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I'm a 25 year old, single, male from England who may have the opportunity to relocate to Boston. I'm currently awaiting response from my perspective employer after I mentioned a proposed salary.
Just wondered if you could help in giving me any information on living in Boston from first hand experience. I've looked on various websites and it seems like I'll have to pay between $1000 - $1500 / month on rent alone. The job is situated downtown and I very much doubt I'll have a car so it looks like public transport will be my route to get to/from work. After looking at the various neighbourhoods there are a few that seem a good choice for me these being Back Bay, Beacon Hill, or Fenway/Kenmore. Anyone tell me a bit moire about them.
Anyway just after any information at all be it general, transport, places to go, things to do and the important one what the nightlife is like. Anyway hope to hear from some of you soon.
One good thing regarding Boston is even if you live outside the city there is good transportation into downtown. You could check out Roslindale, and West Roxbury. I think Beacon Hill may be expensive. You also could check out Weymouth, and Braintree.
I lived right in Boston for 15 years. You're going to really enjoy it. You'll be able to find an apartment in the range of 1000 to 1500. I think you'd really like being right in South Boston on the Eastside. It's near Castle Island, a beautiful beach to walk, the MBTA "T" bus line runs through here and it's so convenient that you can walk home from Boston's Financial District on warm spring, summer or autumn days in a 1/2 hour may be less. The reason why it only takes you a half hour is because it's only 2 miles away from the Financial District and that's it. I did this walk quite a bit through the years, it's awesome. It's a wonderful area of Boston to live in when you're working hard at the office in downtown Boston! There's no stress at all living close to where you work, if there's snowstorms and you have to leave the office buildings at noontime or during the day due to a snowstorm? You'll be the first one home 9 times out of 10, you're the first one in the office in the morning usually too because you'll live so close. You won't have to worry about getting stranded waiting for hours at the commuter rail at North or South Station. It's an ideal community for your age group because there's all kinds of people your age living there now and it's filled with fun places, you know the usual pubs, clubs and things going on like that, all around the neighborhood for you, look for them on East Broadway or West Broadway, you can't miss them! If you wanted to get in to the Back Bay end of Boston or the Quincy Market area of Boston for the night, it's only a hop, skip and a jump back in to downtown. Either walk or take the bus in to town. The Boston Athletic Club is located right at 653 Summer St: A short hop from South Station, this converted warehouse may be the largest health club in town, certainly one of the most serious. Despite (or maybe because of) its strong commitment to "whole body fitness"--body and mind--it's a friendly place where people come to meet others, as well as better themselves. The BAC offers the latest and most specialized workout equipment, as well as free weights, exercise classes, personal training, sauna, steam room, whirlpool and lap pool. The club also features a host of athletic activities--tennis, basketball, racquetball, handball, squash--some with league play or partner-matching.
The L Street Bathhouse is another great place, it's located right on Columbia Rd. along the beach in Southie. Actually it's on William J. Day Blvd. It's a Gym and it's got showers and workout equipment.
If you're interested in living here, check out apartments on this site removed I saw a few on the Eastside in your price range. They're near the beach like I said, and the MBTA "T" bus system runs right through here. You could pick it up on one of the many streets right in to downtown Boston, which is only 2 miles away. A lot of condos and apartments are here recently renovated with upscale kitchens and baths, you'll be quite happy when you take a look at some of them.
Good luck and enjoy living in Boston, you're going to love it!
Sorry for pushing the neighborhood of Southie on you, I just reread my post and realized it was kind of pushy of me to do that where you already kind of narrowed down your neighborhoods where you think you might want to live, didn't you! Terribly sorry for that! Well you can still take a peek any way to see what you think about that neighborhood. I was on this particular site just now: www.BOSTON.com and I happened to find this stunning apartment in the Back Bay that you might be interested in pursuing. As soon as I saw it I reread your message here and thought right away that I better let you know about it! Go to the Boston dot com site and click on real estate, then rental and you'll see the areas, then put in Back Bay and you'll get the list of apartments and condos all for rent there. This one is just lovely, I'd like it myself. It's list ID #105C1A for $1500 a month, I love the kitchen and entry way of it! If you wanted to be right in the heart of the Back Bay? Then this is IT! It's ideal for getting to the office every day right from this location. This particular site Boston dot com has over 194 apartments listed on it for Beacon Hill as well, just by clicking on Real Estate then Rent and you plug in the area you'd be interested in living in that way. I just did this and a huge amount of apartments pulled out.
