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I completely understand where you're coming from and I appreciate your desire to stay in Mass. because this is home to you and you are content with what you have, where you are. (To be fair, the fact that you don't need or care about a solid school district goes a long way in ensuring your contentment). Either way, I would never question your wish to stay exactly where you've always been.
You are a very insulting person when you get your back up, Syracusa. All I can say is that Mass schools or consistently rated #1 or #2 (depending on whom you ask) in the nation. You don't have to live in an expensive town to live in a solid school district, e.g. East Bridgewater. Fine schools; modest house prices. You will be hard pressed to match the education your kids are getting in Mass in Georgia.
As far as being tied to MA, my whole family is here (which is my mom, two sisters, brother, and four nephews and two nieces) but it is mostly my mom that I am close to and would give me pause of leaving. I think we would leave to save more money if a really good job opportunity came up in another cheaper, desirable state so that it wouldn't make financial sense to stay. For now we'll stay put because there's no sense doing anything without a job and work on increasing our take home pay either here or elsewhere.
I think I hit the nail on the head. Usually there are personal reasons people decide to stay in a costly area.
As previously mentioned, we had bought a condo to 'do the right thing' because renting was silly and throwing away money. Oh, and to build equity. Yep- we took a $38K bath. The rules have changed. Considerably.
I encourage you to continue renting until you find a good 1st home (they do still exist). Keep saving for a larger down payment. If you have family in the area then it makes sense.
The most important part of the formula is to be patient and understand the process. I think many people get impatient and feel pressure- thus, buy a condo/townhome and regret it later. (that's just one example)
I also encourage you to measure your quality of life. Sometimes it is hard to move away from family (trust me) but if at the end of the day you feel you could have better success elsewhere and be happier then at least you have a direction to follow.
I think the reverse is harder- people that are trying to move back to MA (or any other high cost of living area) to be closer to family. Now that's tough!
Huh? I was a single Mom who raised 2 sons on less than 100K a year. At times, significantly less than that. I owned a nice 3 BR/2 BA home in a great town and a great neighborhood. Every kid on the street played together, pretty much lived in each others houses and the 9 of them are still friends to this day.
Syracusa, you moved to a hoity toity Boston burb? I don't agree with a lot of those mothers either but you chose it. If you want to live where it reeks of money, than you pay the price. I commuted an hour each way into the city for years and years so my kids could have the benefit of a small town, a yard, a swingset and a hoop in the driveway.
We are moving to Charleston because I hate winter and have had enough, but my kids are grown now. I would never have even dreamed of moving south when they were young no matter how cheap it is, their education was much more important. You can live in almost any town in MA and guarantee your kids are getting a top-notch education, down south you have to pay for private school.
Is MA perfect? Of course not, no place is but to say you will be broke on 100K a year is ridiculous and not even close to true. Of course, I think you are the same woman who said that if grandparents didn't help out with the grandkids they should not expect any help when they are elderly so I should not be surprised at your attitude.
Second, I've lived in Massachusetts most of my life, North Shore to SouthCoast to Cape Cod, and have yet to meet someone who inherited a house, never mind WEALTH! I must be missing that boat.
Or yacht, as the case may be.
Really?!? (I don't mean that sarcastically, btw -- I'm genuinely baffled).
I'm on the Metro/South Shore border, and, within, say, a 4-block radius of my house, I can count on two hands how many of my neighbors inherited their houses. It could just very well be my neighborhood, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are similar pockets all around the state, especially in the older, more-settled areas.
Quote:
As far as buying a house with plumbing or other issues..........where do you think you are? This is Massachusetts. One of the oldest states in the nation. We have homes built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Even those built in the 20th century are going to have issues. Do you actually know when in-house plumbing, electricity, etc. were incorporated into private housing? It wasn't all that long ago, relatively speaking. Homes built in the 1970's and 80's are NOT up to current code. You want to walk into a house and do nothing in Massachusetts? Buy a lot in a rural area and build.
This is exactly what one of my in-laws did when he moved back here from CA. He'll admit CA spoiled him with newer construction and less headaches. Needless to say, he could afford to buy land and build. Most of us can't even entertain that notion.
Yes, Virginia, there are affordable and family-oriented places in Massachusetts.....if you can drop your nose a bit out of the stratosphere and bother to take the time and seek them out.
Children playing outside? All the time. Structured? Sometimes. Town activities, etc. But when it snows? Snow Day!!!! All the kids congregated on a hill near my house. I started the fire in the morning, made gallons of hot cocoa, coffee and tea, and my clothes dryer ran all day. I had a stack of shovels necessary to clear off the local pond. You can skate, if you want to clear the snow. The shovels were also necessary to build huge jumps on the hill and luge runs. All kids (and parents) were welcome at the fire.
But, as soon as you and your attire were dry, your butt was kicked back out to the hill or the pond!
There are plenty of ways to "Make it in Massachusetts".....if you're not lazy.
We New Englanders don't like lazy. Maybe that's why we're overpriced? We're just weeding.
I look forward to your cards and letters.
