About Charles River Properties LLC

Charles River Properties’ roots go back to 2011, when our Managing Broker, Charles O’Neill, started Watch City Real Estate. “Watch City” is a name associated with Waltham, a reference to the Waltham Watch Factory, a predominant employer in the area from 1854 to 1957. In 2019, recognizing opportunities to extend our business, we rebranded the company. Our new name has two qualities we like; first, it connects to a significant geographic feature, the Charles River, which flows 80 miles from its source in Hopkinton through 23 cities and towns before reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Boston. The River has also played a prominent role in Boston’s history, starting well before the “City on a Hill” was incorporated by European settlers in 1630. It was a central part of the lives of the Native populations in the area. Some of our associates are old enough to remember this popular culture reference to The Charles.

From a one-person business with a small, shared office in the Watch Factory, initially focused on apartment rentals in Waltham, we have grown to a firm with two brokers and nine licensed salespersons.

Rentals remain an important part of our business, but we have also expanded into both residential and commercial sales, representing buyers and sellers of properties from Waltham and Newton, west to Northfield and as far north as Salem and Lynn. You can view a representative portfolio of properties we’ve sold here.

Why choose to do business with us?

Choose us for your real estate needs and experience the difference of working with a local, knowledgeable, and client-focused team. With years of expertise in the Greater Boston area, our team is dedicated to helping you succeed with personalized attention and tailored resources. Our relaxed, professional approach sets us apart, as our associates are incentivized to prioritize your needs without pressure to meet quotas. With a small-firm mentality and big-firm capabilities, every client is valued and every project is given the attention it deserves.

We know the Boston area. Most members of our team have been part of the Greater Boston community for many years. Our expertise informs everything we do for our clients.
We’re local and locally owned. If it’s important to you that your real estate advisers are owned or affiliated with global companies that also sell vineyards in the Sonoma Valley or castles in Spain, that would not be us.
We think you’ll like our style. We like to think we’re cooperative, cordial and low pressure. We’re direct. Focused. Friendly. And relentlessly driven to help our clients succeed.
Our 12 associates are incented to do what’s right. We pay them higher-than-average commissions. We give them all the resources they need. We don’t pressure them to produce, so they can invest more time and energy on their individual clients. We think you’ll benefit from our relaxed, professional approach. Each client has a one-on-one relationship with a team member, with support from others as needed.
We’re small enough that every client matters to us. Yet we’re big enough to have all the resources we need to compete with any other firm on the breadth and depth of services we offer.

In a time of economic challenge and uncertainty, working with focused, caring and experienced professionals while selling or buying your home is more important than ever. You should expect your real estate advisers to work with diligence and creativity to help you meet your requirements. We believe our team and business offer an attractive alternative to our clients for the times ahead.