Brainstorming an idea!

[BostonMike7]

OP, what you seek definitely exists in the area, the main question is income and expected lifestyle.


For instance, what sort of home do you expect to live in here? A 1100 SF ranch with 2 bedrooms on 5000 sf plot? Or a 3400 sf, 4-BR colonial on a 1/2 acre plot? $500K in a lot of nicer towns gets you a house that needs work in a lot of cases. It just all depends on your expectation.


I'm an engineer in the area with a salary similar to your husband. My wife and I have 2 kids currently, and a 3rd on the way and our home is about $500K that we put 20% down on. We don't live a fancy lifestyle at all, but I'd be very nervous/worried if my wife decided to leave her career and we tried to live on just mine alone. I'm sure we could do it, but it also depends on MANY other factors to take into consideration, like assets, investments, current debt-load, etc. You also have to take into consideration our expected lifestyle, and what we would, or would not be willing to give up to thrive on ~$100K.


What sort of mortgage and utility expenses can you afford? Taxes, and utilities vary widely in the area. For example, in my town, my quarterly water bill for 4 people is $90-100. In the next town over where my friends live, their quarterly bill is $900. Oil heat is still prevalent in the area in my areas (because natural gas piping doesn't exist) and if fuel prices spike again, that could be an expensive way to heat your home.


So the main question here is how much can you reasonably afford to dedicate to mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, etc, and what sort of house, community, area do you expect to live in for that much?

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by Kate7776

-We currently don't have another source of income. We have a 500K house that still has a mortgage. I think we will end up with keeping only 100K after selling the house and paying back the loan.

-I am not interested in Boston necessarily. I like to be in MA though and as close to Boston as possible. I can't tolerate traffic in Boston if it is similar to LA. I am not an LA person.

-We would consider renting a house for the first 2-3 years before finding the area in which we would want to buy (/mortgage) a house. we would like to keep the rent between 2-3K.

-Public transport is not a concern. We have our own cars.

I am looking for the best education (we can afford) for my kids. A good neighborhood with a convenient proximity to a good library, a nice zoo, beautiful gardens, nice parks, science centers, Aquariums, If top universities are close by that would be an added bonus, because then my kids can benefit from quality summer camps and everything that those universities contribute to the society. I heard that schools in MA are highly ranked in US. But if we can't afford to live in MA I am willing to look at other states in East coast and would appreciate if you tell me which areas offer great schools.

Thank you for being honest. I hope my answers can give you a more clear image of our situation. Please fell free to ask any other questions that might help.

I still don't think we have enough information to give meaningful advice. L.A. has the worst traffic I've ever experienced. But Boston traffic is still bad. Without knowing where your husband would be working, we're just blindly throwing darts at a board.

You can have your own cars and still view public transportation as a desirable attribute. But I take it from your answer that you don't care about it, and won't use the train even if it is nearby. Places without a train station and without T access cost less than those that do have them. So in that sense, you're lucky because that's one thing you can easily give up.

The Boston area does have a couple universities that have some renown and people seem to think are pretty good. And yes, there are some incredible summer camps available in this area (although they tend to come with a pretty high price tag.)

"Other states on the east coast" is a pretty big alternative. The biggest bargain in the northeast is the Philadelphia area. But if there aren't employment prospects for your husband in the Philly area, then that's irrelevant.

I think the best we can give you is that what you seek is possible in the Boston area, depending upon what you want in a house, and where you need to commute to. I think all you can do is keep it on the list and when employment prospects come up, investigate the specific areas to see if the available housing and commute work for you. What you want is possible in many areas of the east coast, but until you have a real job prospect, it's impossible to say that a particular place will definitively work for you.

[Cloudship]

Originally Posted by Kate7776

-Public transport is not a concern. We have our own cars.

Keep in mind New England is very different from other parts of the country, especially when it comes to roads and driving. It's not just traffic - you deal with narrow highways, bad weather, and an amazing inability to get from point a to point b in a straight line or even using just one road. Public transportation here is not about enablement, it is about convenience. Driving into Boston is a royal pain in the you-know-what, so if you want to be going into the city regularly either for work or for pleasure, being close to at least the commuter line is probably a big deal. And also a big factor in prices.