That sounds great! Where exactly do you live? Cape Cod?
If you want to live where it reeks of money, than you pay the price.
No, I want to live where it reeks of top education.
Usually, that goes hand in hand with the reeking of money. Sadly so.
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Originally Posted by LeavingMassachusetts
I commuted an hour each way into the city for years and years so my kids could have the benefit of a small town, a yard, a swingset and a hoop in the driveway.
Yes, we chose the same thing. Small town, yard, swing, hoop and all.
And top education. Results? What I said.
In my experience, "small towns" no longer bring with them the pastoral, fuzzy, authentic and warm way of life you depict. Just not my experience.
Maybe it is indeed the "hoity, toity" school district that makes it that way.
Unfortunately, I can't be convinced to go in less good school districts either - because, as someone else on the thread was saying here - these kids will have zero inheritance from us in life. Just the education.
That's all. That had better be enough.
Wrong - in quite a few parts of the Atlanta area you don't have to pay for private school. Those are "hoity-toity" areas, to cite you, and they do offer top notch education, just like in Mass. At least one of those high-schools was ranked several times ahead of Newton Highschool in Mass - comparisons at the national level. I reckon that should be good enough.
Those parts of Atlanta are FAR from the rest of Georgia and are becoming very international, which is another plus for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeavingMassachusetts
Of course, I think you are the same woman who said that if grandparents didn't help out with the grandkids they should not expect any help when they are elderly
Should they? As with everything else, the love you take is equal to the love you make. It is as natural for retired and healthy grandparents to help their children with grandkids as it is for children to take care of their parents in old age. Modern societies have broken this natural cycle of life
and we are now witnessing the consequences at both ends.
But how about staying on topic and abstaining from ad hominem attacks prompted by not hearing what you like to hear?
[quote=syracusa;18402343]unfortunately, I can't be convinced to go in less good school districts either - because, as someone else on the thread was saying here - these kids will have zero inheritance from us in life. Just the education.
That's all. That had better be enough.
Wrong - in quite a few parts of the Atlanta area you don't have to pay for private school. Those are "hoity-toity" areas, to cite you, and they do offer top notch education, just like in Mass. At least one of those high-schools was ranked several times ahead of Newton Highschool in Mass - comparisons at the national level. I reckon that should be good enough.
Those parts of Atlanta are FAR from the rest of Georgia and are becoming very international, which is another plus for us.
hominem attacks prompted by not hearing what you like to hear?[/quote/]
The best site that I have found for local and national school district comparisons is one which is a competitor of this forum so I can not cite it. According to them the BEST TOP school district in Georgia is rated 61 (out of 100.) You have to go deep into the list of Mass towns to find one that is ranked below 90. The top 100 Mass school districts are ranked 97 and above. You claim all you care about is your children's education, when all you really seem to care about is money, status and a fancy new house.
I have been very interested in this debate, since I am planning to move to Massachusetts from Maryland. All of my family is in Maryland, which is why I need to move away. (Personal reasons!) I consider Massachusetts to be comparable to central Maryland in terms of economics, job opportunities, and quality of education, which is why we chose that state as our goal place.
We would probably go with Western or Central MA though, since there's no way we could live near Boston and afford it. (I am a school counselor and my husband is a social worker for Veterans Affairs.) We will probably make about $85-90K as a family, so I am already researching how much house we could buy...about $200K worth. Yeah, there's not a ton out there for that price, but there ARE about 13 pages worth on MassRealty.com, and they're not all just in Springfield, either.
We know it will be hard, and we are also depending on getting jobs up there (can't move without 'em!), but hopefully it will be worth it.
P.S. I would love to know where those "children playing" areas are, since that is something we would love to experience with our future children.
No, I want to live where it reeks of top education.
Usually, that goes hand in hand with the reeking of money. Sadly so.
Yes, we chose the same thing. Small town, yard, swing, hoop and all.
And top education. Results? What I said.
In my experience, "small towns" no longer bring with them the pastoral, fuzzy, authentic and warm way of life you depict. Just not my experience.
Maybe it is indeed the "hoity, toity" school district that makes it that way.
Unfortunately, I can't be convinced to go in less good school districts either - because, as someone else on the thread was saying here - these kids will have zero inheritance from us in life. Just the education.
That's all. That had better be enough.
Wrong - in quite a few parts of the Atlanta area you don't have to pay for private school. Those are "hoity-toity" areas, to cite you, and they do offer top notch education, just like in Mass. At least one of those high-schools was ranked several times ahead of Newton Highschool in Mass - comparisons at the national level. I reckon that should be good enough.
Those parts of Atlanta are FAR from the rest of Georgia and are becoming very international, which is another plus for us.
Should they? As with everything else, the love you take is equal to the love you make. It is as natural for retired and healthy grandparents to help their children with grandkids as it is for children to take care of their parents in old age. Modern societies have broken this natural cycle of life
and we are now witnessing the consequences at both ends.
But how about staying on topic and abstaining from ad hominem attacks prompted by not hearing what you like to hear?
It's not worth it.....enjoy Atlanta.
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