As another suggestion? Your head will be spinning by the time you read all of my ideas for where to live in our lovely City of Boston, do forgive me! Another really good site is this particular one: www.northendboston.com then click on experience living and
there's a list of real estate and rental agencies on this site, you can just go through them to see if there's any place appealing to you. For instance I clicked on Fiorelli Realty and when it popped up I clicked on Apartments and the listing of them came right up. They were pretty reasonable and in great areas because I recognized all the streets they were on, the North End is very safe to live in and you definitely wouldn't need a car here at all, you could just walk right in to downtown Boston from here in no time. It's even closer than Southie! I didn't see any apartments that jumped out at me in the neighborhood of Charlestown (that's where I'm from originally!) there were a few, but I didn't like the streets they were on at all. I think you might prefer either the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, even the North End which I know you'd just love this location or the neighborhood of Southie which is only 2 miles from the Financial District. I definitely think you'd like any of these areas to live in. You just have to know the good streets within each neighborhood to live on that's all, as far as well, nice ones, you know what I mean? Like anywhere else, although I have to tell you, there's a lot of renovation going on these days in the City of Boston, in fact I have friends that are very busy as contractors and they're doing up a lot of these older brick row houses and townhouses left and right all over the whole City, so I really don't think you're going to have any problems finding a nice place. I just think you should try to get as close to the downtown area of Boston as you can, and when you're living here for one winter season you'll thank me for it, you'll be SO glad you're living so close to where you work! If you end up on Beacon Hill, then may be you could try to get something if you can find it right near Louisberg Square, it's like the high end area, you know what I mean! If it says it's steps away from it though? Make sure you go right to this apartment and see for yourself, don't go by what they say over the phone or online at all. That goes for any of these apartments. Take a look at them. May be you can get a short term apartment or hotel room and take your time when you're actually over here to spend time finding a great apartment and getting settled in it. Again, Good Luck, you're going to love living in Boston!
Well wow thanks alot Citygirl that there is alot of info. Don't worry about trying to force me to live there ha ha! No its all helpful thanks I only mentioned those particular places as I found them while searching on the internet but I guess you can't beat 1st hand experience. I'll be honest the option of walking to work is very appealing as a] I've never had the opportunity for that over her and b] I'll be hoest I kind of hate public transport!!
Thanks for the info on gym's aswell I'll definately be signing up to one as soon as I'm settled, I'm thinking I'll need it with the size of portions over there. I'll be honest I'm a sucker for good food and theres definately a fat person inside me trying to get out so I'll be having to work extra hard to keep the stomach firm! I'll certainly be looking at the sites you mentioned to get a feel for things but I definately will be finding a short-term lease or hotel on arrival so I can get a personal feel for places.
Well just sat patiently waiting for a reply on my last email about the job so keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll soon be packing up my worldly belongings and flying off to Boston.
Firstly, best of luck with your job offer & obtaining the highest salary! As a younger man, you'll probably want to be close to the city to take advantage of nightlife (bands/clubs/nicer pubs) & weekend/afterwork activities? A previous poster mentioned Weymouth/Braintree & although lovely, family-oriented areas, they are suburbs of Boston & commuting into Boston via "T" (MBTA - our public transportation system) will become tiresome very quickly everytime you want to go out with friends or to/from work in the wind/cold/snow, unless you live walking distance from the redline trains. Lovely places to raise a family & I feel you'd need a car as stores/restaurants are more spread out.
