From Indiana to New England...advice? (Boston, Worcester: real estate, houses, job market)

[INstix]

My husband and I are in our 40's with three children, 17, 11 and 8. We're thinking of a change and considering the New England area. I am an RN in critical care cardiopulmonary step down with 1 year experience and hubby is a network engineer with 24 years experience. We both work an hour away in Cincinnati, OH. Total we probably make about 108,000 a year.

We love to live in the country and have a 5 acre mini farm. Here's what I guess my family would be looking for. I don't know if anything in reality matches it in New England, but here goes:


I'd like to live in a semi-rural area with a little ground (maybe 2 acres?) outside a sort of touristy town that has lots of nice shops and a community feel. When I retire, I'd like to open an herbal and botanical shop and I'd need some tourist traffic to help that work. Anyway, we'd be happy with a three bedroom home, 2 bath with a basement. It would be delightful if we didn't have to drive an hour to get to good paying work anymore, as that gets to be a drag, but it's hard when you want to live in the country and have some space but still need to make decent money. I'm not sure what we could afford because I don't know what IT and nursing jobs pay in the New England area. I make 22 bucks an hour as a 1st year nurse right now, and it goes up by 3% each year. My husband makes about 66,000 a year. The job market for IT is pretty stagnant in our area, and my husband might be losing his job in the near future because the alliance of hospitals he works with is falling apart. Hence our looking in other areas of the country for better work possibilities.

I hear that electricity and heating is unbelievably expensive in the New England area, and we worry about that possibility. We're taking a 10 day vacation to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the surrounding areas in October, just to have some fun and scout everything out a bit.


Does anyone have any ideas? Is what I'm describing going to cost a mint? Thanks for any help you can give me...



Cara

[Hollytree]

You could do this in Rhode Island. Check out real estate in Foster, Glocester, and Exeter. I see 3/2 houses with several acres for under 300K. They won't be super close to the tourist areas because that would make such a house much more expensive- but if you could drive 20 mi. or so you'd be in a tourist area. Look on RILiving.com- under advanced search you can specify size of lot

[Wareagle39]

I have one word for you , MAINE

[lrfox]

Maine would be my bet too. I'd look at some town like Gray, Buxton, Scarborough, Falmouth, Gorham, or another just outside of Portland. It's far cheaper than what you'll find in most of Massachusetts, but it seems to have what you're looking for exactly. Seeing as it's Southern Maine, it's a lot less cold than the rest of the state too.

In Mass, the Northampton area might work for you. Northampton has an excellent downtown and land is cheaper out there than it is in Eastern Mass. IT's a great area.

I'd also look at Wareham or Carver. You can find a lot of room there for relatively cheap and you'll be close to downtown New Bedford which has a pretty good amount of tourist traffic to their National Historic Park. You're also right at the gateway to Cape Cod so you can easily open a business there.

In Rhode Island, North Kingstown or Middletown may work. These areas are close to Newport which is very popular.

In CT, I'd suggest the Mystic area. A lovely coastal spot with a high volume of tourism.

[Beachcomber4]

I would add Plymouth to the list. For nursing jobs, Jordan Hospital is in town, SS Hospital is just a few exits up in Weymouth and Boston is a possibility. Plymouth is a tourist destination to be sure. Wareham, Middleboro and Carver could also be considered. Middleboro and Carver are definate rural with lots of large lots with older homes. None are super close to a tourist area but close enough to the Cape and Plymouth (down route 44) to make them contenders.

[Lowerdeck]

I'm thinking perhaps somewhere west of Worcester for Mass. Worcester has a pretty big health care industry. IT is a little further towards 495. And then Sturbridge and Brimfield are out in the country, but have some of the touristy and niche shop environment. Not heavily touristy like towards the Cape or the Maine coast or Mystic. But something.

