Massachusetts or New Hampshire? From the midwest... (Boston, Worcester: apartment, to rent)

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by panchilly

Scroll up, i wasn't talking to the OP i was talking to the fellow who is spending 1500/month on rent in Marlborough.

Sorry! My bad. Although people rent for lots of different reasons. Some people are happy renters for their entire lives.

[ECPCVC]

Originally Posted by massnative71

It's good sized, but no real big box stuff there. Mostly restaurants, bowling alley, entertainment type stuff.

True..but not many towns have two Targets lol. Between Apex, the mall (with 3 department stores and a movie theater), 2 targets, Home Depot, however many Marshall’s/TK Maxx, ocean state job lot, dsw, pharmacies, many a dollar store, every fast food chain imaginable I can’t think of anything Marlborough doesn’t have. I guess if you really needed a Walmart you could go next door to Hudson. Btw I think of it as a positive to have so much in town. You can live in a very residential, leafy green neighborhood but with many conveniences close by. I live in the town over and I’m there all the time because my town doesn’t have much.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

It's a joke, but I'm thinking the Apex Center area. And not just Marlborough, but the whole 495 belt. Most of my friends live way inside of 95 and, until I moved to Marlborough, I rarely ventured out this way.



It's only been in the last few months that downtown has gotten anything worth going to downtown for - the two new breweries. There's a few restaurants, but I wouldn't call it urban by any stretch of the imagination. Hudson downtown reflects the investment the town has put into it more than Marlborough, though Marlborough has potential.







I cut my car insurance in half when I moved from Medford to Marlborough. I still pay over $1000 a year.

I did realize it was a joke, was just saying...


I didn't mean "urban" as in a lot of destination stuff there, but considering the density and prevalence of multi-families and rental housing. It's economically diverse. In other words, not what most people would consider traditional suburban. I consider Hudson to be more "suburban" (or small town really), despite its downtown being nicer and offering more for visitors imo.


From my experience there is a huge drop off in insurance premiums once you go outside 128, but after that it pretty much levels off. Not much difference from town to town.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

True..but not many towns have two Targets lol. Between Apex, the mall (with 3 department stores and a movie theater), 2 targets, Home Depot, however many Marshall’s/TK Maxx, ocean state job lot, dsw, pharmacies, many a dollar store, every fast food chain imaginable I can’t think of anything Marlborough doesn’t have. I guess if you really needed a Walmart you could go next door to Hudson. Btw I think of it as a positive to have so much in town. You can live in a very residential, leafy green neighborhood but with many conveniences close by. I live in the town over and I’m there all the time because my town doesn’t have much.

I agree, as long as the stuff is not right in my face all the time and can avoid it on most days. Certainly helps with the tax base.


But if you ask what Marlborough is missing (for the usual big box crap): Lowe's, Market Basket, BJ's, Wegman's, Dick's. Luckily you can find those in surrounding towns though. I personally just don't like the "feel" of Marlborough, probably not fair though.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by panchilly

Why are you renting out in Marlborough? Why not buy since prices are low.

just not in Marlborough. Stow? Yes. Shrewsbury? Yes. Boyston? Yes. Westborough? Yes. Northborough? Sure. Marlborough? Nah.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I agree, as long as the stuff is not right in my face all the time and can avoid it on most days. Certainly helps with the tax base.


But if you ask what Marlborough is missing (for the usual big box crap): Lowe's, Market Basket, BJ's, Wegman's, Dick's. Luckily you can find those in surrounding towns though. I personally just don't like the "feel" of Marlborough, probably not fair though.

And 3 of them are right on the Berlin/Hudson line 1 stop up 495

OP - Marlborough/Hudson will be the least culture shock, beyond rent prices. There's even a smaller Cabelas.
Worcester isn't a bad commute - from eastern Worcester to the end of 290 in Marlborough is 15 minutes tops (not if you want to get onto 495 south, that'll back up a mile or two at 7:30 am...) More stuff to do for a early 20s couple, but Marlborough/Hudson isn't bad either, and obviously not a bad drive.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

just not in Marlborough. Stow? Yes. Shrewsbury? Yes. Boyston? Yes. Westborough? Yes. Northborough? Sure. Marlborough? Nah.

I wouldn't buy in ANY of those towns if I didn't have an ample down payment OR just didn't WANT to buy. I agree about Marlborough though. With what it now costs to buy there (minimum entry point), you might as well go to Hudson, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Franklin, etc. which are all better towns.

[nic012]

Originally Posted by Dm84

If your BF lives in MA but works in NH he still has to pay the MA income tax, so I wouldn't make that a factor unless he was planning to live on his own anyway. If you eventually get married only the MA sourced income would be subject to the MA income tax if you lived in NH.

I was thinking along the lines if we both lived together in NH then maybe we would save money together since only one of us (me) would be paying state income tax. But now I'm wondering if we would really see any money saved with my commute.

[nic012]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

If you're living in Marlborough, MA, I'd work in Mass. As Dm84 mentioned, you still need to pay the Mass income tax, plus the drive is fairly long, and the traffic on 495 and 93 is pretty thick.

As far as cost of living differential, the only important one is what you're going to be paying for rent. Fortunately, Marlborough is on the outer beltway, but I'd suggest just looking in Trulia to get some idea of what rents will run, take the difference from your current rent, and multiply that difference by 12 - that's an approximation to your increased annual cost of living.

Thank you for this information. I did not know if the commute would be doable or not since I didn't know how congested these highways get. I met a guy a month or so ago who told me no matter what to live in NH and commute since the commute is really easy...he lived in RI though years ago so I didn't know how accurate his suggestion was, and according to you and others, the commute probably would not be worth it in my situation.

And thank you for this tool recommendation. I will definitely check it out to compare my salary in Marlborough compared to what I think I could get offered back here in Oklahoma/Kansas region.

[nic012]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

If you're living in Marlborough, MA, I'd work in Mass. As Dm84 mentioned, you still need to pay the Mass income tax, plus the drive is fairly long, and the traffic on 495 and 93 is pretty thick.

As far as cost of living differential, the only important one is what you're going to be paying for rent. Fortunately, Marlborough is on the outer beltway, but I'd suggest just looking in Trulia to get some idea of what rents will run, take the difference from your current rent, and multiply that difference by 12 - that's an approximation to your increased annual cost of living.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

A new grad with a job in Marlboro, you're likely to be living fairly close to Marlboro where rents are more affordable and the commute is sane. I-495 has a lot of traffic. You're not going to want a daily commute from New Hampshire.



Beyond rent, automobile ownership costs are likely higher than what you're used to. Energy costs are also high so you'll have winter heating expense.

Thank you. I wasn't aware of how bad traffic could get up there. We see next to zero traffic back home so living awhile away from your destination has never been to cumbersome.

So you're saying my car insurance and electric bills will likely be a lot higher in MA from OK? I thought OK had pretty high car insurance rates because of all the uninsured drivers and storms we have here.