Anyone in Boston from the South? (sales, houses, buy)

[natesatater]

We're considering moving from Houston to the Boston area. We'd like to know if anyone from the south or from Texas has moved to Boston and what your experience has been.

The two big things people talk about is the weather and the expenses. We'd like to know if putting up w/the winter is worth the trade off w/ all the hot sticky weather we have down here.

Just how bad are the added expenses, and does it keep you from doing the things you'd like to do w/the family?

We're basically looking for more opportunity to do things, raise our kids, and be able to take a bunch of road trips and getaways more than we can here.

[mmyk72]

Originally Posted by natesatater

We're considering moving from Houston to the Boston area. We'd like to know if anyone from the south or from Texas has moved to Boston and what your experience has been.

The two big things people talk about is the weather and the expenses. We'd like to know if putting up w/the winter is worth the trade off w/ all the hot sticky weather we have down here.

I moved from Houston and have survived for 10+ yrs now. Winter vs hot & stick - it's a matter of getting used to these extremes. The winter is more of a hassle - you may spend 5+ hrs snow shoveling the driveway and cleaning off the car. Plus, you have to deal with snow on the road during and a day or 2 after the snow event, etc. However, a good jacket, hat, gloves makes being outside comfortable (unless it's really windy) while in the hot sticky weather, there isn't much you can do to cool down when outdoors. Some people even like winter sports and enjoy outdoorsy stuff in the winter (not me).

Originally Posted by natesatater

Just how bad are the added expenses, and does it keep you from doing the things you'd like to do w/the family?

If you can afford it, the expenses shouldn't keep you from doing stuff. The key is having 'equivalent' or better income when you move from TX to MA.
Housing is way more expensive as you probably gathered already. There are add'l expenses that affects you here. For example,
* Annual 'excise tax' for just owning a car [new car is several hundred $ while old beater is $40-50 per yr]
* State income tax (5% of income I believe)
* If you own a house, the property tax is typically higher (you'll have to compare house to house, not just by % house value).
* Some towns require add'l charge for weekly trash removal and extra each time you need bulk removal. My parents never pay extra for these.
* More maintenance on the car due to salt corrosion - I've had to replace the exhaust pipe about every 3 yrs (about $300 if I remember correctly). My car now has rust on the wheelwell and I'm sure it'd be hundreds to thousands if I took it to the shop.
* If you own a house, you'd have to either manually do the snow removal from your driveway, hire plow trucks (a few hundred to a thousand bucks per yr), or buy a snowblower.
* Food/grocery is way more expensive since there are fewer stores compared to Houston, specially fruits and veg's. Restaurants are also priced higher typically.
* You may have to pay for parking when doing stuff in Boston and plan on getting parking tickets once in awhile, unlike in Houston where you just leave your car in mega parking lots almost everywhere.
* Gasoline is 20c or so higher per gallon.
* Electric rates are also higher.
* Heating cost is much higher. I have a well insulated house and gas heat, so my gas bill is $100 or under (highest in Jan/Feb and $50-80 in Nov/Dec/March/April). For people living in badly insulated houses/apts, and if oil is used instead of gas, the cost can be 4-5x higher easily.
* This past winter, we had historical snow fall (100+ inches over 2 months) and we had to hire people to remove snow off the roof ($1000) and repair damages from ice dam.
* There isn't much 'cheap labor' compared to in TX, so expect to pay more when you need to hire people (lawn mowing, repairs around the house or renovations, etc)

However, there are a few things that are cheaper in MA:
* No sales tax on clothing and shoes
* Lower sales tax - 6.25% in MA compared to 8.25% (?)
* Need much less AC (cooling) in the summer. My parent's electric bill in Houston is $200 or so for 4-5 summer months. For me, I use the AC maybe 30 days out of the entire year and my electric bill gets up to $80 for 2 months and very low the rest of the year (I only use around 100 kWH when AC is not needed).
* You typically drive shorter distances so less gasoline is used. Some people rely on public transportation such as commuter rail to go to work in Boston and that's pretty expensive (price depends on the distance from Boston), but it's even more expensive to park the car in Boston.

Originally Posted by natesatater

We're basically looking for more opportunity to do things, raise our kids, and be able to take a bunch of road trips and getaways more than we can here.