Also recommended was W. Roxbury, which has a very diverse community & housing (again a daily bus & train commute into Boston, on the orange-line, the least desirable due to crime) with some lovely family-oriented areas with single-family homes, areas with $150K+ 1/bed-1/bath condos (VERY reasonable by Boston standards) & even projects. Some areas have more crime/noise. There are a smattering of ethnic restaurants with a modest foreign population (mainly Middle Easterners/Africans) & more of a local pub/take-out food scene. Friends who've lived there for a few years didn't particularly enjoy it, even though they were in a mid-range neighborhood close to the Dedham border (an upper-middle-class suburb). Seems, as single 30-something's, everything they needed was in Boston anyway, so they were always driving into town.
Beacon Hill is a quaint, small section of downtown Boston, but extraordinarily expensive rents & you'll have a tough time finding/affording rentals, unless you choose to have several roommates. Don't let the lovely pics of old brick buildings fool you in Beacon Hill, So. End or Fenway. That one pic of the cobblestone street grabs everyone's heart. It's one of the few cobblestone streets in Boston. Tourists seem to think they're everywhere. Many interiors are poorly maintained by landlords (friends of mine had mice in their $2K/mo, 2/b-1/b Beacon Hill apt), particularly as Boston has a huge student influx in & out of Boston from year to year, so the incentive isn't there to fix up. Students, it appears, will tolerate any condition, as long as it's close to classes/nightlife.
Back Bay is a lovely, clean, safe area, near Copley Sq., in the middle of a great more mid to high-end nightlife/shops/very upscale malls. It's an exclusive area (fur shops & designer shops/spas/hairshops saturate the area). Many financial-district working couples who live there are buying condos in areas a few miles away (So. Boston/So. End, in particular), for more of a sense of community (many tourists frequent the area in upscale hotels) & as it's more affordable. Rents would be $1,500/mo minimum, if you're lucky.
Although Fenway/Kenmore have many bars/clubs/restaurants, mainly low to mid-range, it's saturated with students/noise/crime/limited parking. Rents would be $1K-1,500/mo. Most have roommates. Also, consider checking out Brighton (students/families mix, lower rents (again which is $1K-1500K/mo range), decent % of Irish/Brazilian/Hispanic population/restaurants/pubs, bit noiser/relatively safe in better sections). Stay away from the Allston end. It's fun for nightlife but higher rents/crime/noise.
I agree with the previous poster Re: S. Boston. I've lived in SB off & on for 20-yrs. You can find reasonable rents (for Boston), some in the $1K range, but do stay on the east side as she suggested. The city's seperated by W. & E. Broadway, so make sure you're place is off E. Bd'way. And the city is a grid ("A"-"P" Sts in 1 direction, 1st-9th in the other). There's difinitive sections, low-income projects with noise/some crime, many wooden 3-deckers, brick 3-floor units & even single-family homes. Mansions (where politicians/dr's live) or condo-converted mansions are near the beach. The whole area has very limited street parking - now resident parking, meaning if you don't live here, you can't park for more than 2-hrs or overnight. I know you don't have a car, but visiting guests might. Lots of emmegrated Irish here, so the pubs/restaurants reflect this & a new influx of immegrants from Africa/So. America. Relatively safe area, close to everthing, everyone's blocks from the beach, with or without a car. Not quiet (planes, traffic) & not the friendliest, however, but you'll never worry about high crime.
Best of luck to you, enjoy Boston & I hope it offers you everything you need in this next exciting step in your journey!
Thanks Baltic_Celt thats given me alot to look at.
Well no news on the job front yet, starting to get a little aprehensive now. Just want to know either way as all I can think about at the moment is a new life in Boston. I'll keep you posted.
Ha ha, no don't worry about that been over there enough times to get used to tipping. Although I think I start to get far too generous after a few beers you could say that alcohol turns me into a Bartenders dream!!
Ha ha, no don't worry about that been over there enough times to get used to tipping. Although I think I start to get far too generous after a few beers you could say that alcohol turns me into a Bartenders dream!!
Ben -
Alcohol turns anyone/anything into a "dream"! Keep us posted on the job front...
Cheers, then... Baltic_Celt
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Boston neighborhoods...
Keep us posted on the job front...