[litlux]

The Berkshires in Western Massachusetts have a thriving health care industry, is very rural, and border on the farms of upstate New York and southern Vermont. There are mountains, too, a nice change from the Indiana flatlands. I think both the rural folk of Indiana and the Berkshires are a lot alike in terms of being down to earth, friendly but not suffocating with a lot of tolerance for others.

Of course there are exceptions to what I just wrote as well. There are tech jobs here, too and though the unemployment is a problem here, some skills are in great demand, so with advanced skills, you might just find the right slots.

Lots of culture too, as well as nature everywhere.

[ScituateAl]

I'm in agreement with Irfox & litlix on a couple of points. Having grown up in the Berkshires (Berkshire county; the western-most county in MA), the geography is lovely but job market has never been great. Yes, there are hospitals and some high-tech/defense industry centered around Pittsfield, but the sheer number of these jobs is scarce. Good odds your hubby would have to trek out to the Albany area for work (about an hour on the highway...not so fun in winter).

I would recommend the I-91 corridor north of Springfield in the Pioneer Valley to live. Northampton is the 'capital' of the area and very very pricey due to its being a college town (along with Amherst to the east). So, skip that and choose from one of the many farming communities that surround it. The area is politically liberal, highly educated, and in general would be receptive to your business plan.

Springfield, which perhaps peaked 50 years ago as a city is a healthcare center for the area. I know of several family members and friends who needed care at Bay State not available in the Berkshires.

For your hubby, the Enfield/Windsor/Bloomfield/Hartford area is chock-full of IT jobs according to the sites I browse. The commute down from MA in to CT gets more difficult the closer one gets to Hartford....so something in the Pioneer Valley may not be ideal; but it is what I know.

As I have posted to others on similar relo postings, check out the state of MA 'Commonwealth Communities' to get a sense of each town - and keep asking away on the boards.

There have been several news stories about elec prices coming down, so that should be less of a concern. Our smallish home is about $85/mo on average, I believe (though we are gas stove, gas water heater, and oil heat). Heat is expensive because New England has the highest concentration of oil usage and we've been knocked around a bit with oil the past few years. Our oil has been running about $1600-1800 for the season. We have about 1300sq and keep it comfortable (68 during day, low 60s at night). Gas likewise has it's peaks and troughs. That said, my assumption is that Indiana winters are more brutal than those in southern or coastal New England...so while the price may be high to heat, we may use it less that you're used to (??)

[brightdoglover]

If you work in critical care in downtown Boston, you will make a shockingly high salary over Indiana! Pay goes down outside the city, but the big hospitals really pay and have alternative schedules (3 12-hour shifts, etc.)
I'm not sure where you could get the space you want and still get to a good job. I agree that you might do well to live in southern Maine or southern NH, especially if you were working 3 12's- a longer commute, far less often than a regular week.
I think a lot of jobs for husband would be around Burlington/Bedford/or even Cambridge.
Regarding heat/electric, I don't think it's so bad. I have 1250sq.ft. house with (too many) big windows and high ceilings and heat with natural gas (available in most towns). My monthly bill in January/Feb. is about $250, and much lower other months. I use the central a/c liberally (can't stand humidity) and my monthly electric bill hasn't been above $110 in hot summer, way less otherwise.
Don't know about oil heat. The natural gas people have been offering a good deal on an almost-free furnace and hookup if you want to convert from oil to natural gas. A lot of more rural homes use propane, not oil.
Best wishes on your move- I think you can find what you want and enjoy it very much.

[brightdoglover]

Add: Do remember that everything looks gorgeous in October! Even the crumbling cottage in the woods I bought on Columbus Day looked pretty chipper. (Now I have a gorgeous rebuild on the same spot, but the crumbler did look "charming" with the autumn colors. I guess I was gonna buy that property no matter what!)
Providence, RI, has some neat urban stuff, if you wanted to live outside/accessible to that. You can even take Amtrak to downtown Boston, about an hour, and then go on to a downtown job. I still vote for a downtown Boston RN job. Brigham pays over $100K, MGH in the same territory. With critical care experience...
I don't know about husband's job prospects in RI.