Newcomer negotiating Salary, wish to live in Brookline. (Boston, Palmer: schools, living)

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by BaustinTejas

The supposed gains of an intellectual or liberal area to be had if any I found are minimal (I am pretty liberal) and I found myself completely unimpressed in the week I spent there. In Houston, I am already surrounded by top Cancer researchers in the country with actual hands-on evidence of success. I felt that I was being talked up by unhappy snake oil salesman the entire time I was there.

A lot of this is too ridiculous to bother responding to. It sounds like you got cold feet due to the COL (and possibly the prospect of uprooting your family which is understandable) and then overreacted to everything in order to justify the decision to yourself. Enjoy Houston.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

I don't think that was the implication. The logic chain is:

rich people are happy in greater Boston AND you have to be rich to live in newton => people in Newton are happy

Exactly.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

I don't think that was the implication. The logic chain is:

rich people are happy in greater Boston AND you have to be rich to live in newton => people in Newton are happy

There are towns that are just as expensive or more than Newton. Yes, it is undeniably true that houses cost a lot in Newton, but not everyone in Newton is rich. Interestingly, the vast majority of the friends my children have made are definitely not rich.

[BaustinTejas]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

A lot of this is too ridiculous to bother responding to. It sounds like you got cold feet due to the COL (and possibly the prospect of uprooting your family which is understandable) and then overreacted to everything in order to justify the decision to yourself. Enjoy Houston.

It was a complete cognitive decision. The drastic decrease in quality of life was far too much. The only overreaction involved is people justifying the costs as it was a completely acceptable thing to do.

[BaustinTejas]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

I am very glad that you told us the outcome, so thank you for that. It sounds like you are happy in Houston and have found an area that suits you. I think you're being a little hard on Boston, though. My husband and I are very happy here and I love being in an intellectual/liberal area, because the area where we moved from was not at all that way.

I don't think people are generally unhappy here, but you are correct that the housing prices are a genuine area of concern. I have a hard time picturing "unhappy snake oil salesman" as trying to get you here with some kind of deception. I think there are a sufficient number of people who are happy to locate here and that Boston has enough to offer that they don't have to lie.

It's certainly not for everyone, and MA is different from TX. You probably made a good decision.

I think you will find many people that are happy there with families have reaped the rewards of capital gains simply by living in the area. Some are rightfully eager to regain losses from the housing crisis of 2008. For newcomers with families in tow it seems a bit outrageous and the defense of such things comes off very snake oil salesman like. It's a typical old money vs new money argument that is going on elsewhere in the country.

I honestly thought a liberal area with a proactive government would remedy these things in obnoxious and blatant fashion with all sorts of programs to create new housing and satisfy demand. It does not seem to be the case whatsoever. At best I saw that bike lanes were basically the primary remedy enacted by the government to alleviate population congestion. I paid very close attention to a lot of these factors and to be honest I was outright disgusted. This is coming from someone who has witnessed a redneck fistfight in a TX City Council, at least that government paid off our utility district bonds.

I don't think I'm being hard on Boston whatsoever and I think that mindset directly allows your government to screw things up. If you want an example, look at the IndyCar race that never happened. Of course TX has many problems too, it is polluted as heck and Good Ol' boys (aka idiots) run many municipalities. However, at least I can put some of my money towards fighting those issues or I can build a private high walled Estate to insulate myself. In your area, just surviving would take up the most of my concerns

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

There are towns that are just as expensive or more than Newton. Yes, it is undeniably true that houses cost a lot in Newton, but not everyone in Newton is rich. Interestingly, the vast majority of the friends my children have made are definitely not rich.

I think the basic idea is that the set of people who live in Newton (which I suspect as chosen because YOU live there, but could have been Belmont or Lexington or Weston, etc) is going to feel differently about COL than the set of people who feel priced out of Newton. By my definition of rich (can live off passive income) only a small fraction of Newton is rich, but it's worth recognizing it's also not particularly representative. Someone with one ordinary job may live in Newton, burn they aren't buying a SFH there today.

