Moving (married no kids) - suggest a non-suburb neighborhood for us! (Boston: real estate, rental market)

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Is Arlington a "non-suburb"?

Good point. Suburb-non- suburb distinction is cloudy here. OP likes Brookline which famously remained a suburban town when others around it joined up with Boston. Newton is very suburban. But places like Newton, Arlington, Belmont, and others built up before the automobile age so they're inherently more dense and walkable than most suburbs outside 128.

[chicagoliz]

I do think Brookline would be ideal if you can find something in your price range. JP and Roslindale could work, too. I don't think Arlington is optimal given the commute to Natick. Parts of Newton are quite urban and might work well.

Eons ago, when we were in law school at BU, we considered living in Newton. It was slightly cheaper and bigger than what we found closer to BU. We ended up in Brookline and it was awesome, and this was quite a few years ago. But I think Newton is still worth a look. The commute to Natick would be pretty good -- probably the best of the lot, and parts would give plenty of walkability, along with the ability to take the T into Brookline and Boston.

[enfinity]

Thank you everybody for the quick responses! Allow me to clarify and put some follow-up questions here:

Although my wife did LOVE Brookline, I quickly did some research and found out how expensive it was. She had a very positive gut reaction to Brookline but she is quite reasonable (a positive for our marriage of course, haha) and it's not like she's dead set on that area. She's fine with living in a multitude of other places.

The reason I suggested other locations like Brighton and Newton is because my job is in Natick/Framingham, and from looking at a map and some initial conversations with coworkers in that area, an ideal commute would be for me to take I-90 West or Boylston St (the #9) West in the mornings to get to work. If I'm not mistaken, this would be a reverse commute and not traffic insanity like the other way around.

I admittedly didn't even look at places like Arlington, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, Cambridge, etc., because I'm a Boston noob and i'm not sure what that entails in terms of adding to my commute. I'm not opposed by any means, I just don't know. This is exactly why I came here for your guys' expertise!

To clarify the "non-suburb" comment... we had an airBNB in Framingham to scout the city out, and my wife was surprised by how far everything was. She was a little scared of the idea of being completely isolated without a car. Maybe one day we'll love that scenario, but for now she likes the idea of not having a car and walking to fun spots. Again, the walk can be 10-15 minutes (not right outside our door). Framingham didn't even have sidewalks for walking in most spots, it's that car-centric in our experience.

My wife does plan to work again eventually but she's taking a year off of her career when we move for a possible career transition. Since we're only looking for a year rental before buying, the scenario is that she will not be working the entire time that we live in the apartment. Also, no kids are happening within that year, so I have zero concerns at this point about how good schools are, kid-friendly places, etc.

Other questions:
- How much is parking per month for those places where off-street parking is tougher to find? (i.e. Brookline)
- Is the pet situation REALLY going to screw us over, since someone mentioned that landlords can refuse to rent?

[chicagoliz]

I don't think it's worth looking at Arlington and Cambridge, given your commute to Natick. It's do-able, but I think it's adding unnecessary time when you could get something in Newton or maybe Waltham. (Also, you could consider Watertown.)

Your reverse commute will be better than the regular commute, but it will still be a rush-hour commute. I'm in Newton and if I want to drive out to Natick, I do prefer to wait until 9 or so. But not because it is so horrendous. Just if I don't have a time frame where I must be there early, I'll wait until there is less traffic. Reverse commute is better but not nothing.

When we lived in Brookline years ago, we did have a dog. This was an individual landlord who owned a few apartments, and didn't have a hard and fast rule. There are definitely complexes that allow dogs, although they tend to be more expensive. I just don't know right now how landlords are in the rental market with respect to dogs.


Just checked your profile -- you're right in Center City right now? Yeah, you don't want Framingham. You really want Brookline, although rents are much more expensive than they are in Philly.

[enfinity]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Just checked your profile -- you're right in Center City right now? Yeah, you don't want Framingham. You really want Brookline, although rents are much more expensive than they are in Philly.

Haha yes I'm right smack dab in the middle of center city now. Actually my wife complains it's TOO urban, so she wants a little more green. Then she saw the suburbs and said that's way TOO green and isolated, haha.

Something in the middle, where there's fun stuff to do that's close by but you can still have a feeling of green spaces would be nice. But I guess a lot of people are looking for that, hence why those neighborhoods tend to be pricey.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by enfinity

- Is the pet situation REALLY going to screw us over, since someone mentioned that landlords can refuse to rent?

It's is going to significantly reduce your options, but it's not impossible.

[yaeger07]

When I lived in Brookline a few years ago it cost $150/month to rent a parking spot. I'd guess it's at least $200 now. You may have to walk a bit to get to your spot, too, depending on where you live.

[yaeger07]

Also may all posters who want to move to Boston and have questions take a lesson from OP. Good amount of detail, he came back to the conversation, showed some gratitude, and asked reasonable questions!

[495neighbor]

I'm tossing in as another suggestion the area around Wellesley Square up into Wellesley Hills. There are quite a few nice apartments along the main roads and around the Linden Square area. Car free wife could walk to two grocery stores, a very nice library, Peet's Coffee, yoga studios, green walking spaces around the horticulture society and Wellesley College. Two train stops for trips into Boston too.

[Brave Stranger]

Difficult situation with pets. I own rental property right outside of Boston & i will not allow any pets. Tenants promise you the world about how their pets are not a problem, but from my prior experience it's just how much damage the pet does to the property & how it can be fixed. Happened almost every time until I had enough.

I'm sure there are responsible pet owners out there, but it's not worth the trouble, at least for me. I'm not surprised that most landlords have just walked away from dealing with the issue.....especially in a hot real estate market like this.