Relocating from Rutherford, NJ to Boston, MA (Cambridge, Newton: days on market, renters)

[tysmith95]

Oh yah, I don't realize that no one mentioned swampscott. Swampscott is beautiful and would be a great choice for the OP.

[missionhill]

Amazing how good New Jersey is at the practical level of day to day needs— walkable communities, good transportation, good schools, culturally diverse, relatively affordable. From a drive along Route 3 or the Turnpike you wouldn’t expect to find anything livable right nearby but now we’re stretching to find something as workable for OP here in the Boston area. Most of the towns suggested are much more scenic, with more aesthetic variety, more beautiful natural assets than Rutherford or anywhere a stones throw from Giants Stadium but beauty doesn’t help you feed, clothe and house your family.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Amazing how good New Jersey is at the practical level of day to day needs— walkable communities, good transportation, good schools, culturally diverse, relatively affordable. From a drive along Route 3 or the Turnpike you wouldn’t expect to find anything livable right nearby but now we’re stretching to find something as workable for OP here in the Boston area. Most of the towns suggested are much more scenic, with more aesthetic variety, more beautiful natural assets than Rutherford or anywhere a stones throw from Giants Stadium but beauty doesn’t help you feed, clothe and house your family.

Interesting observation. I have a lot of family in northern NJ and have never found it particularly appealing aesthetically or in terms of infrastructure, on or off the highways (I do like the Princeton / West Windsor areas which are more central NJ, I guess). But from practical considerations maybe there's more to it!

[loveblumes]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

I think the problem with saying you need to walk to the commuter rail is that it brings your choices down to about 3% of the housing stock in any town that fits your other criteria of very good schools, 40 min commute, $800k price tag. I know your husband really likes walking to work, but in the grand scheme of things it seems like a highly negotiable detail that is pretty unimportant compared to very good schools, overall commute time and price.

We may just have to give up something. We're hoping if we try to buy during the winter months, maybe it gives us better odds. It took us 6 months to find our current home. We had the same criteria and 2 more: there needed to be 2 bedrooms downstairs and a good sized yard (few and far between here). I remember the second the home was listed, I called our agent and blurted, "This is the one, let's go now!" Living in a Residence Inn with a shepherd/husky mix was getting old, especially from a higher floor. Not to mention expensive, as our relo package for living accommodations ended 3 months prior. We were glad we waited to find "the one." I guess we never realized until now how spoiled we have been with lower housing costs, reliable public transportation and the proximity to NYC. Going from this to one of the most expensive cities in the US will require a lot of homework and some sacrifice. I am getting quite a bit of homework done on this forum, so thank you all for that.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Amazing how good New Jersey is at the practical level of day to day needs— walkable communities, good transportation, good schools, culturally diverse, relatively affordable. From a drive along Route 3 or the Turnpike you wouldn’t expect to find anything livable right nearby but now we’re stretching to find something as workable for OP here in the Boston area. Most of the towns suggested are much more scenic, with more aesthetic variety, more beautiful natural assets than Rutherford or anywhere a stones throw from Giants Stadium but beauty doesn’t help you feed, clothe and house your family.

NJ isn't really that affordable, at least in the area OP is from. I honestly have a hard time believing they can't find something workable in the Boston area.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by Dm84

NJ isn't really that affordable, at least in the area OP is from. I honestly have a hard time believing they can't find something workable in the Boston area.

Look at Zillow. It's affordable by Boston standards based on proximity, safety, and school rankings. You can find a liveable house for $400k.

[loveblumes]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Amazing how good New Jersey is at the practical level of day to day needs— walkable communities, good transportation, good schools, culturally diverse, relatively affordable. From a drive along Route 3 or the Turnpike you wouldn’t expect to find anything livable right nearby but now we’re stretching to find something as workable for OP here in the Boston area. Most of the towns suggested are much more scenic, with more aesthetic variety, more beautiful natural assets than Rutherford or anywhere a stones throw from Giants Stadium but beauty doesn’t help you feed, clothe and house your family.

Let's not forget a stones throw from NYC. Rutherford is a bit of an anomaly. The nearby surrounding towns with easy NYC access are not as desirable to raise a family nor have as much charm, in my opinion. However, venture a few miles out in North, Central or South Jersey and you're never far from a scenic drive and beautiful towns with historical charm or quaintness. Downtown Boston is beautiful, no doubt. We did not stay long enough to experience enough of the suburbs of Boston on our last trip but hope to do so again soon. We did stay at the Commonwealth and take the T (?) to North Station and enjoyed the surroundings and the food. Once we started exploring towns like Winchester, Wilmington, Malden Lexington, and Reading we starting wishing we could live closer to downtown Boston. We felt somewhat isolated and some of the train stops we nearly missed as they were less conspicuous than a bus stop. We are looking forward to checking out several of the towns mentioned on this thread as we never considered nor heard of many of them.

[loveblumes]

Originally Posted by Dm84

NJ isn't really that affordable, at least in the area OP is from. I honestly have a hard time believing they can't find something workable in the Boston area.

That's reassuring, thank you. I think now that we've upped our budget, it should make it much easier. I am prepared not to expect model homes, but neither is ours.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by mwj119

Look at Zillow. It's affordable by Boston standards based on proximity, safety, and school rankings. You can find a liveable house for $400k.

Have you looked at the property taxes, income tax and overall cost of living in NJ? The building density is much higher there too.

FWIW there are plenty of houses in MA for $400k that are liveable. No one in this forum wants to live in them, but they exist.

[loveblumes]

Originally Posted by Dm84

Have you looked at the property taxes, income tax and overall cost of living in NJ? The building density is much higher there too.

FWIW there are plenty of houses in MA for $400k that are liveable. No one in this forum wants to live in them, but they exist.

While I agree with you on both points, the challenge is finding a home meeting criteria important to us. We’re trying not to give up what we have grown to enjoy here. Houses in top school districts are at a premium here, also. We couldn’t afford to live in Princeton NJ with amazing schools for example, but we wouldn’t want to. We wanted to have an easy commute to the City. We discovered on our Boston trip that the homes in the top school districts were not very pretty, on or close to busy streets and not close to the commuter rail. Now these are only homes that were up to 600k. We didn’t like the lack of sidewalks and felt like we were in the sticks. In Rutherford today you could get a gorgeous home probably historic and renovated for that price. This wasn’t true when we bought in 2007 at the height of the bubble. So it was also like trying to find a needle in a haystack back then. The upside is it doesn’t look like Boston’s property values are going to deflate anytime soon. Our home’s market value has still not recovered what we paid. We’re finally getting close, but this is after 10 years.