To move from NJ to MA or not to move

[GeoffD]

I don't quite understand the Monday thru Thursday commute thing. Is that getting on an airplane?

One option to think about is the New Hampshire seacoast and the north shore Massachusetts coastal towns like Newburyport. I lived a decade in Portsmouth, NH and had a ton of business travel. Logan Airport access is pretty good. You have a couple of delays at the traffic light on Route 1 and the traffic lights/rotary on 1A but it's a deterministic drive with some alternate routes if there is a problem on Route 1. You also have quick access to Manchester, NH as a regional airport depending on where you are going. I-95 from New Hampshire towards Boston is a great road until it hits 128 where the world ends. It really depends on where these client sites are.

I don't understand why anyone would willingly pick the metro-Boston inland/metro-west suburbs unless it was right next to their office. It's New Jersey v2.0 with all the same congestion problems and enormous housing costs.

[johngolf]

If the OP does not have to commute to downtown Boston everyday and he has clients to visit around greater Boston then living out around I495 (in any direction) would work. Home prices will be more reasonable. The commute to Boston is doable and one could travel around I495 to visit clients.

My suggestion to all newcomers is they rent for a year. Allows you to concern yourself with work. See if the new job is going to work out plus you can explore the area and find where you would want to buy. Might cost a bit more but I suggest the OP initially look to rent where there is a direct T or train line stop for ease of commute to Boston. With one infant, schools are not of interest.

You will be much more savvy about the new job and the area after a year. Then decide if you want to put down roots.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I don't quite understand the Monday thru Thursday commute thing. Is that getting on an airplane?

One option to think about is the New Hampshire seacoast and the north shore Massachusetts coastal towns like Newburyport. I lived a decade in Portsmouth, NH and had a ton of business travel. Logan Airport access is pretty good. You have a couple of delays at the traffic light on Route 1 and the traffic lights/rotary on 1A but it's a deterministic drive with some alternate routes if there is a problem on Route 1. You also have quick access to Manchester, NH as a regional airport depending on where you are going. I-95 from New Hampshire towards Boston is a great road until it hits 128 where the world ends. It really depends on where these client sites are.

I don't understand why anyone would willingly pick the metro-Boston inland/metro-west suburbs unless it was right next to their office. It's New Jersey v2.0 with all the same congestion problems and enormous housing costs.

Not really, I don't think Metrowest feels like NJ at all with the exception of a couple "out of the way" towns like Essex Fells or Demarest. In general NJ feels closer to the suburbs south of Boston, from Norwood down to Plainville.

[mdc12]

I agree with renting for a year. I didn't do that when I moved to Boston because we ended up finding a house we liked in Wellesley (and wellesley made the most sense for us for a variety of reasons - we just weren't sure we could afford it). If we didn't find the house in wellesley we wanted, we would have rented.