Should I move to Boston please help me decide (Newton: buy, top schools)

[jpdivola]

Originally Posted by darkone

If I were you and had equal professional opportunities, I would choose Boston’s sibling city 300 miles to the southwest - Philadelphia. It is much less expensive and has better weather. Real, consistent warm springs and milder winters with significantly less snowfall. It offers just as many historical attractions, museums, nightlife and restaurants as Boston. It is a center for law, medicine, higher ed and the pharmaceutical industry. Insurance, defense industry and telecom help to round out the greater Philly economy. The ocean and beaches are just an hour away. NYC is only 1.5 hours to the northeast. It is also up and coming and has appreciation potential - from a starting point which many can afford. Boston may feel more sophisticated and cosmopolitan in spots, but there is a major price to pay for that ......

Yeah, that seems to be my rough opinion as well. Boston is pretty expensive for what you get. Its urban core is relatively small and the restaurants and nightlife are a little underwhelming. Philly gives you a lot of what Boston has to offer at a much lower price. Chicago's weather/ location are not great IMO and the city undoubtedly has it challenges. But, you get a much bigger, world class city for a lot less than Boston. Heck even DC and Seattle are cheaper than Boston at this point and have strong economies and urban amenities. NYC is obviously more money than Boston, but its NYC.



Personally, I have toyed with moving to Boston in the past. But, at this point, I would either just shell out for NYC or find a more affordable peer city.

[arton1]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

Traffic, weather, and cost of living are three major, major buzzkills here. Employment is good, but competitive. I don't know what your line of work is, but if you can find good pay in a midsized city in a better weather part of the country, I'd definitely recommend giving that a shot first.

Thx this is good feedback...and others too.

[arton1]

Originally Posted by darkone

If I were you and had equal professional opportunities, I would choose Boston’s sibling city 300 miles to the southwest - Philadelphia. It is much less expensive and has better weather. Real, consistent warm springs and milder winters with significantly less snowfall. It offers just as many historical attractions, museums, nightlife and restaurants as Boston. It is a center for law, medicine, higher ed and the pharmaceutical industry. Insurance, defense industry and telecom help to round out the greater Philly economy. The ocean and beaches are just an hour away. NYC is only 1.5 hours to the northeast. It is also up and coming and has appreciation potential - from a starting point which many can afford. Boston may feel more sophisticated and cosmopolitan in spots, but there is a major price to pay for that ......

Thanks, this is a good suggestion

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by jpdivola

Yeah, that seems to be my rough opinion as well. Boston is pretty expensive for what you get. Its urban core is relatively small and the restaurants and nightlife are a little underwhelming.

I don’t disagree that you can get a better value prop from a city like Philly, especially when it comes to housing and weather. But I’ll just say that you can eat really damn well in Boston. High quality ethnic food and lots of nouveau gastropub fair is everywhere. If you need to eat at multiple Michelin Star restaurants every week, then yes, you can probably afford and should move to NYC. Or, just take a 2 hour car or train ride north to the 2018 Bon Appetite food city of the year, Portland Maine.

But if you’re a normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week, you won’t find yourself lacking for options, even in the closer suburbs. You can watch a few episodes of Phantom Gourmet to get a feel for the vibe.

As for nightlife, we have plenty of fun here, it’s just more pub style than “Da Club” but I know people who still want to pay $200 for a table for some reason. Also,I would have to imagine Boston is in the top 5 in the country for craft brew scene. (The aforementioned Portland ME is top 2, probably trailing Asheville NC)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

I don’t disagree that you can get a better value prop from a city like Philly, especially when it comes to housing and weather. But I’ll just say that you can eat really damn well in Boston. High quality ethnic food and lots of nouveau gastropub fair is everywhere. If you need to eat at multiple Michelin Star restaurants every week, then yes, you can probably afford and should move to NYC. Or, just take a 2 hour car or train ride north to the 2018 Bon Appetite food city of the year, Portland Maine.

But if you’re a normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week, you won’t find yourself lacking for options, even in the closer suburbs. You can watch a few episodes of Phantom Gourmet to get a feel for the vibe.

As for nightlife, we have plenty of fun here, it’s just more pub style than “Da Club” but I know people who still want to pay $200 for a table for some reason. Also,I would have to imagine Boston is in the top 5 in the country for craft brew scene. (The aforementioned Portland ME is top 2, probably trailing Asheville NC)

Normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week?


For most people, food is NOT a reason to move to Boston. In pretty much any medium to large city now days, the average person will not run short of good restaurants to eat.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week?


For most people, food is NOT a reason to move to Boston. In pretty much any medium to large city now days, the average person will not run short of good restaurants to eat.

I really don't understand this whole going out several times a week thing. Why a local restaurant scene would be any actual consideration for a normal non-wealthy person, is kinda strange. I'm not saying restaurants can't be fun, but it's just icing on a cake composed of any number of many other things. I guess really nobody knows how to cook.

