Is Boston still feasible for families? (Springfield, Newton: condo, houses, employment)

[asdfTT123]

Hi all,

My family and I are considering looking into Boston as a potential location for our next move. I work in health care, and would be looking to start fellowship at the various HMS associated hospitals (BWH, MGH, BIDMC) and would need to have a reasonable commute time to these locations. My wife works in finance and we will have to kids around age of 6 months and 4 years by the time we consider moving. Our biggest priorities are safety, good child care/preschools (would consider private school if even affordable), affordable housing (would ideally looking to buy, can see us budgeting maybe 750k, but it's a stretch), and general ease of living for a young family while also ideally having some city life amenities. We understand Boston is way up there now with COL and families are fleeing. Given our situation, would this even be viable to consider or should we consider moving elsewhere?

Thanks!

[bjimmy24]

I think you need another reason for wanting Boston specifically other than just wanting to move somewhere for the sake of it. Family? Friends? Some other connection? 700k doesn't get you much at all unless you want to live further out, which I don't know why you'd want to do and deal with insane traffic or the T for hours a day. Especially with no real connection here that could help motivate you to put up with some of the headaches.

[asdfTT123]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I think you need another reason for wanting Boston specifically other than just wanting to move somewhere for the sake of it. Family? Friends? Some other connection? 700k doesn't get you much at all unless you want to live further out, which I don't know why you'd want to do and deal with insane traffic or the T for hours a day. Especially with no real connection here that could help motivate you to put up with some of the headaches.

No real connection, though the employment opportunities for my partner may be a plus. For me, it would really be for the quality of training and opportunities at the HMS hospitals, which are a draw.

[BosYuppie]

Basically, no, you can't have good schools, a good commute and general ease of living plus city life amenities for $750k. I could only see it working if you find good jobs outside the city as well with free parking. Or ditch your cars and raise your housing budget.

If you just need a change, I would really look at other metro areas with better cost of living and weather. Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Austin, Maryland, places like that.

[bitesize]

The amount of bad advice on here is astounding. You can live comfortably in Boston proper with a $750K budget. I recommend targeting West Roxbury for around $650K or so and using the difference to send your eldest to parochial school. If you're lucky they'll get into an exam school, and if not by that point you can revisit living in Boston proper (though they probably would get into an exam school. They're really not that hard to get into).

The main thing you'll need to understand is that your house will not be particularly huge or renovated for $750K, depending on the size of the house. If you're willing to live in a condo (the above advice assumed a single family) you could live in Newton or even Brookline, though there will likely be some sacrifices.

[MikePRU]

It seems to me there's an important bit of information that's being left out:

What kind of home do you expect to live in for $750K?

If you're happy to live in a two bedroom condo that's under 1500 sq feet that opens up a lot of possibilities. If you're looking for "city living" then your budget is going to have to grow quite a bit to get a 4,000 sq foot new construction single family house (not saying this is what you want just highlighting the different ends of the housing spectrum).

[asdfTT123]

Thanks for the suggestions and opinions. For us, a condo would be perfectly fine. Ideally 3 br 1500 sq ft with a parking spot if that's doable (perhaps asking for too much with the parking spot?). We're prioritizing location (easier commute, closer to kid friendly amenities) over a huge single family home.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by bitesize

The amount of bad advice on here is astounding. You can live comfortably in Boston proper with a $750K budget. I recommend targeting West Roxbury for around $650K or so and using the difference to send your eldest to parochial school. If you're lucky they'll get into an exam school, and if not by that point you can revisit living in Boston proper (though they probably would get into an exam school. They're really not that hard to get into).

The main thing you'll need to understand is that your house will not be particularly huge or renovated for $750K, depending on the size of the house. If you're willing to live in a condo (the above advice assumed a single family) you could live in Newton or even Brookline, though there will likely be some sacrifices.

This is the worst take on the thread so far imo.

Very few choices. There just aren't that many properties out there that fit the bill.

[BostonBornMassMade]

no. moving to Boston would make little sense.

Maybe move to a urban suburb just outside of the city and you can use their public schools and not shell out extra money in Boston. Aside from that its just not a family friendly area-Inner/Urban Boston Metro. Poor traffic, not that many kids, stratospheric COL, old houses and schools, and a small middle class.

[darkone]

Move to Providence, Hartford, Springfield metro areas instead.