
File a request through the resident portal, or call our office line — emergencies route to a live person 24/7. Routine work is scheduled within forty-eight hours, usually inside one business day. Charles River Trades has been our primary vendor since 2011.
I'm a Boston-area owner. What does management cost?
Our management fee is 8% of collected rent, with a one-month leasing fee on each new tenancy. No setup fee, no marketing markup, no monthly minimums. We're happy to send a sample monthly statement and three owner references before any conversation gets serious.
For Boston-area owners
A free rent analysis on your Cambridge or Boston property.
Send us the address. Eleanor or Theo will write back with a rent estimate, three to five comparable units we've leased recently, and notes on positioning — usually within one business day.
Ready to look?
Here's what's open right now.
No account required. Save a search and we'll email when a unit matches what you're after.
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