Relocating to Boston in Jan 2015. Advice appreciated. (Lowell, Cambridge: apartment complexes, rental)

[tribechamy]

It's a good thing that you work in networking - there are a lot of IT jobs here, and you will probably get paid more than you did in AZ, so that will help some with the higher rent. The flipside of this: it's not easy to get a networking job on public transportation, a lot of the larger companies are not in Boston proper but in office parks and buildings on the western ring roads. Some large companies I'm thinking of that seem to be perennially hiring IT staff are in Hopkinton, Natick, Waltham, Burlington, and Framingham for example. You may be able to get something in Cambridge. You could also check out BU itself and see if they have any openings.

Maybe start looking for work now if you can, that may help you with your search. Otherwise you may want to think about getting an inexpensive car just for commuting unless you know for certain you won't need it (i.e. you've signed on for a job on public transportation) While there are a lot of IT jobs it is competitive so the more flexibility you have the better.

[G-fused]

I'd look for a place in Brighton, and agree with the others that your budget will need to be re-adjusted to something more realistic. No car, near(ish) BU, less expensive than some other areas and not crime ridden...Brighton I think would be your best bet. Schools may not be fabulous at first glance but if one controls for certain things, performance of a certain population of students may not be as bad as the avg scores.

Best of luck.

[flowbe202]

Hmmmm.... Are med classes held on the main campus or down at BMC?

If so, it opens them up to everyone's favorite low-cost recommendations: Quincy & Braintree.

They can also use the new Fairmount -> Newmarket-> BMC to come in from Readville/Hyde Park.
MBTA Commuter Rail > Fairmount Line Schedules and Maps

You can barely find places in Fitchburg for $900... whatever, I guess...

[kharing]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

I'm guessing you've never applied to medical school or been around someone who has applied. Getting in can be tough and the application process is not trivial. It's quite possible that the OP's wife applied many places and the most practical place she was accepted was BU.

You guessed wrong.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by kharing

You guessed wrong.

So then your advice seems to be "don't go to medical school now, apply to this totally random other place, and assuming you get in, go there." Is there something I'm missing?

[nyvrem]

Hello everyone !

Thank you for your inputs. It was really helpful.
Firstly, my wife is in the process of asking BU for housing options for our family (we're not hoping for much on this one). Another reason why we're going to BU is because she got accepted there with a tuition scholarship and a nice aid package.
She got rejected by a lot of public university's medical schools, she got accepted into mostly private ones. Wife said something like state medical schools mostly take in people from in state first.

But yes, I agree I need to increase my rent budget. Would probably be looking for something along the lines of $1k - $1.2k for us. And that might not even be close to BU. I started looking at some websites of rents around the area. One plan we had was for me to get the job, move there for 3 months to settle everything down, then she bring the kids over. We're seriously considering that to make life that bit easier for the transition phrase.

After reading some post about the traffic in Boston, we might just skip the car all together and just use public transport. Wife's friend told us to check Lowell ? for place and take the train down to Boston. We're just keeping our options open as too where we can stay.

[timberline742]

That is a long expensive commute. The couple of hundred dollars extra you'd be spending on a commuter rail pass would be better put to rent and get on a T line if you can find a place for $1400... which still won't be easy or nice.

[tribechamy]

Traffic, like high rent, is a necessary evil here, please don't be so scared off by either that it keeps you from doing what might be best for your family (having a car, living in towns with good schools and low crime rates)

$1000-1200 might be ok for a 2BR in some areas but you still may need more if you want to live in a nice town on public transportation. Please remember public transportation isn't free either, commuter rail passes are the most expensive followed by the T followed by buses. Check out MBTA.com while looking at towns to factor the cost into your housing calculus. Also driving & public transportation aren't always either-or since you need get to the transportation - if you are relying upon rails, commuter rail stations are not always in walkable areas. I'm not saying it's impossible to live car-free, plenty of people do it, but it's easier the closer you live and work next to the central T stations (which unfortunately can be expensive). Bottom line: please remember to factor transportation into housing costs.

What websites are you looking at? Apartment complexes are a lot more expensive than rentals in multifamily homes with private landlords - there are many, many more of these, over a broader area (some towns/cities don't have large apartment complexes). You can find these on craigslist or RE agency websites.

Have you visited the area? If not and you can afford it, it would be well worth it to get a sense of what is what in the area. Is there someone at BU that can help guide through the housing process? Speaking with other BU students or staff and faculty should be helpful, especially if you need guidance on good communities for families with children, since the places that work for BU undergrads probably wouldn't work as well for a family with kids in school.

When does your wife start school? And congrats to her! And welcome to your family

[nyvrem]

I've been looking at Trulia.com, rent.com and zillow.com just to get a rough gauge of the prices in the different areas. Wife starts next year July. I'm planning early to start my short list of areas and such before I get down to really looking for a place. We do intend to drop by Boston at the end of the year (Nov) for a short trip to get a feel of the area.

Also, how do multifamily homes work? It's a shared house with the landlord/other families ?
I've been staying in an apartment complex since I moved out. Never had experience with a multifamily home.

I've notice the MBTA train pass can get really expensive. Can go up to $200+ for a monthly pass. I guess if BOTH of us need to get that (if we stay far away), it'll come up to $300~$400. Could just add that to my rent budget and get a place nearer to her school.

I don't really have an idea of where i'll be working since it's too soon to find a job now. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Would be great to get a job with a college/school around Boston area.

[CaseyB]

Multi-family homes means that each floor houses a different family. You'd have separate entrances, etc. Most are 2 family, some 3 if it is a triple decker. A duplex would be considered multi-family, but you won't find all that many of those. You will not have to share your apartment with another family.