Please Help! Any comments appreciated! (Boston, Cambridge: rent, job market, transfer)

[jayangel]

My wife and I currently live in Florida, we plan on relocating to the Boston area (yes I know, another one of these...sorry) next February. I will have my BS in Econ, the wife has her AA, but will be transferring most likely to UMB. Here's some questions we need help with...

1. How accessible is Quincy to Boston using the T? Would it be fairly easy to be able to travel from UMB to Quincy on the T? It seems like the most reasonably priced apts are in Quincy. But if any other areas are good, please share!

2. We currently have 2 cars, but we are thinking about selling one of them and just going up there with 1 car. Is that a good idea?

3. How's the job market looking up there? We plan on moving without jobs, I would be looking for a job in the financial sector/government. The wife wants to go into HR, or work for a non-profit. We plan to have around $30K saved, and pay our rent up for 6 months. Do you all think 6 months is enough time for at least one of us to find a job?

4. We will be visiting Boston in August, any info on temp agencies we could sign up for while we're there would be helpful!

Okay, that's enough questions for now. Thanks for any comments or suggestions. Thanks for reading!

[Urban Peasant]

Answers to your questions

1) Quincy is very accessible to the T. One Red Line branch runs straight through Quincy with four stations along the way and numerous feeder bus lines as well. Quincy Center also has a commuter rail stop that can take you to UMASS in a jiffy if you happen to catch the right train, commuter rail is more expensive though.

2) There are still people who don't even own a car up here and get by very well.

3) This is the hard part. Boston was a big financial center with corporations like State Street Bank leading the way but it like practically every other financial center in the nation took a hard hit during this economic downturn. Where at one time, financial firms were doling out great jobs to everyone well qualified, nowadays everyone in that field is struggling to find suitable work. I am not writing this to scare you because the situation is the same practically everywhere but just beware of the risks. Still, with an Econ degree, you probably will find something to tide you over but don't expect that job to be well paying all the time. Also bear in mind that Boston is laden with people with college degrees so it is competitive at any time anyways.

4) I don't know the answer to this question.

Hope this helps

[MiddleEarth]

An answer to #4: Manpower

[bostonguy1960]

You should be fine in most parts of Quincy; either a walk to a red line stop, or a bus connection to a stop. You may be able to survive w/o either car, as long as you travel between 5:30 am - 12:30 a.m. BUT, Sunday service starts about 45 min. later on most/all of the lines, as well as some holidays. Many are unaware of this.

Fidelity used to have an inhouse temp service (mainly secretaries and tech support?) called Veritude. They even advertised for Blue Cross customer service jobs in better times. Lots of layoffs, so check if it still exists. Adecco used to have a Quincy and Cambridge ofdfice, but not surew if they're closed. Mass. General Hospital may still have their Bulfinch Temps service. Harvard, MIT and Children's Hospital may still have internal temp services. It's not like 15-25 yrs. ago when Kelly Services and so many others advertised in the papers.

Our unemployment has usually been under the national average in recent years. It's about 9.2% now.

[gf2020]

Hard to say what the job market will be like in February 2011. However, I would find a job before you make the move.

Most of the big financial services companies have made a decent recovery and are already hiring people at all levels.

Look at Fidelity, State Street Bank, John Hancock, MFS Investment Management, Wellington Management, Eaton Vance, etc.

[jayangel]

Thanks everyone for the great info! Your comments really were helpful.