I think the combination you are looking for - really high quality schools and easy access to museums and summer programs unfortunately is also going to demand the highest priced neighborhoods. I also, quite frankly, think you might find that the community in those, well, communities might not be so familly oriented.

I would spend some serious time thinking about what is more of a priority for yourself. You can find great schools with more affordable housing costs, but that will mean living further out in Central Mass where visits to Boston are something you do on a monthly or even couple of months basis. If you are more concerned with job availability and the museums and such, with a limited budget you are going to probably have to take a little hit on the schools, OR go with a small fixer-upper.

[Kate7776]

Originally Posted by alidmc

Has your husband found potential employers, or does he have the opportunity to relocate with his current employer? Once you have some idea of where he will be working, we can suggest some surrounding towns that may work for you.

Since he works for the Oil industry, no, he does not have the opportunity to relocate with his current employer. And the reason I opened this thread before he starts job hunting, was that I wanted to make sure we can afford that area. For example before we moved to CA we knew we could not afford to live in LA or SF metro area and my husband never applied for the jobs there and then rejected the offer to move to his current company's LA branch. We assume he might get the same salary or a little higher if he gets a job offer in East coast. I don't want my family to only "survive"! with kids its hard to skip some life activities only because you chose the wrong place to live.

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

What sort of mortgage and utility expenses can you afford?

We've paid between 2500-3500/month mortgage in the past few years, And I think we can do about the same in future as well. Water and electricity is very high here in CA, I don't think it can go higher in MA our monthly water bill is between 60-110 and our electricity varies between 200-400/month throughout the year, and we managed to pay that too

I definitely look for a small house not a big one. We are not after a fancy life either, only a decent one, in a nice family oriented neighborhood where I feel that I am belong and get the sense of living in a community. the thing I miss a lot here.

Originally Posted by alidmc

You can have your own cars and still view public transportation as a desirable attribute. But I take it from your answer that you don't care about it, and won't use the train even if it is nearby.

Exactly

Originally Posted by alidmc

I think the best we can give you is that what you seek is possible in the Boston area, depending upon what you want in a house, and where you need to commute to. I think all you can do is keep it on the list and when employment prospects come up, investigate the specific areas to see if the available housing and commute work for you. What you want is possible in many areas of the east coast, but until you have a real job prospect, it's impossible to say that a particular place will definitively work for you.

That's nice to know. Thank you!

I still have not asked this question that has been whirling in my mind...
How are the people out there? Will they accept strangers? Are they easy to make friend with? Open to diversity?

[Kate7776]

Originally Posted by Cloudship

I think the combination you are looking for - really high quality schools and easy access to museums and summer programs unfortunately is also going to demand the highest priced neighborhoods. I also, quite frankly, think you might find that the community in those, well, communities might not be so familly oriented.

I would spend some serious time thinking about what is more of a priority for yourself. You can find great schools with more affordable housing costs, but that will mean living further out in Central Mass where visits to Boston are something you do on a monthly or even couple of months basis. If you are more concerned with job availability and the museums and such, with a limited budget you are going to probably have to take a little hit on the schools, OR go with a small fixer-upper.

Thank you for shedding some light on what is really a very complicated subject

[10Evergreen22]

We are also in the long process moving to MA from out of state and so far from our house hunting journeys to and from MA we have found the people to be quite nice. There are jerks everywhere but MA does not seem to have an overload of them. I think you will do just fine, and having children in the school system will enhance your opportunities to meet people.

[Kate7776]

Originally Posted by 10Evergreen22

We are also in the long process moving to MA from out of state and so far from our house hunting journeys to and from MA we have found the people to be quite nice. There are jerks everywhere but MA does not seem to have an overload of them. I think you will do just fine, and having children in the school system will enhance your opportunities to meet people.

Thank you for sharing your experience