Fiorelli Realty

Two different Fiorelli Realtys show up in the reviews, and which one you meet depends on whether you are renting an apartment through them or renting one from them. The office sits at 154 Salem St, in the middle of the North End, and handles home sales, rentals and leasing, and property management across Boston. The company's site says it has served clients for more than 45 years and is led by Kathy & Ally Mestari; BBB puts it at 38 years, started in 1988, with six employees and Maureen Fiorelli listed as owner. On the search side the praise is specific, and it keeps landing on people rather than the firm. Google sits at 4.5 across 85 ratings, and in recent months reviewer after reviewer names an agent — Annmarie Silva most often, then Ally and Karla. One June renter said she found her first apartment in her top-choice location and inside her budget within two days of meeting Annmarie. Another, moving in from out of state, had Fiorelli manage the rental afterward. Landlords tell it from the other side. An owner of a small North End building credits the team with screening tenants and actually checking references and credit histories, and several owners describe relationships running fifteen to twenty years — one saying they stayed despite plenty of nearby competition. The complaints are fewer, recent, and they cluster on the rental-management side. A tenant of two years, writing in June, credited the office with lockout help and responsive repairs, then said he cannot recommend renting a Fiorelli apartment. A July review is blunter: it describes a required $350 "lease renewal" fee and asserts the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office is suing over it. That is one reviewer's own account. A third recent review says only that communication was poor and the office unhelpful. That split is worth taking seriously, because it maps onto two different transactions. If you are hiring them to find you an apartment, fill a unit you own, or handle a North End condo purchase, the recent history is consistent and the named agents are the reason it is. If you are signing a lease in a building they manage, ask what renewal costs in year two and get every fee in writing before you sign. Worth reconciling too: the company's own "more than 45 years" and BBB's 38-years-since-1988 do not line up.