Thinking of moving east (Boston, Springfield: job market, buyer, tenants)

[rranger]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

I wonder if the Maine coast could be a compromise between the retiree income and sailing issues? Activity in the Maine forum seems to indicate that many retirees are satisfied with the living conditions in Maine right now.

It would be, if this were 1990! Pretty much everything from Portsmouth to Portland is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!! Completely unaffordable, sad to say. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anything in Ogunquit, for example, for less than $1.0 MM that's worth living in.

Of course, as is always the case in these forums, it would be just peachy if AK-Cathy actually reported back to us what she's thinking ...

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by rranger

It would be, if this were 1990! Pretty much everything from Portsmouth to Portland is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!! Completely unaffordable, sad to say. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anything in Ogunquit, for example, for less than $1.0 MM that's worth living in.

It gets cheaper north of Portland.

[western mass and love it]

The Berkshires are great if your looking at pictures or paintings of the Berkshires. Living there is a completely different story. If you like rural ghettos and heroin addicts, being isolated and driving a minimum of 30 minutes to anything (unless you live in the center of GB, Lee , Lenox or Pittsfield). The centers of most of these small towns are dumps. The decent houses are way out.

The people who yell Berkshires are thinking of Rockwell paintings not reality. I would pick the lower Pioneer Valley over the Berkshires any day. You can find quite tree lined streets within an established town. And have modern medical facilities and modern amenities all within a short drive.

[chicagoliz]

Hmmm. I suspect the Berkshires might get too cold. Eastern MA is going to be too expensive, I think.

Have you investigated a place like Guilford, CT? It seems like a nice town, it's right on the water, so the growing zone is actually higher than most of that in the rest of CT. It's not far from New Haven, so you have access to Yale and all the personal growth and excellent medical care that offers. Plus it's not unreasonable to get to either NYC or Boston if you want to travel to either one occasionally.

I have not lived there, but had looked into it as a possibility a few years ago.

And CT in general is not that expensive once you get outside of the NYC-based part of the state. I don't know if it's what you want, but it might be worth a look.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Hmmm. I suspect the Berkshires might get too cold. Eastern MA is going to be too expensive, I think.

Have you investigated a place like Guilford, CT? It seems like a nice town, it's right on the water, so the growing zone is actually higher than most of that in the rest of CT. It's not far from New Haven, so you have access to Yale and all the personal growth and excellent medical care that offers. Plus it's not unreasonable to get to either NYC or Boston if you want to travel to either one occasionally.

I have not lived there, but had looked into it as a possibility a few years ago.

And CT in general is not that expensive once you get outside of the NYC-based part of the state. I don't know if it's what you want, but it might be worth a look.

That's where I would go. A few things with CT though, high property taxes and there's a sales tax on clothing and groceries. But to live on the CT shore sounds like perfection. Even the weather is better and the days in winter are just enough longer that it makes a difference.

[AK-Cathy]

I thought this thread had died, had a busy past 3-4 days, didn't check in on it and lo and behold....it's alive.

We are going out east for a visit in mid-March for a long week. We are interested in CT and MA. We did some online work on ME and NH but couldn't find "the" spot. A lot was out of reach cost wise on the coast unless way out there up on the fringes and a whole lot of it inland seemed a bit depressing, like folks just gave up and quit maintaining things. After years of taking on other people's deferred maintenance, we just want something finished so we can live our lives. Frankly in some of the eastern MA towns I saw this giving in as well.

MA is definitely better tax-wise for us but the expense and scope of Boston rules coastal MA out. There are a few affordable places out on the Cape but I've lived in a town that was pretty much empty in the winter (including a lot of the services) and teaming full in the summer months. Not interested in doing that again.

The eastern half of coastal CT has a lot to offer for climate (gardening) and sailing. We looked at the mill rates and property tax histories on interesting homes and though a bit more money (not a lot) there are expenses that will be cut like the cash remodel that we are undergoing plus tending acreage here. The type of housing that we are interested in (smallish but charming in a roses on the trellis kind of way with a tiny bit of land) is affordable. We would be paying cash for property or nearly so until we sell out here and will pay it off entirely with a good chunk of cash left over.

