American citizen in Africa thinking of moving to Boston (Cambridge: apartments, rentals)

[JohnyWonder101]

Hello, this is going to be long so bear with me.

I am a 28 yr old American who has spent most of his life in Gabon and Congo in Africa. My father moved to Gabon when i was born and he opened a business and he stayed here and then we moved our business to the Congo about 11 years ago.

I am now married and i have a 2 yr old daughter. And my family is not happy here, there is nothing for them to do here so we took a decision that we are moving to the states. There is no school system so education is pretty much non-existent in the Congo.

I have been doing a lot of research and reading here on CD and there are a lot of cities we can move to, we have so many options. So i would like to get some opinions from residents of cities like Seattle, Atlanta, Boston and Austin.

We will be renting for a couple of years before we buy a house whereever we move to. We can pay rent up to $1500/month.

The main reason we are making this big move is for our daughter, so she can get a proper education and a decent life. My wife and i like to go out a lot, and we are well travelled people, we have been all around the world and we think the USA is our best option for our daughter and her future.

The weather here in the Congo is like tropical weather, it rains for 6 months and its dry for the other six. And when i say rain i mean heavy forest rain so we are used to rain. We like cold and rain with some sun not year round, we have been living in sunny and hot weather for a long time and we dont like it.We dont mind snow.

We would preferably like to stay in a suburb of a large city. We will be buying a car and public transport is important too. We will be putting ur daughter in a private school when that time comes.

We visited the states many times but we have only been to Toledo-Ohio, Detroit, Chicago, Phoenix and Vegas. And we didnt think we could stay there for a long time in any of the cities (except Chicago).

We like ethnic restaurants, movies, sports. I am a big sports fan, especially European soccer and the NBA. We dont care much about outdoors, maybe go to the park once a week, but we dont care about skiing or hiking or biking.

So of these 4 cities(Austin, Boston, Seattle, and Atanta)and the info i have giving you, which city do you think fits us best?

I know this was a long read but i hope you guys help us like you have helped so many people on here im sure.

Thanks,

Johny

[snatale1]

You can do $1500 but not in the City itself, the outlying neighborhoods would work good for you. Why private school? If you move to a nice suburb there's no need! Your paying for public school whether you use them or not. Have you looked into Cambridge?

[JohnyWonder101]

In the neighborhoods surrounding Boston is fine also. Do the public schools in Boston measure up to the level of the private schools?

[vfrex]

Public schools in some of the Boston suburbs are among the best in the country (Newton, Belmont, Weston). You can certainly find rentals in Newton and Belmont within that range (will be limited to 2br most likely). Both towns have public transportation into the city, but also border Cambridge and Boston, so access to the city is pretty easy. I like Newton for the parks, nice walking paths. It has some decent restaurants. You should keep in mind that buying a house will be expensive in the nicer suburbs that I mentioned. Boston is a big time sports city and you'll find a lot of sports bars and what not.

I couldn't really draw any comparisons to the other cities for you.

[MikePRU]

If you end up in a town with good schools you can just roll your private school budget right into your housing budget. You'll end up living someplace nicer and your child will still get a great education!

[Atheneum]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

If you end up in a town with good schools you can just roll your private school budget right into your housing budget. You'll end up living someplace nicer and your child will still get a great education!

This is the conclusion I came to too. I also come from Africa and can fully understand the OP's immediate assumption that private schooling is vastly superior, and was pleasantly surprised to see in the US that a number of public schools easily outstrip their private counterparts - if you live in the right area.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

If you end up in a town with good schools you can just roll your private school budget right into your housing budget. You'll end up living someplace nicer and your child will still get a great education!

I too agree with MikePru's suggestion here, if, as Atheneum states, you live in a town or city with good schools. Be aware that when people tell you that you can find rental property in the vicinity of Boston for 1,500, in Newton or Belmont for example, they are talking about apartments. You'd have to live farther out from the city to find single-family houses for that rent. If you'd prefer a detached house if possible, that's another reason to follow MikePru's suggestion, and look for towns with good public schools, then add the money budgeted for private schools to your funds for housing.

One question I have is why you've chosen the four cities you've listed as the ones to consider. If you let us know what appeals to you about those cities, that may give us a better idea how good a fit Boston would be for you. From what you have said so far, it sounds as if Boston would probably be the best fit for you of these four cities, except that it has the highest housing costs. You can certainly find housing in the Boston area for 1,500, especially if you can accept living in an apartment, but you'd have more options in any of the other three cities.

One other point of caution has to do with the weather in Boston. It's possible that you may find your attitude about cold weather changing somewhat if you go through an entire winter as long as winters are in Boston, rather than getting a taste of cold weather during a visit. Also, Boston's summers are a bit on the muggy side, though certainly nothing remotely like the heat and humidity in the tropics.

