Contemplating a Move, Advice Appreciated! (Boston, Waltham: cheap apartment, rentals, how much)

[SassyKitten]

Hi, I'm tossing up between Boston and a few other places to move to this coming January. I have an Associate's Degree in Business, and I am doing a distance program through one of my local universities in order to finish my Bachelor's in Accounting. After which I plan on sitting for the CPA exams, therefore being able to land some sort of work in a CPA firm, whether it's as soon as I arrive or within a year, would be extremely advantageous for me. As for the basics:

Rentals:

I'll probably be doing what I am doing right now, that is renting someone's spare room. I have 2 cats with me, and I do appreciate having enough space in the living room to do my yoga DVDs. That said, are my cats going to present a problem when it comes to me renting? How much would I expect to pay for the living standard I described? How many months' rent would I normally need to move into a new place? And are there any parts of town I should avoid?

Food:

I'm not a gourmet snob, but I'm not the type to skimp on added expenses of eating healthy either. That said, how much would my weekly grocery bill probably run?

My Car:

Is public transport sufficient enough in Boston for me to not need a car?

Jobs:

Arriving with an Associate's, what kind of jobs could I expect to land and what would the pay be like? If I can't get work in a CPA firm immediately, how is the temp agancy environment in Boston? And any other knowledge, especially that particular to my field, is appreciated.



Thanks for any and all advice you can give me,
Mia

[ogre]

I'll offer some thoughts on those questions of yours that I can answer to some degree. I can't help with information about jobs, because I'm unfamiliar with your field.

Rentals: If I'm reading correctly, it sounds as if you are renting a room inside someone's house. If that's correct, the rents for a similar arrangement in the Boston area might start at about 700/mo., can be more in a nice place, and might be 100 or so less in an older house in a neighborhood well out away from downtown, or in the suburbs. You might also look into sharing rentals with roommates. You may be able to pay your share for one room in a rented house for about the same as you'd pay for a room in the owner's private house, and often may find that you have more the run of the house, because some landlords restrict tenants' use of the common areas of the house when it's the landlord's own house where the landlord lives.

You should plan on having three months of rent ready to pay when you move in. Lanlords usually want the first and last months' rents up front, and many want a security deposit, which can be as much as another month's rent.

The cats could limit your options. I'm not going to say that there will be no landlords anywhere who will accept pets, just that you're likely to find substantially fewer properties to choose from than you would without pets. I've never tried to rent with pets, but I've heard that some landlords who won't accept large pets will accept smaller pets, so you may have more options with two cats than you would with a large dog, but you'll still probably find fewer possibilities than you would without pets.

Neighborhoods to stay away from: It would be easier to make suggestions with some info from you about what kind of neighborhood you are looking for. Do you want to be right in Boston, or would a location near public transit in the suburbs work? Are you looking for a young professionals kind of area, a student neighborhood, or more of a quiet family nieghborhood? This kind of information would help narrow the possibilities, which would be good, because there are too many neighborhoods in Boston and its suburbs to make out a list of all the bad areas, without starting with a shorter list of neighborhoods that would fit what you're looking for.

Need for a car: Assuming you don't plan to take lots of trips out to the countryside, you can get along well going car-free in much of Boston and its inner suburbs. A few neighborhoods here and there are out of reach of public transit, but for the most part Boston is well covered by transit. The one point to keep in mind is that the transit system shuts down officially at 1AM, and the last run at most stops will be more like 12:30ish, so the good coverage by public transit in Boston won't work for you if you need to get around very late at night.

Groceries: I think groceries generally cost about the same in Boston as in most cities, maybe toward the high end of the usual range of costs. It's difficult to estimate a budget for you since no one here knows your eating habits. About how much have you been spending on food?

[jayangel]

Rentals: I'm moving to Boston area from out of state (FL) in Dec and I'm finding that without a job already lined up, most places want you to have at least 2x the annual rent in savings. I have 2 cats also and I'm finding there's an extra monthy charge (pet rent) as well. I've been looking at complexes though, so you may not encounter that with the type of rentals you're looking for, but it's something to think about.

