Los Angeles, CA to Masachusetts? or other Northeast states? (Boston: transplants, rent)

[robr2]

I'll reply in terms of your job. I too am a sales rep and cover all of New England. I am based just outside of Rt. 128 and can reach the far edges of my entire territory in about 3 hours:

Fairfield County, CT
Portland, ME
Burlington, VT
Cape Cod, MA
Providence, RI.

Boston is only 30 minutes away.

Providence is a great little city but IMHO, it can be a pain for a sales rep that covers the entire New England area.

[logix1229]

Originally Posted by robr2

I'll reply in terms of your job. I too am a sales rep and cover all of New England. I am based just outside of Rt. 128 and can reach the far edges of my entire territory in about 3 hours:

Fairfield County, CT
Portland, ME
Burlington, VT
Cape Cod, MA
Providence, RI.

Boston is only 30 minutes away.

Providence is a great little city but IMHO, it can be a pain for a sales rep that covers the entire New England area.

Great input! Thank you.

Since you and I work in sales covering relatively the same area. Where would you recommend living? I'll be traveling for work most of the time and probably doing overnights multiples a week at hotels.

Is there a central location you'd recommend? Also would be nice if it had nice restaurants and activities to enjoy while I'm actually "home" on my days off/weekend, etc.

[GeoffD]

Lowell springs to mind as the biggest Asian community outside of the Boston 128 belt but it's largely Cambodian and other Southeast Asian. With your rent requirement, you're priced out of anywhere inside the Boston 495 belt that isn't a really sketchy place to live. At $1,000/month, you're also mostly priced out of Lowell other than a small 1 bedroom.

The rental housing stock in New England is mostly quite old. At that price point, you're going to see a lot of units that won't be in great condition.

Coming from LA, you won't be tuned in to energy costs in the Northeast. Heat is expensive. You need to understand what the heating source is in the apartment and if you're the one paying for it. In low end rentals, you're also not likely to see many in the older buildings with air conditioning.

Where you locate with a regional sales job partly depends on where the accounts are. If it's largely southern New England, Providence wouldn't be a bad choice.

[rethcir]

Definitely check out Portland, ME and Portsmouth, NH, two vibrant cities with culture nightlife and a high standard of living, not all that distant from Boston if you ever want to head in. Burlington VT is further out but really nice as well (closer to Montreal which is cool too of course)

[logix1229]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Lowell springs to mind as the biggest Asian community outside of the Boston 128 belt but it's largely Cambodian and other Southeast Asian. With your rent requirement, you're priced out of anywhere inside the Boston 495 belt that isn't a really sketchy place to live. At $1,000/month, you're also mostly priced out of Lowell other than a small 1 bedroom.

The rental housing stock in New England is mostly quite old. At that price point, you're going to see a lot of units that won't be in great condition.

Coming from LA, you won't be tuned in to energy costs in the Northeast. Heat is expensive. You need to understand what the heating source is in the apartment and if you're the one paying for it. In low end rentals, you're also not likely to see many in the older buildings with air conditioning.

Where you locate with a regional sales job partly depends on where the accounts are. If it's largely southern New England, Providence wouldn't be a bad choice.

Originally Posted by rethcir

Definitely check out Portland, ME and Portsmouth, NH, two vibrant cities with culture nightlife and a high standard of living, not all that distant from Boston if you ever want to head in. Burlington VT is further out but really nice as well (closer to Montreal which is cool too of course)

Thanks!

I'm not quite sure where most of my accounts will be so once I figure that out, i'll narrow down where I'll live. Based on all the replies, I'm going to up the rent budget to 1500-1800? I'm not trying to over 2000 if possible. Reason being is because I know i'll be traveling alot during the week and probably be living out of a suitcase during the week.

Will be home on the weekends but really want to be near the city of areas with lots of activities so I don't have to drive far to get to where i want to go. (i'll be driving enough as it is during the week).

Which part of the new england region gets the LEAST amount of snow...or maybe a better question would be which parts of that region are least cold? haha. I love the winter season but let's be real, my winters here in California are nothing in comparison to winters on the east cost.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by logix1229

Which part of the new england region gets the LEAST amount of snow...or maybe a better question would be which parts of that region are least cold? haha. I love the winter season but let's be real, my winters here in California are nothing in comparison to winters on the east cost.

