Orlando, FL to MA...freaking out over housing costs (Boston: rent, mortgage)

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

You need to look at Central Mass. BIG difference in housing prices from Boston.

Central MA resident here - house prices still generally exceed OPs budget, at least along the 190 belt. Even the better neighborhoods in Leominster will command more than OPs budget, despite it's lesser reputation.

Small 1,200-1,500 sqft cape/ranches are selling for 275-285K in towns like Sterling, Holden, Shrewsbury, etc.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by ktgrok

And topping it, we are far left liberals, one of us an agnostic the other a progressive Catholic and would like to spend some time living in a solidly blue state.

You really need to research what part of the state you want to live in first then. While MA is a pretty solid blue state, most of the voters are registed as unenrolled and as a result you'll find plenty of communities that are pretty much in the middle. It's the major metros with higher population that skew the state into the blue.

If you want far left, you'll have to get in close to the city, and that's where housing gets expensive. If you try to find a nice affordable area away from the metro, you'll probably find yourself in a mixed area.

For example, I work in tech, outside of the city. As I pulled into my office park this AM, I was greeted by the sounds of gunshots from the local shooting range. I'm maybe 30 mins from Boston.

As for religion. It's predominately catholic, but I'm an atheist and nobody's ever said boo to me about it.

What's your housing budget? That alone will tell you if you can afford to live here. I'm going to go out on a limb though and say that with 4 kids and $100K in student loan debt, you won't be able to really afford to live in the area.

[GeoffD]

It would be kind of foolish for the OP to buy rather than rent. The OP is saying 4 or 5 years. That's a lot of buying/selling costs and nobody can predict how long the housing bubble will last. It might work out. They might get slaughtered in a market correction where they have to move and have to sell at a big loss. The big problem in metro-Boston is the age of the housing stock. Most rental properties aren't very compelling and are very expensive. You need to be paid appropriately. A minimum of 1.5x an Orlando wage to account for housing, taxes, auto, insurance, and energy costs.

Most Oracle jobs in metro-Boston can't be accessed via public transportation. Oracle has purchased a lot of metro-Boston companies. It's pointless to think about the town until you know which of the Oracle office buildings we're talking about and whether the job is at least partly telecommutable. They're in Waltham, Bedford, Burlington, Kendall Square, downtown Boston and several places out in metro-West.

[ktgrok]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

You really need to research what part of the state you want to live in first then. While MA is a pretty solid blue state, most of the voters are registed as unenrolled and as a result you'll find plenty of communities that are pretty much in the middle. It's the major metros with higher population that skew the state into the blue.

If you want far left, you'll have to get in close to the city, and that's where housing gets expensive. If you try to find a nice affordable area away from the metro, you'll probably find yourself in a mixed area.

For example, I work in tech, outside of the city. As I pulled into my office park this AM, I was greeted by the sounds of gunshots from the local shooting range. I'm maybe 30 mins from Boston.

As for religion. It's predominately catholic, but I'm an atheist and nobody's ever said boo to me about it.

What's your housing budget? That alone will tell you if you can afford to live here. I'm going to go out on a limb though and say that with 4 kids and $100K in student loan debt, you won't be able to really afford to live in the area.

Guns and shooting ranges are fine. Middle of the road is fine. But where we are now is 50/50 liberal/conservative, and that's the most liberal it gets in this state. At least around here. I'm surrounded by red counties, and my suburb is predominantly red. Pretty sure all my neighbors voted Trump. A mix would be much better.

[ktgrok]

So, Dice tells me that tech jobs there are on average paying $16,400 more than here in Florida per year, so that's something. Will keep trying to find more details.

[Shizim]

Originally Posted by ktgrok

So, Dice tells me that tech jobs there are on average paying $16,400 more than here in Florida per year, so that's something. Will keep trying to find more details.

not to minimize but that difference is negligible when considering the COL differences.

$100K in Orlando is great money. in Boston, its ok. but def will be tough for a family of 4 single income trying to buy in the current market.

[ktgrok]

Originally Posted by Shizim

not to minimize but that difference is negligible when considering the COL differences.

$100K in Orlando is great money. in Boston, its ok. but def will be tough for a family of 4 single income trying to buy in the current market.

Yeah, but the average here is 86K. So he makes well over average. if he makes well over average there (which is 103K), maybe?? He makes about 15K over average here, so that would be 118K maybe there?? (still researching this).

[MrLinderman]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Central MA resident here - house prices still generally exceed OPs budget, at least along the 190 belt. Even the better neighborhoods in Leominster will command more than OPs budget, despite it's lesser reputation.

Small 1,200-1,500 sqft cape/ranches are selling for 275-285K in towns like Sterling, Holden, Shrewsbury, etc.

The "less desirable" central MA towns are certainly cheaper than some of the "less desirable" towns around Boston, but much of that area is almost as expensive as greater Boston, like you've suggested.

The median home price according to zillow in Shrewsbury is almost 400k. That puts it almost smack dab in the middle between places like Weymouth (ehh, but one of the last "affordable" South shore towns) and Braintree (the NEW IN THING apparently).

[MrLinderman]

Originally Posted by ktgrok

Yeah, but the average here is 86K. So he makes well over average. if he makes well over average there (which is 103K), maybe?? He makes about 15K over average here, so that would be 118K maybe there?? (still researching this).

Granted my wife and I live much closer to Boston (although not in an extravagant area by any stretch), but we make significantly more combined, have zero kids, live below our means, and it still can be tough at times.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by MrLinderman

Granted my wife and I live much closer to Boston (although not in an extravagant area by any stretch), but we make significantly more combined, have zero kids, live below our means, and it still can be tough at times.

Same here, except we're in central MA dealing with monthly mortgage/tax bill of around $1,900 (modest by modern standards). Plenty of margin, but it would be hard to imagine raising 4 children, save properly for retirement, and deal with all the other MA tangibles like winter utilities, labor costs, vehicle wear and tear, etc.

Plenty people do pull it off, at least for a period ... but I'd rather avoid that amount of stress and toil. I had a coworker with 3 children who was pulling somewhere around 110k-120k, wife stayed home, kids were home schooled, pretty well regulated financially ... he bailed after 18 months and headed back to the mid-west because he was "barely treading water". He was truly taken back by the cost of living, even in southern NH.