I have done a preliminary check and our household income in retirement is somewhat better than the reported median incomes for both areas giving us some room as well as a couple of healthy IRAs that we haven't tapped into. Barring medical disaster which can happen here or anywhere, we should be fine. We don't have children and money, other than what it affords as far as comfort, security and pleasure is not important to either of us. (Until it's gone right?) Even so we are super thrifty, grow a lot of our own food, buy things used, repair things, drive older cars, make things and have moderate tastes. It's just our way though we probably don't need to do this, doing so allows us even more leeway with other expenses.

So we will take a tour of central MA as well as areas in CT. Get the lay of the land so to speak. I appreciate how much information has been added to this thread in the past few days. I really thought it had gone to the bottom of the page to never return. Thanks. I'll update as developments occur.

[rranger]

Cathy:

Thank you for checking in with your detailed response. In a general sense, and not to unduly offend CT readers, you'd be MUCH better off looking in either MA or RI. CT doesn't have a lot of ancillary attractions to offer (I'm putting this as delicately as I can) outside of Litchfield County, and you'd find much more to do in either Western MA or RI, though Berkshire County - as I'm sure you already know - is quite a bit more sophisticated than RI (and, yes, that includes the East Side of Providence and Newport, before the nitpickers rip apart my discourse). Wow! I think that may be the longest sentence I've ever written.

In any event, Eastern CT has gambling, and a coastline that makes people who live there go to RI beaches, but not a lot else. I think you'd be disappointed to move there, frankly.

Someone made the point that Franklin County MA would be a good place to look, and I might agree if you were the type to live in an ashram, or if you were sub 30, but I'm assuming you're none of the above. Again, Berkshire County is - I think - the place for you in MA.

In any event, good luck with the search. You won't regret moving to New England, at least from May through December ... January through April are quite another story!

[rranger]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

The Berkshires are great if your looking at pictures or paintings of the Berkshires. Living there is a completely different story. If you like rural ghettos and heroin addicts, being isolated and driving a minimum of 30 minutes to anything (unless you live in the center of GB, Lee , Lenox or Pittsfield). The centers of most of these small towns are dumps. The decent houses are way out.

The people who yell Berkshires are thinking of Rockwell paintings not reality. I would pick the lower Pioneer Valley over the Berkshires any day. You can find quite tree lined streets within an established town. And have modern medical facilities and modern amenities all within a short drive.

Wow ... bitter much?!?

[missionhill]

ranger - you are underestimating eastern Ct. Many attractions there and beautiful places both on the coast and inland- places like Pomfret, Brooklyn, Woodstock as well as the shore towns— New London, Mystic, stonington, Old Saybrook, Lyme, or just upriver in Essex. And not too far from either Provdence or New Haven. Seems pretty ideal for slightly longer season gardening and sailing.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by missionhill

ranger - you are underestimating eastern Ct. Many attractions there and beautiful places both on the coast and inland- places like Pomfret, Brooklyn, Woodstock as well as the shore towns— New London, Mystic, stonington, Old Saybrook, Lyme, or just upriver in Essex. And not too far from either Provdence or New Haven. Seems pretty ideal for slightly longer season gardening and sailing.

I agree. There's a lot to do around Old Saybrook. Essex is my all time favorite town for beauty. Branford, Guilford are beautiful seaside towns too. Just a little way up the river is the Goodspeed Opera House and there is a lot more local theater. You're not even that far from NYC. You have RI just to your east with really beautiful beaches if the CT beaches aren't good enough for you (CT beaches aren't that great but at least it's ocean.) You've got Yale and to the north in Middletown (which is another neat place) you have Wesleyan and with it come a lot of cute restaurants and decent shopping.

The CT shore is not about gambling.