There isin't a huge difference between the weather received in different parts of New England. However Providence or Southern Connecticut receive the smallest amount of snow and most interior cities receive larger amounts of snow. Cities like Worcester or Lowell receive more snow than costal cities like Providence or Boston.

[bostonguy1960]

Do you wish to rent a 1 BR in an actual house? Is a modern yuppie apartment more desirable? There are a few townhouses here and there but not as prevalent as regular apartments. A friend years ago would only rent an apartment in a house, never an anonymous apartment building.

Are you okay with an older home or apartment, as long as it's not rundown?

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Quincy, Massachusetts, for apartments. Sure, a poster above doesn't care for it, calling it dingy and dusty. Some people find it too white trashy. Yes, parts of it are a bit rundown bit it's certainly on the rise, so close to downtown, has a beach or two while being near the Blue Hills for recreation...never mind its "City of Presidents" nickname. I've never felt unsafe. Yes, John Adams and John Quincy Adams were born here, and you can take a trolley tour of historical sites scattered around town, especially popular since David McCullough's HBO "1776" series years ago.

It's just over the bridge from a section of Boston called Dorchester; this section in fine and quite safe.

Plenty of Chinese folks living in Quincy for over 20 years now...almost a majority it may seen, depending which section. Lots of Asian-owned restaurants and shops. Rents have certainly increased in the 11 years I've been here. There are many yuppie buildings, many either walking distance to the subway or via bus to the subway -- I know you want to be near town on weekends. With rideshare, it's $13 from the Theatre District to N. Quincy without traffic, maybe $20 in a cab...more expensive if you're riding farther to Quincy Center.

Malden also has many Chinese residents amongst its mix, and it's also close to downtown Boston. You'll see many people reading a Chinese newspaper on the subway, just like in Quincy.

I'm not sure if you prefer to live near all types of Asians or if you identify more with Chinese, Japanese, Korean or another specific group. You mentioned you're Asian but didn't identify which group...not sure if it matters to you or others. Just curious...

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

There isin't a huge difference between the weather received in different parts of New England. However Providence or Southern Connecticut receive the smallest amount of snow and most interior cities receive larger amounts of snow. Cities like Worcester or Lowell receive more snow than costal cities like Providence or Boston.

Coastal southern New England gets half the snow of 50 miles inland on average. Chunks of metro-west out to western Massachusetts and the northern parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island see around 60" with Worcester 64" because the airport is on the top of a hill. Lowell is probably 50-something inches. The shore in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and out to Cape Cod is all low 30 inches. North of Cape Cod, the water temperature is colder so it gets a bit more snow than the southern coastal sections. Providence gets more snow than, say, Newport but it might be 40" versus 60" for the interior. Those are long term averages. You can also have years with next to no snow and other years with double that.

The ocean also moderates temperatures in the summer.

For somebody with a regional sales job who has limited snow driving experience, plan to buy snow tires. If you're an apartment dweller with nowhere to store them, the Nokian WRG2 is the best winter performance all season tire on the market. You can leave those on the car year-round.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by rethcir

Definitely check out Portland, ME and Portsmouth, NH, two vibrant cities with culture nightlife and a high standard of living, not all that distant from Boston if you ever want to head in. Burlington VT is further out but really nice as well (closer to Montreal which is cool too of course)

I lived in Portsmouth for a decade. It's probably out of his price range but is a great place to live. There's no state income tax so he'd have to do the math to see how well that offsets higher rents. I went to college in Burlington. Their winter would be a very major adjustment for someone from LA. January with the wind off the lake is pretty brutal. You'll get a week or two most winters where it never gets above zero. Portland is pretty remote for a drive-to sales job covering all of New England. Those are also three of the whitest places in the United States. They're sophisticated-affluent-liberal places where race doesn't matter to most people but OP isn't going to find much of an Asian community in any of those.

[bostonguy1960]

Not all of New England may be Asian-friendly, but I'm not sure.

There are certainly parts which are not diverse or as highly educated as metro Boston or metro Providence.

You may live in a friendly town, but will some of your leads take you to homogenized white America with pockets with little contact with different types of folks?