Looking to move to the Northampton Area from Southern ME

[acamp]

Originally Posted by tovarisch

Acamp mentions "Cumberland," but there is no town by that name in the area. He/she may have meant Sunderland, as above, or maybe Chesterfield.

Sorry, I meant Cummington. I was thinking of the creamery there, and thought Cumberland Farms...

[tovarisch]

Ah! That explains it.

[Lonnie2]

Originally Posted by newenglandan

I've lived in Greenfield, Sunderland, Belchertown, South Deerfield and bought a house in Easthampton. ...
... I was doing great until my company shut its doors, so I've been self-employed for years and am now just getting by (good thing we lived within our means and bought an affordable place in Easthampton

Newenglandan, this is just the sort of information that is helpful to me. My husband and I have decided to move to Easthampton from Syracuse (so no matter where we go, the winters are better!). He and I both know how to live within our means, we both have some income from online work, and we are highly experienced at owning and renting out real estate. We don't want to have to return to that, but we might have to for awhile.

So at this point, expecting to close on our own house by the end of May and move to Easthampton, we're looking for the following:

First, a home. Ideally: a small condo close to downtown that we can afford - under 160K would be great but I know they don't come up often. If not that, then a 2-family multi. We know we can afford that because a bank has told us they'd be happy to lend to us for an income-producing property. So my question: we have a great RE agent in Easthampton, but are there properties that come available in some way before they hit the MLS system? If so, how does one learn about them? Around here there are a good number of people doing for-sale-by-owner and they use craigslist to advertise, but that doesn't seem to be the case much in Easthampton.

Second: places to gig. We're best known for our flamenco music, but also do classic vocal jazz and various international styles. (crimsoncanary.com) My husband is an accomplished guitarist who can gig alone, do sub work, whatever, in most genres except metal, hip hop and the like. He does jazz, pop, blues, funk, some folk etc. What's the best way to find any amount of work making music?

Third, but most important: connections with people in the area. I know, this doesn't exactly happen until you're actually there, but we love to meet people when we're in town and will certainly be there before May. Best way to meet people?

Thanks!

[tovarisch]

A good club to maybe start with is right in E'hamp; it's called Luthier's C-op (check its website or Facebook page). It's strictly pass-the-hat, but a sound person (and PA, and amps and drums) is provided.

[newenglandan]

Sorry - I had surgery, so I've been outta the loop for ages - and unfortunately can't be of much (if any) help with your follow up questions.

Originally Posted by Lonnie2

First, a home. Ideally: a small condo close to downtown that we can afford - under 160K would be great but I know they don't come up often.

Yeah, you'll probably be hard-pressed to find housing in that neighborhood. On South Street (maybe half-mile from downtown, now connected with a bike path) there's a small "condo" development that was originally apartments. One of my friends lived there when they were apartments and they are quite small (I'd guess his unit was 600 sq ft tops). Those might be in that price point, but right now, as far as I know, none are for sale (there's usually 1-2 on the market every year, though).

There are some larger, nicer condos off of Main Street (unfortunately I forget the name of the development - it started off as small apartments and then they built a bunch of new units and converted the small apartments into condos as well). Those new units run in the 300k+ range, though. One of my friend's parents live there - they're nice, but that price is crazy in my opinion for what they are and the location. There's a guardhouse, but I've never seen a guard in there.

I looked on Zillow and there are two units in the 118-130 range, but those look like converted apartments and don't have garages (lots of places don't have garages - but with the winters that we normally have make that a rough route to take, digging out a car after an 12" snowfall is no fun, and that typically happens several times per year). I didn't see any townhouses, but I didn't set any filters.

Originally Posted by Lonnie2

we have a great RE agent in Easthampton, but are there properties that come available in some way before they hit the MLS system? If so, how does one learn about them? Around here there are a good number of people doing for-sale-by-owner and they use craigslist to advertise, but that doesn't seem to be the case much in Easthampton.

I only know one person who found a listing prior to it going up on MLS, and that's because his cousin was the agent/lister for the property and gave him a hand. I suspect nepotism may be the only way to get a shot at bidding on a place before it gets into the system.

