Some patience please...yet more questions about moving to Boston! (Newton: homes, public schools)
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Mich14, thank you so much for the detailed post! Very helpful indeed. We also have ADT here! But they are a lot more expensive here. You have no idea how much I would love to live somewhere where I can say I hardly worry about crime... We all have 8 foot walls and electric fences around our houses.
As you surmise, at this stage no idea where we will be working. We'll try to get my husband a job before we arrive, but I'm planning on not working for at least a few months to settle the kids down properly, organise all the stuff for the house etc. I also don't want to get too hung up about living somewhere most convenient to one particular job, I'd prefer somewhere generally convenient to most things so we know we can be settled for a long while. The kids will be disrupted enough moving halfway around the world and I don't want to end up if possible in a situation where we have to move again anytime soon.
I would ideally like to use public transport for work (I can't stand traffic) - would it generally be safe walking around central Boston to the T and from a T stop home after dark? A quick search on current jobs available for my husband throws up places like Lynn (can't remember the others off the top of my head), I'm guessing he would have to drive?
Your post also reminded me of another cost question I have a query about, I can't seem to find much about chars (not sure if that is the term used there, I may have been searching for the wrong term). If we want to get someone in one or two days a week for cleaning/washing/ironing, what could we typically expect to pay?
Lynn is all the way on the coast north of Boston, which wouldn't be an ideal commute from Newton or Brookline (Melrose would be easier to commute to Lynn from). Companies on the 95 corridor would be easier to get to.
If you are living in Newton or Brookline, a lot of homes may not be within walking distance to the T. If they are, I would never worry about safety (just common sense like don't walk with ear phones on, be aware of your surroundings). I also have worked and gone to school in Boston for 10 years and have never felt unsafe walking alone at night as long as you stay in a well lit area and also exercise common sense (I am a woman). There are a few areas in downtown Boston I would avoid at night, but generally before 8 pm you don't have anything to worry about.
I've never heard of "char" but I think you mean cleaning lady or housekeeper? My friends w/ cleaning ladies pay between $60-100 per visit. Most have a cleaning lady come once every week/every other week while they are at work and she will spend a couple hours cleaning the house. I don't think they commonly do laundry though, but I'm sure you could negotiate it. You could also look for a mother's helper or something like that who could help with light housekeeping and errands while you are home. My guess is that would be around $15 an hour. Craigslist or Care.com is a good place to find someone, just be sure to check references.
Wild Colonial Girl is generally correct that it is a good idea to consider the location of your workplace when choosing a place to live. The commute can be long and nerve-wracking if you make the wrong choice about a location to live in as it relates to the workplace location. If you're using public transit, very often it does help to live along the same transit line that serves your workplace, but this varies depending on the particular situation. Best to check maps, look at transit schedules, and check back here with questions on how convenient to your workplace specific locations would be.
Regarding schools, Brookline's schools are generally highly regarded, but I wouldn't say that Arlington's and Watertown's schools are usually viewed as being among the very best. Wild Colonial, if you had the impression that this was the case with schools in Arlington or Watertown, maybe it's because you've seen them suggested a number of times in threads started by people whose housing budgets didn't fit with the really expensive towns but who still wanted schools that were at least good and solid. Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Lincoln, Lexington, Wayland, and Concord are at least a few of the towns that come to mind when the schools held in highest regard in the Boston metro area are mentioned. There are others, and there are also plenty of towns where the schools are very good, even if not generally regarded as being among the elite.
To respond to the question about hidden costs, some of the hidden costs that come to mind involve transportation. For example, commuter rail lines are an asset to the area because they extend public transit to many localities well out into the suburbs, but the commuter rail fares are also higher than the fares for the T either within Boston city proper or the closer suburbs. When driving, a cost that can add up, depending on where you drive and how often, is tolls. The Mass. Turnpike, which is the largest east-west road through the Boston area, is a toll road, and there are several bridges and tunnels in Boston that have tolls.
Hidden transportation costs can show up in other ways. For example, Brookline prohibits overnight parking on the street, so if you own a car and you're renting in Brookline, you have to either pay extra for a private parking space or rent a place that has off-street parking, which usually adds to the cost of the rent.
So, in various ways, transportation costs can add to your overall expenses more than you might realize when making initial calculation about costs of living in the Boston area.
