Family of 5 want to relocate to the Boston area (Cambridge: fit in, subletting)

[mishka3749]

My husband and I are looking to relocate someone near Boston as we both will be working in Boston. We need an area that is safe and close to the T. Good schools as well as we have 3 children. Right now our maximum monthly rent can only be about $1200. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[bonmo]

Where will you be working? That would give me a better idea of where to tell you to live. Also are you looking for an apartment, condo or house? How far are you willing to commute?

Cambridge seems to be generally a good place for families. Watertown, and Arlington are nice, safe little communities it seems for families too. I'm not sure about the school systems there, but the towns seem safe, with a lot of families living near-by. Arlington and Watertown are pretty close to Boston, and if you needed to you could take a bus/train into town. Plus there are a lot of cute little homes, with a little more space and a little cheaper then in-town or closer to town. Plus you could have a car there too, without worrying too much about it.

Good luck!

[eevee]

umm, that's tough. for most of the Boston/Cambridge area, $1200 could get you a smaller/older 2 bedroom. in Boston, you're highly unlikely to find rent that cheap outside questionable areas like Roxbury and Mattapan (and I've seen 2 bedrooms priced above $1200 even in places like Mattapan and Roxbury!).

also, for the most part, Boston Public Schools bite. they aren't horrible, but they need improvement, especially the high schools ( I honestly can't think of a single decent BPS that isn't a charter school or exam school. and by decent I mean low dropout rate, decent test scores, and no recent reports of guns/drugs found on the property).

another point is that the closer you are to the T (which I assume you mean the subway, though I think of the T as the whole system, buses and all) the more expensive apartments tend to be. living on a bus line can reduce rent

sorry, don't mean to come off pesstimistic (just came back from work), but a may be a bit of a tall order in Boston. you may be able to find places in some parts of Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, or Medford (esp. Malden, which is the cheapest of these 4), but you'd still be hard pressed to find anything bigger than a 2 bedroom in any of these locations. also, check out East Boston, Lynn, Revere, and Winthrop. the first 3 aren't the safest areas in/around Boston, but they are up and coming and some parts are close to the blue line and cheaper than most of Boston. Winthrop is nice and fairly safe, but is right next door to Logan airport, so if you're noise sensitive, I wouldn't move there. there are also some places south of Boston that may work, like Quincy and Braintree (both near the red line).

[charolastra00]

I'm going to have to go with eevee on the price. Over the summer, I was paying $800 a month before utilities for a TEENY room in a townhouse where the bill was split by size of the room (my flatmate had the larger room and was paying over $1000)- we were subletting but we were just paying to our subletters what they pay when they split the bill as it was recommended by their landlord. Granted, this was Cambridge which can be a bit pricer, but for an older apartment that was small, older-ish, had no air conditioning, and was 15 minutes from the subway, it was still cheaper than anything else I could find.

Not to be a total Debbie Downer, but even my exboyfriend who lived in a frankly scary neighborhood right by the Heath Street projects was paying more than that on his apartment combined with his roommate. It wasn't bad for a transitional adult but not somewhere to raise kids.

[lz1982]

Agreeing with above posters--paying $1200 for a three bedroom apartment, decent area or not, would not be possible anywhere close to the city. Maybe in a suburb though. I don't think Arlington or Watertown would have 3 beds in that price--2 beds maybe.

[findingmesomeday]

How many kids can you fit into one bedroom and how far outside of Boston are you willing to go?

You *might* find a nice 2 bedroom condo or apt in a safe neighborhood in Needham, Westwood, etc., (near the commuter rail) but I doubt you'll get closer in than that.

[lz1982]

You can probably find a 2 bedroom for $1200 in Malden or East Somerville, but the neighborhood might not be the greatest.