Jobs: I'll also have a business degree when I move, I went up to visit last month and had a couple of interviews with some staffing agencies. For you, I would suggest Accountemps, they seem like they would be able to find something that would work for you!
Accountemps - Home

[MassTwingles]

FWIW, my friend just got her Masters in accounting and is having a difficult time finding a job. YMMV.

[jayangel]

Originally Posted by MassTwingles

FWIW, my friend just got her Masters in accounting and is having a difficult time finding a job. YMMV.

Yeah, that's the one case where having a higher level degree works to your disadvantage. Masters degrees demand higher salaries, which firms are unwilling or unable to shell out right now. I don't think the OP would have as much trouble as firms would more likely be willing to pay for an Associates degree type salary.

[howdydoody342]

agree, and for those suggesting staffing agencies, Accountemps may work but companies are looking for people with experience, they arent going to take entry level accountings with only associates degrees with no actual experience. It sucks but thats the way it is. No to mention that Boston has a HUGE competition pool considering the tons of people going to school up their and comming out with degrees. So experience is what is going to set you apart.

[ogre]

Something I should make clear about the approximate rents I discussed in the earlier post is that those are the lowest rents that are typical for this type of rental. Some will be more expensive. The number of options you can find toward the low end of the range will depend on how flexible you are about where you live.

[SassyKitten]

Hi, OP here again, and thanks so much for the replies.

As of right now, I'm from the south and living in Georgia and itching to get out. I'm not on the same wavelength as people here at all, so it's best for me to find somewhere where a bleeding-heart liberal heathen like myself can be happy!

My 3 year plan involves finishing out my Bachelor's, sitting for my CPA exams, and saving money to go to Europe to do my Master's degree. I was initially considering moving to New York but have thought it to be worthwhile to investigate a few different places where I can save money efficiently and enjoy life along the way.

I would be sharing with roommates, definitely. I am almost 30 and childless, so not really looking for a family-oriented neighborhood, I'd describe myself more as a 21st Century hippie.

As far as jobs go, if I have to start out in a temp agency or even as a cocktail server in a club(though that one just at the beginning), so be it. I've heard of AccountTemps as well as Randstad, and figure that temp assignments are a good way of going on to something more permanent. In order to get my CPA license, I have to pass all 4 parts of the exam, as well as have at least 1 year of work experience doing primarily audit/attest services. If I don't have that permanent job until I have my Bachelor's(December 2011, or May 2012 worst case scenario), that's fine, it will probably take me 2 years to save the money to go overseas for grad school anyway.

That does give Boston a few bonus points that I can get rid of my car and still have a lower cost of living, but we'll see. Thanks again!

Mia

[charolastra00]

Just my 2 cents as someone also from Georgia who is moving back up to Boston (Waltham) in a few days.

Finding an apartment share long distance is HARD. It took me 2 weeks of nonstop calling realtors, networking with friends there (just graduated from college), emailing EVERYONE on Craigslist, and spamming my college classified boards to find something. Boston rentals pretty much live and die by September 1st so it would probably be helpful to try to move sometime around then.

The cats make it more difficult as well. I am moving with my cat and found that a surprising amount of landlords allow NO pets. It's very different from Georgia where most of my friends have at least one or two cats and often a dog or two thrown in the mix as well. It's a very different landscape in Boston. That's not to say that there aren't cat friendly apartments, just that it's much more difficult. Also be prepared to spend up to $30 per cat a month in a pet charge.

I lucked out with a cheap apartment at $600 a month that I can walk to work from. However, it will be about $150-$200 a month in utilities for half of the year. With cheaper apartments, you tend to be in older homes that might be drafty or have old windows. Also, you tend to find cheaper heating systems which costs you a lot more. Oil heat is the worst- while apartment hunting, I noticed several ads that expected their 4 bedroom apartment/townhouse to use $1000 of heating oil PER PERSON for the winter. It's not something that you are at all aware of in the South. Also keep in mind that there is rarely central air so you will have window units.

Not trying to scare you off, you just need to be aware. I moved back to Georgia for the cheaper cost of living after graduation a few months ago and found the Atlanta market to be completely trashed. Boston still seems to have much more opportunities than Atlanta, even with the economy so miserable. Good luck!