Very good post; BTW, I would also add Belmont to those towns with excellent schools; Belmont also has good buslines which will take you to either the Red Line ( Harvard) or the commuter rail heading into North Station..
I should also point out that Newon has several Green lines running right through it, which will take you to Fenway/kenmore/downtown Boston, so don't discount living there, especially with its good schools; housing in Newton and Brookline will be expensive, though..
Ok, this is going to sound like a REALLY dumb question, but please remember I'm in a completely different country...a lot of people on these boards talk about "expensive" housing. What is considered expensive? I mean, I know there are $6m houses out there but is say $1m considered expensive? just trying to gauge what people mean when they say that!
Yes, $1m is expensive. Have you discovered Trulia or Zillow yet? You should start browsing there to get an idea of the market and trends and simply what is possible and what isn't IYKWIM.
You would also call a char a maid, I think (and that's not what you or I think when we hear maid). One company is called Molly maid, they might be able to give you a quote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ogre
Regarding schools, Brookline's schools are generally highly regarded, but I wouldn't say that Arlington's and Watertown's schools are usually viewed as being among the very best. Wild Colonial, if you had the impression that this was the case with schools in Arlington or Watertown, maybe it's because you've seen them suggested a number of times in threads started by people whose housing budgets didn't fit with the really expensive towns but who still wanted schools that were at least good and solid.
Yes, from here and also from people working where my husband will be working, so there's a bias towards the areas close to or on the right T line for there.
Ok, this is going to sound like a REALLY dumb question, but please remember I'm in a completely different country...a lot of people on these boards talk about "expensive" housing. What is considered expensive? I mean, I know there are $6m houses out there but is say $1m considered expensive? just trying to gauge what people mean when they say that!
Really, it depends on frame of reference.
For example, in much of the midwest, you can find very average houses for 100-150,000. In Indianapolis, the average home price is $125,000.
On the other hand, in the city of San Francisco, 1,000,000 is average. Still expensive though . Neither here nor there, but the extreme prices in San Francisco, and the rest of the bay, lead to housing booms through out the California Central Valley - and people were commuting 100 miles+, one way, for work to pursue affordable housing.
The median house price in Boston, as of 2011, is $330,000.
Yes, $1m is expensive. Have you discovered Trulia or Zillow yet? You should start browsing there to get an idea of the market and trends and simply what is possible and what isn't IYKWIM.
You would also call a char a maid, I think (and that's not what you or I think when we hear maid). One company is called Molly maid, they might be able to give you a quote.
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Thanks. I have been browsing a bunch of real estate sites and found plenty in our price range, but was starting to worry I had found all the worst houses in the towns . Our range will probably be $1-upper 1s depending on what the exchange rate is when we move. We've been lucky with the property market here and the plan is just to put our proceeds from our house here, into buying one there.
My advice is to stop looking in your price range, and just look at everything. It gives you a better feel for the area, the market, the architecture, etc.
Atheneum, I'm not quite sure how to read your housing price range you wrote. If you're saying you'd be looking in the 1 millions (not sure whether I'm reading that correctly), I would agree with Wold Colonial Girl on looking below your range as long as the town has what you want. The median in many nice middle-class suburbs of Boston would be in the 500k-600k range, a bit lower in several other very nice towns. It's only in a few of the very most expensive suburbs where the median reaches or exceeds a million. Actually, with the drop in housing prices in the past few years, I believe that the last info I read a couple of months ago showed only two Boston suburbs with median property costs above a million.
Ogre, yes you are reading correctly. For what we are looking for (4 beds, pref 3000 sq ft or larger) I haven't been able to find much under $1m in the areas we are looking at. In any case, it will probably make more sense to rent for a year or so and get a better idea of the areas before we commit to buying. Rental houses don't seem so easy to find, especially in Brookline, though. Not sure a condo will work for us as we will bringing at least one cat with - are many condos, especially rentals, pet-friendly?
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. Neither here nor there, but the extreme prices in San Francisco, and the rest of the bay, lead to housing booms through out the California Central Valley - and people were commuting 100 miles+, one way, for work to pursue affordable housing.
. Our range will probably be $1-upper 1s depending on what the exchange rate is when we move. We've been lucky with the property market here and the plan is just to put our proceeds from our house here, into buying one there.