There are much more varieties of activities available and a very good place for kids (great schools, safe environment, clean air, etc.). You can go to the mountains, the coast, ME, NH, RI, CT, VT, Western MA all within 3 hrs drive. So definitely a more interesting place compared to the endless highways-to-nowhere in TX.

[KellyCrash]

I'm from South Carolina. I was born & raised there all my life. I moved to MA when I was in my 20s. I'ved lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else. I get excited for all the seasons here. They are quite distinct. There is nothing like it. Of course the winters are long, it doesn't really get warm here till June. The kids want to go swimming when it's in the 70s! Just not warm enough for me. It has to be at LEAST 80 for me to want to go swimming.

The school year drags on as well. My kids start before Labor Day/end of August and are just getting out June 18th. The kids get out a week for Christmas break, a week in February & a week in April. Plus there are many teacher work days, holidays such as Columbus Day, Patriots Day (usually falls during April vacation), Memorial Day, MLK Day, etc. I went through the calendar and counted about 10 days off that could be done away with so kids could get out earlier. The whole state pretty much follows the same school calendar. When your kid is out of school so are all the rest of them. Makes doing anything with them a little nuts. Everything is mobbed.

Also, kids are in school in late June which now the temps are in the high 80s and the schools aren't always air conditioned! It's just awful. One of my kids is in an air conditioned school and the other is not.

Speaking of air conditioning, you might be surprised to find out that many homes here in MA do not have central A/C. Lots of people rely on fans and window units. It's not as bad as you think tho. A/C isn't really needed on that many days, but once you've had it & been accustomed to it it might be a little shocking to try to live without it.

Do not drink bottled ice tea. It's all nasty. McDonalds has the best ice tea in New England that I've tried.
I finally found pimento cheese. It's not in the area near the deli with the potato salads and whatnot it's near the cheese at my store. I don't eat it, but I was just curious if you could find it here.

Just my two cents.

Good luck with your move.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by natesatater

We're considering moving from Houston to the Boston area. We'd like to know if anyone from the south or from Texas has moved to Boston and what your experience has been.

Born in Baton Rouge, lived there for about half of my childhood (the other half was in California, with a couple of years in Houston).

Originally Posted by natesatater

The two big things people talk about is the weather and the expenses. We'd like to know if putting up w/the winter is worth the trade off w/ all the hot sticky weather we have down here.

I either have a hugely weird tolerance for cold or people like to complain excessively about cold. Winter does not last six months. It lasts three months. It gets below zero about every other year and even then only in the early morning. You can deal with cold, just buy a big coat. You can only take off so many clothes, but you can always put on more. My parents briefly lived in Alberta and there it gets -40 where the cold actually hurts and can kill you if you aren't careful. If you can afford a place to live, the cold in Boston is at worst annoying. If you learn to enjoy the outdoors in the cold it can be wonderful. If you convince yourself that it's too cold to go outside it will be and you will hate it here. If you have an open mind and some good gear the winter is awesome.

Snow is a bigger concern. You will have to deal with it. If you don't have to drive in it don't. They clear the roads after a day. If you do get snow tires, a better car, and consider taking a winter driving course. Get appropriate snow removal equipment (everyone needs a shovel, many need a snowblower, some need a snow plow) or hire someone to do the removal for you.

And it absolutely is worth the trade off. Nothing beats fall in New England. Spring feels like a revelation after a long winter. Summers are nice and for the most part the nights are cool enough that you can open the windows without the need for AC.

Originally Posted by natesatater

Just how bad are the added expenses, and does it keep you from doing the things you'd like to do w/the family?

By far the biggest expense is housing. If your budget can handle that then the other stuff is mostly in the noise. Almost everything is more expensive, to be sure, but that probably accounts for 90% of the final difference (the rest is just annoying).

Originally Posted by natesatater

We're basically looking for more opportunity to do things, raise our kids, and be able to take a bunch of road trips and getaways more than we can here.

That's one great advantage of New England--it's pretty small. You can reach Nova Scotia or North Carolina from Boston in the time it would take you to cross Texas (you will have to worry about traffic going to NC, though). That's a lot within a reasonable driving distance. You can day trip to the White Mountains or Maine, take a train or bus to NYC or DC.