If you're sure you really like cold weather, rather than just being able to tolerate it, all in all Boston may have the best weather for you of the four cities you're asking about. It depends. Seattle often has just about perfect weather during the summer--pleasantly warm days and pleasantly cool nights--but is gray, cloudy, and drizzly for eight or nine months out of the year. Comparing the climates in Boston and Seattle, the summer weather is more pleasant in Seattle, but the rest of the year it depends on whether you'd prefer fairly cold, snowy winters (Boston) or cool, gray, damp winters (Seattle). Atlanta has delightful springs and autumns, brisk or moderately cold winters, but significantly longer, muggier summers than Boston. Austin is often pleasantly cool during the winter, with some occasional chilly weather, beautiful in the late fall and early spring, but hot and muggy for a much longer stretch of the year than any of the other cities.

As far as pubilc transportation, educational options, and cultural offerings, Boston wins over any of the other three cities. Other than that, a lot depends on the details of what you prefer for weather (and how important that is to you), and how ready you are to accept the higher price of housing you'll find in Boston as compared to the other three cities.

[JohnyWonder101]

Thank you for all your replies. Greatly appreciated

[JohnyWonder101]

Originally Posted by ogre

I too agree with MikePru's suggestion here, if, as Atheneum states, you live in a town or city with good schools. Be aware that when people tell you that you can find rental property in the vicinity of Boston for 1,500, in Newton or Belmont for example, they are talking about apartments. You'd have to live farther out from the city to find single-family houses for that rent. If you'd prefer a detached house if possible, that's another reason to follow MikePru's suggestion, and look for towns with good public schools, then add the money budgeted for private schools to your funds for housing.

One question I have is why you've chosen the four cities you've listed as the ones to consider. If you let us know what appeals to you about those cities, that may give us a better idea how good a fit Boston would be for you. From what you have said so far, it sounds as if Boston would probably be the best fit for you of these four cities, except that it has the highest housing costs. You can certainly find housing in the Boston area for 1,500, especially if you can accept living in an apartment, but you'd have more options in any of the other three cities.

One other point of caution has to do with the weather in Boston. It's possible that you may find your attitude about cold weather changing somewhat if you go through an entire winter as long as winters are in Boston, rather than getting a taste of cold weather during a visit. Also, Boston's summers are a bit on the muggy side, though certainly nothing remotely like the heat and humidity in the tropics.

If you're sure you really like cold weather, rather than just being able to tolerate it, all in all Boston may have the best weather for you of the four cities you're asking about. It depends. Seattle often has just about perfect weather during the summer--pleasantly warm days and pleasantly cool nights--but is gray, cloudy, and drizzly for eight or nine months out of the year. Comparing the climates in Boston and Seattle, the summer weather is more pleasant in Seattle, but the rest of the year it depends on whether you'd prefer fairly cold, snowy winters (Boston) or cool, gray, damp winters (Seattle). Atlanta has delightful springs and autumns, brisk or moderately cold winters, but significantly longer, muggier summers than Boston. Austin is often pleasantly cool during the winter, with some occasional chilly weather, beautiful in the late fall and early spring, but hot and muggy for a much longer stretch of the year than any of the other cities.

As far as pubilc transportation, educational options, and cultural offerings, Boston wins over any of the other three cities. Other than that, a lot depends on the details of what you prefer for weather (and how important that is to you), and how ready you are to accept the higher price of housing you'll find in Boston as compared to the other three cities.

Thank you for yor reply ogre. We decided on Boston, we will be visiting Boston in September. I have been reading a lot on the Boston thread and we feel that Newton will be our best option.

I just have some questions about Newton, if we consider public schools, that means we can put more money into rent and buying a place after a year, can we find a 2bd/2ba apt for 2500/month in a good neighborhood in Newton? How far is Newton from Boston, like sports arenas and downtown? is it within an hour commute or more?

[Atheneum]

Originally Posted by JohnyWonder101

Thank you for yor reply ogre. We decided on Boston, we will be visiting Boston in September. I have been reading a lot on the Boston thread and we feel that Newton will be our best option.

I just have some questions about Newton, if we consider public schools, that means we can put more money into rent and buying a place after a year, can we find a 2bd/2ba apt for 2500/month in a good neighborhood in Newton? How far is Newton from Boston, like sports arenas and downtown? is it within an hour commute or more?

If you look at this page on my thread //www.city-data.com/forum/bosto...estions-2.html. some helpful posters posted a map of the areas (first post) and other posts have some details about both roads and links to public transport sites which are helpful for some of your questions. As to rents, if you do a google search you'll see what options are available. We've been looking at both Newton and Brookline btw.