Originally Posted by Lonnie2

Second: places to gig. We're best known for our flamenco music, but also do classic vocal jazz and various international styles. (crimsoncanary.com) My husband is an accomplished guitarist who can gig alone, do sub work, whatever, in most genres except metal, hip hop and the like. He does jazz, pop, blues, funk, some folk etc. What's the best way to find any amount of work making music?

I'm an old metalhead, so I can't be of much help here. The only place I've ever heard flamenco live was at the Caminito restaurant in Northampton, a single guitar player.

I would go to Downtown Sounds in Northampton and talk to the guys there - most of them are in bands. On the worrisome front, the guy I know who plays in a very popular local band told me a couple years ago that its getting tougher to get gigs because "the kids don't care about live music, they want to hear a DJ". He's in a rock band, though - could be different for jazz/blues.

There was a thriving live rock scene here in the '90s, but some (most?) of the venues have closed their doors. It used to be easy to find live bands playing their own music, then things turned to cover/tribute bands, then clubs started closing down. Then I got old and quit going out to shows.

But with the economy recovering a bit, there may be more opportunities than there used to be. There are tons of crazy talented musicians in this area, so there has to be places to play. Restaurants/coffee houses might be a good option.

Originally Posted by Lonnie2

Third, but most important: connections with people in the area. I know, this doesn't exactly happen until you're actually there, but we love to meet people when we're in town and will certainly be there before May. Best way to meet people?

I met most of my friends back in the day at bars/clubs and through work. But with all the colleges in the area, there are tons of ways to meet people via the various activities/shows/talks you can attend. If you're gregarious (I am not, but still have a large circle of buddies), I don't think you'll have any problem meeting new friends. Just go out and do things you like to do and talk to the people there - great minds think alike.

[VADude]

I agree that Easthampton is a good value for the area if you want to live close to Northampton. Parts are pretty run down and the streets are in bad shape but overall it is nice. It lacks a few things, a decent grocery store for example (Big E's in nice but small, the Big Y in Southampton is a few miles away) and a restaurant with a salad bar. We were in an apartment there for five months waiting for our house to be finished.

I agree that the wages here aren't great for most professions. Lots of working class people work 2 or 3 jobs. Some people do okay: professors, professionals, lawyers and such. The area is having a sort of resurgence. Lots of craft breweries, Eastworks is filling out (it's quite nice inside) so eventually the city will get around to fixing the roads. Having Mount Tom next door is a plus if you like to hike or bike.

[Lonnie2]

Thank you both for your long and informative replies! We've been in the throes of buying a condo in Easthampton and selling our house in Syracuse. What a distraction! (but a good one!) So we actually did find a condo that's perfect for us right near the school of massage, steps to the Old Town Hall and a five-minute walk to the home of our new friends! Yep, it's pretty easy to meet people - we are gregarious - and we're really looking forward to being newbies in our new home town. We both have online work so that's okay for now. Hubby is probably going to get heavily involved with the new ping-pong outfit, currently in Eastworks, so if you see a guy batting ping-pong balls around with a flamenco guitar..... i ;-)

[VADude]

Your location is very good and you are within walking distance for a lot of life's needs. Lisa's Hair Shack is close by, Big E's for groceries, ice cream down the street, CVS and I can highly recommend the Silver Spoon for breakfast. Enjoy!

[Lonnie2]

We just moved to Easthampton after searching for an ideal walkable town for the past five years. We couldn't be happier. One thing we can't quite figure out, however, is how to do recycling. We're from Syracuse where there's been a recycling program in place for many years. All 1, 2 and 5 plastics, cans, paper, paper cartons (like milk cartons) and glass as well as plastic bottles go into the blue bin which is emptied on trash day. This was all included in our taxes. Here... what do we do with all those things that we were accustomed to recycling?

[in_newengland]

IIRC, you still recycle in Easthampton but you have to PAY. You hire one of the local companies to pick up your trash--they used to pick up our recycling too. But there is a drop off place at 30 Northampton St/rte 10. You buy a permit for it.