Moving to Boston

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Salem? Now, the schools are pretty rotten but if you're open to private, you can do that. It's a cute downtown right on the water and the commuter train is doable for both parents going into Boston to work. Housing is pretty decent for the price.

Salem is 16 miles away from Boston. Equivalent to Reston, VA vis-a-vis DC. Not what OP is looking for.

Well, OP is in College Park right now so it's not like she's in the middle of downtown DC. If she can't spend $1.5M for a nice row home in Brookline, Salem isn't the worst alternative. However, the recommendation to look towards Southie was solid. What about Charlestown?

[Anonymous]

Boston is a great city. We grew up in Boston and just moved to DC.

I find the cost of housing about the same between the two. Inside the city is crazy expensive, outside gets cheaper.

Boston has more distinct areas outside of the city, each with its own character, than DC, I think. DC to me (so far) feels like the city and then the rest is all suburban sprawl without a lot of character, it all feels the same. But I haven't been here long.

OP, I wouldn't suggest Brookline if you don't want to do the Keeping up With the Joneses thing. Or Newton.

Salem is a great city but the commute would be awful to Boston and back every day. Just like here--inside the city expensive, outside the city an hour commute every day...

Around Fenway is cool but the housing is mostly students for BU (or BU faculty). If you go up Comm Ave a bit in both directions (anything walkable to Fenway), that's the case.

Maybe think about Watertown? I think that would be about $700 though, theres a ton of houses but not sure about smaller condos.

You could go north of boston into Stoneham/Wakefield area. $700k would get you a nice place. Its about 8 miles maybe into Boston (but the commute to Boston at rush hour could be like 30-45 minutes still....)

Happy to answer any Boston related questions. I miss it there. But have to say I don't miss shoveling insane amounts of snow

[Anonymous]

Arlington has good schools, red line access, Arlington center, cheaper than Brookline. Nice vibe. Somerville is funkier, has Tufts, Davis Sq. Commute not as great to BU but I don't know that area so well. Somerville schools probably worse than UP.

[Anonymous]

I think you could get an affordable condo in Brookline based on your criteria. Arlington is nice, not sure about condo/townhouse stock, I thought it was fairly pricy. . Neither Southie nor Charlestown is going to be a good commute to Dana Farber and both, where gentrified, are full of young professionals, not so much families. Would not expect good school situations in either (see the Departed to see the other side of those communities. I think JP, Brookline, Arlington would give you the best commute and probably best school options, at least the latter two. Sommerville and Belmont might also be good options. Knew quite a few people who were happy in Winchester, which I think is more affordable than Newton but also a longer commute.

[Anonymous]

Is acton/ Littleton too far out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about Newton?

Lucky-you ...we'd go to Boston IN A HEARTBEAT!

NP here. This thread is interesting. I'm trying to make myself have the "want" to move to the Boston area to be close to family now that I have kids growing up. I've never lived there though! My sibling relocated to that area so I have visited quite a bit but don't know if I could handle cold winters and cold oceans at the beach! But I do like that there seems to be decent options in housing, not amazing bang for the buck, but pretty comparable. I like it here, but I'm not married to the place- the pull of family is getting stronger as I get older too.

Having lived both places, Boston and its western suburbs are definitely pricier than DC.

+1

For good reason.

Really? Interesting. I am the quoted PP. I wonder if the areas you are comparing are both above my market anyway though. It wouldn't really matter if a 1 million house here would go for 1.5 in comparable burbs in Boston, since they aren't what I would look at. Does that make any sense? I wonder if it shifts at all by stata of homes?

We would be looking in the 500-600 K range. I have friends from college who hail from Weston (sp?) and the surrounding burbs and I know that is ridiculous as far as prices go, but I wonder what apples to apples would look like for us.

Again though- the weather seriously holds me back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has good schools, red line access, Arlington center, cheaper than Brookline. Nice vibe. Somerville is funkier, has Tufts, Davis Sq. Commute not as great to BU but I don't know that area so well. Somerville schools probably worse than UP.

My bro lives in Arlington now and I thought the neighborhood was really nice. He previously lived in Brighton when attending BU- that was a cool area too with a more city vibe, and could be crawling with BC students at times.

Boston has a certain character that DC lacks, I'm jealous!

[Anonymous]

Arlington is a great town, great main street, good schools, good commute. But it isn't cheap, and probably not a direct comp for university park.

As to the PPs concerned by weather...it really isn't that much colder in Boston. It isn't Alaska, or Montana. It gets just as cold here, and it gets just as hot there. Yes, winter is longer, and summer is shorter, but spring and fall are both real seasons unlike here, where they each sometimes last just a couple of weeks.

[Anonymous]

1542, you're nuts if you think that it's not much colder in Boston. It gets colder months earlier - the idea of wearing shorts to school was practically unheard of in my suburban Boston town, it was never warm enough to justify - and stays colder through much longer (all of April at least.) And the heat is nowhere near as bad as it is here. Many Boston homes still don't have a/c unlike here. Fall is beautiful but brisk; spring is a blink of an eye.

[Anonymous]

Boston is on average 6 degrees cooler than DC every month of the year. I don't consider that to be "much colder." The average high in July in DC is 87...in Boston it is 82. And having lived in both places it doesn't feel "nuts".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boston is on average 6 degrees cooler than DC every month of the year. I don't consider that to be "much colder." The average high in July in DC is 87...in Boston it is 82. And having lived in both places it doesn't feel "nuts".

Not PP but I agree with them. Lived in Boston for six years as an adult. Winter starts in Boston in October and ends in April. One January in snowed pretty much every day and the city is windy in winter. When we lived in Boston, July was the only month we needed ac. The cooler weather has some advantages but it is way different than DC. To pretend otherwise is just silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again though- the weather seriously holds me back

Funny - the weather *here* held me back from moving here (although eventually I did). Summers are brutal.

I would take harsh winters and glorious summers (with easy access to ocean and lake beaches) over harsh summers and mild winters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston is on average 6 degrees cooler than DC every month of the year. I don't consider that to be "much colder." The average high in July in DC is 87...in Boston it is 82. And having lived in both places it doesn't feel "nuts".

Not PP but I agree with them. Lived in Boston for six years as an adult. Winter starts in Boston in October and ends in April. One January in snowed pretty much every day and the city is windy in winter. When we lived in Boston, July was the only month we needed ac. The cooler weather has some advantages but it is way different than DC. To pretend otherwise is just silly.

+1 what sucks about winter in Boston is that it is unrelenting for months. In DC there will be days in Jan. in the 50s, and Spring arrives in March-- that's just not true in Boston. (Leaving aside that in downtown Boston the wind off the water makes everything feel colder).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston is on average 6 degrees cooler than DC every month of the year. I don't consider that to be "much colder." The average high in July in DC is 87...in Boston it is 82. And having lived in both places it doesn't feel "nuts".

Not PP but I agree with them. Lived in Boston for six years as an adult. Winter starts in Boston in October and ends in April. One January in snowed pretty much every day and the city is windy in winter. When we lived in Boston, July was the only month we needed ac. The cooler weather has some advantages but it is way different than DC. To pretend otherwise is just silly.

+1 what sucks about winter in Boston is that it is unrelenting for months. In DC there will be days in Jan. in the 50s, and Spring arrives in March-- that's just not true in Boston. (Leaving aside that in downtown Boston the wind off the water makes everything feel colder).

I feel that way about the heat here. I start to dread it in April or so, and by June it is usually horrifying (to me), and unrelenting for months.

[Anonymous]

Agree. And to me the heat is worse.

There is no escaping the heat, with the cold, you have options.