[alidmc]

Originally Posted by BaustinTejas

I think you will find many people that are happy there with families have reaped the rewards of capital gains simply by living in the area. Some are rightfully eager to regain losses from the housing crisis of 2008. For newcomers with families in tow it seems a bit outrageous and the defense of such things comes off very snake oil salesman like. It's a typical old money vs new money argument that is going on elsewhere in the country.

I honestly thought a liberal area with a proactive government would remedy these things in obnoxious and blatant fashion with all sorts of programs to create new housing and satisfy demand. It does not seem to be the case whatsoever. At best I saw that bike lanes were basically the primary remedy enacted by the government to alleviate population congestion. I paid very close attention to a lot of these factors and to be honest I was outright disgusted. This is coming from someone who has witnessed a redneck fistfight in a TX City Council, at least that government paid off our utility district bonds.

I don't think I'm being hard on Boston whatsoever and I think that mindset directly allows your government to screw things up. If you want an example, look at the IndyCar race that never happened. Of course TX has many problems too, it is polluted as heck and Good Ol' boys (aka idiots) run many municipalities. However, at least I can put some of my money towards fighting those issues or I can build a private high walled Estate to insulate myself. In your area, just surviving would take up the most of my concerns

Many of us on this board try to warn people of the COL as best as we possibly can. It doesn't mean that families who move here won't be happy here, so I don't want to scare too many people off. I am glad that you reached a decision that was right for you and your family. You did come on here and say that you wanted to live in Newton or Brookline, two of the most expensive towns in Mass. If you are truly serious about moving here, you have to have some flexibility.

Massachusetts is much smaller than Texas. There is simply no place to build tons of new housing or infrastructure. While you weren't directly comparing the two, you really need to consider the scale of Boston and Massachusetts in general. I am not defending the government by any means, but as much as people here complain about the costs, I know very few people who would support development on a very large scale. The only place to build is up.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by BaustinTejas

I think you will find many people that are happy there with families have reaped the rewards of capital gains simply by living in the area. Some are rightfully eager to regain losses from the housing crisis of 2008. For newcomers with families in tow it seems a bit outrageous and the defense of such things comes off very snake oil salesman like. It's a typical old money vs new money argument that is going on elsewhere in the country.

I honestly thought a liberal area with a proactive government would remedy these things in obnoxious and blatant fashion with all sorts of programs to create new housing and satisfy demand. It does not seem to be the case whatsoever. At best I saw that bike lanes were basically the primary remedy enacted by the government to alleviate population congestion. I paid very close attention to a lot of these factors and to be honest I was outright disgusted. This is coming from someone who has witnessed a redneck fistfight in a TX City Council, at least that government paid off our utility district bonds.

I don't think I'm being hard on Boston whatsoever and I think that mindset directly allows your government to screw things up. If you want an example, look at the IndyCar race that never happened. Of course TX has many problems too, it is polluted as heck and Good Ol' boys (aka idiots) run many municipalities. However, at least I can put some of my money towards fighting those issues or I can build a private high walled Estate to insulate myself. In your area, just surviving would take up the most of my concerns

There are plenty of families who have moved from elsewhere.

The thing is, MA is liberal by U.S. standards, but in the grand scheme of things, we aren't that liberal as a whole. Even in the reddest of red states and in the bluest of blue, there are at least 40% of the people who voted the other way. We still don't have the mindset of a truly progressive and liberal society so you're not going to see governmental programs that are so radically different from those in the rest of the country.

It is a perfectly rational and valid decision that you and your family would be happier staying in Texas and that the higher COL wouldn't justify the move. I simply don't agree that we have a "snake oil salesman" mentality here that tries to induce people to move here.

[timberline742]

Someone would rather be in Houston than Boston? I smell a troll, but whatever.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Someone would rather be in Houston than Boston? I smell a troll, but whatever.

LOL...nah, I'm sure such people do exist