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week?


For most people, food is NOT a reason to move to Boston. In pretty much any medium to large city now days, the average person will not run short of good restaurants to eat.

If you are concerned with nightlife, you’re more likely to be single and/or go out to dinner or order in multiple times per week. I don’t think it’s such a stretch.

[jpdivola]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

I don’t disagree that you can get a better value prop from a city like Philly, especially when it comes to housing and weather. But I’ll just say that you can eat really damn well in Boston. High quality ethnic food and lots of nouveau gastropub fair is everywhere. If you need to eat at multiple Michelin Star restaurants every week, then yes, you can probably afford and should move to NYC. Or, just take a 2 hour car or train ride north to the 2018 Bon Appetite food city of the year, Portland Maine.

But if you’re a normal person who goes out to dinner a couple times a week, you won’t find yourself lacking for options, even in the closer suburbs. You can watch a few episodes of Phantom Gourmet to get a feel for the vibe.

)

Boston's restaurant and nightlife scene is pretty good. But I don't think it really runs away with anything when compared to peer cities like Philly, DC, Sea, and most definitely Chicago.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by jpdivola

Boston's restaurant and nightlife scene is pretty good. But I don't think it really runs away with anything when compared to peer cities like Philly, DC, Sea, and most definitely Chicago.

Boston's restaurant scene is mostly overpriced garbage designed to fleece tourists.

[turf3]

As a Texan I found:


It's a fascinating place to live if you like history.


Very safe compared to other major metro areas I've lived - of course there are places to avoid like in any big city.


It's damn cold in the winter, and there's a lot of snow. You learn that your "heavy coat" from the South isn't quite enough to get through early fall, and you will buy a real winter coat. On the plus side, the winter kills a lot of bugs, and there are a lot of sunny days with snow, which is quite pretty. The first snowfall of the year is always a disaster on the roads - it's like they forget how to clear snow over the summer - but by the second one, the snow clearing machinery gets into action and it's really a fairly minor disruption to travel considering how much there is. Of course the salt will eat up your car.


Spring, summer, and fall are glorious weather. Except for the greenhead flies at the beach.


The inhabitants are credential-crazed - just the idea that someone's child might not get into a Ivy League college and might - heavens! - have to attend, say, the University of Nebraska, sends them into absolute paroxysms of fear. Never mind that a lot of the "colleges" and "universities" they list off to tell you how much higher education there is, are basically glorified teacher's or junior colleges. If you meet someone who graduated from Harvard they will mention it in at least every other conversation for years on end. If you meet someone who is/was a professor at Harvard they will mention it at least twice in every conversation for the rest of their life.


It's an extremely Catholic area. Not the Mexican Catholics I'm used to but white ethnic Catholics.


Bostonians will absolutely come unglued if you say this, but restaurant choices are kind of meh compared to real restaurant cities. However, good Italian food is everywhere. Oddly enough, good seafood isn't really that common in Boston or near suburbs, you need to get to the North or South shores to start getting really good fish. Do not eat at a place a native Bostonian thinks has good Mexican food. There are a few good Mexican places around, but ask non-natives about them. No matter what you do, do not try the margaritas at Margarita's, they taste like dishwater.


People are extremely patriotic. The average person is more politically conservative than might be immediately apparent (especially those white ethnic Catholics) but far-right rhetoric is rare.


The price of housing will absolutely stun you unless you are coming from Manhattan, downtown San Francisco, or Tokyo. Bring lots and lots of money and expect that your housing choices will be crummy, and you will have few choices as there will be a line of people queueing up behind you to pay whatever they ask.


I was surprised to find that most people selling things will get all offended if you try to dicker with them on price. They expect you to pay what they're asking.


If you have lived in a large Southern city, there is a surprising amount of nature and undeveloped land even in the closer-in suburbs.


The people are generally friendly but they don't make advances like Southerners do, but they tend to be quite helpful. This is not the general reputation.


Professional and non-professional sports are BIG BIG BIG here.


Customer service is not very good in stores or businesses. There is very much of a "take it or leave it" attitude. Making a problem right for the customer is not common. Much more common is for the store manager to argue with the unhappy customer.


Traffic is very busy and congested, but people drive like they realize this. So you may have five streets all coming into an uncontrolled intersection (yes, that's right, no stop sign, no yield sign, no light, nothing zip nada) but people will actually take turns and let you in. If the main road is busy and you're trying to turn left across it, someone will actually slow or stop and let you get across (in Dallas or Houston they'd just rip the front of your car off and keep on going full blast). So if you are coming from another big city you will have to dial back your aggressiveness some. (This is also contrary to common reputation.)


Anyway, that's what I could think of, coming from the outside. There are probably some other things I didn't think of. In sum, a mixed bag (like any big city will be) and you would have to decide which things are dealbreakers and which aren't.