Encore Realty

Almost every recent Google review of Encore Realty is about a person, not the company — Zach, Michela, Andi, Cameron, Jeremy, Chris, Olga. That tells you how this Brookline brokerage actually works: you don't hire Encore, you get an agent, and your experience tracks that assignment closely. The office is at 123 St Mary's St in Brookline and works the Boston rental market — apartment searches, tours, lease applications — with some purchase work alongside it. Its Google page runs 4.7 stars across 298 ratings, and its Better Business Bureau page carries an A+ grade. Speed is the theme renters keep hitting. A July reviewer said their agent answered inquiries quickly and was flexible about scheduling a tour; a June reviewer wrote that emails came back within minutes. Several describe going from first contact to a signed lease inside a week, and renters searching from out of state — one moving up from Tampa, another unable to tour in person at all — say agents ran video tours and handled the paperwork remotely. One renter in May had gotten few responses on a string of listings before an Encore agent called back right away. The other half of the story is harder. Two one-star reviews from spring 2026, both naming the same agent, describe the opposite: days of waiting for basic answers, ultimatums after long silences, and a tour that ended with the renters being told they were late after driving in from out of state. That same agent also draws several detailed five-star reviews from the same months. That is the honest tension here — not that the brokerage is bad, but that consistency is not guaranteed. Boston renters have also been discussing Encore on Reddit, and those threads read very differently from the Google page. In March a poster described a running argument with the company over whether the tenant has to pay the broker's fee; a commenter replied that charging the tenant is legal when you rent through them, and advised going elsewhere. Earlier threads carry blunter warnings about unanswered messages and inaccurate information during a search. These are anonymous accounts rather than verified facts, but the complaint repeats often enough to be worth knowing before you commit. Encore is a reasonable call if you're renting in Boston on a deadline and want someone who actually picks up — the recent praise for exactly that is broad and specific. Ask two things up front: who pays the broker's fee and under what circumstances, and who specifically will be running your search. Get both answers in writing before you tour.