$250K Houses With the Closest Proximity to Boston That Are Also Safe? (Cambridge: renting, student loan)

[skeddy]

a Boston Whaler

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by redplum33

The only people looking to rent a room are uber/lyft drivers......period.

This is a BS comment, a lot of grad students and young professionals, even ones I'd consider to be relatively well compensated for their age cohort in tech, etc, will have roommates around here. Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, North End, Allston/Brighton, JP.. all very difficult to find a truly affordable 1bed or studio on a young professional budget. Me and many of my friends had no realistic choice but to roommates if we wanted to live in these neighborhoods into our thirties despite having white collar jobs.

Believe me, I was looking, but to have a 1bed or studio was going to be a major compromise in location or sqft.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

This is a BS comment, a lot of grad students and young professionals, even ones I'd consider to be relatively well compensated for their age cohort in tech, etc, will have roommates around here. Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, North End, Allston/Brighton, JP.. all very difficult to find a truly affordable 1bed or studio on a young professional budget. Me and many of my friends had no realistic choice but to roommates if we wanted to live in these neighborhoods into our thirties despite having white collar jobs.

Believe me, I was looking, but to have a 1bed or studio was going to be a major compromise in location or sqft.

He's referencing a debate we had from earlier in the week - definitely NOT a sincere comment.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by Japanfan1986

Yeah planning on commuting. He’s working in IT Security some place in Boston. No idea what his actual budget is since I Googled IT Security and the salary ranges were from something like 30K to 120K so not much help haha.

Just depends on what he'd doing.

Security Sales OTE should be anywhere between $140k-$250k. Sales Engineer should be $120k-$160k salary with team performance commission. If he's a security/network/systems admin, entry pay should be $80k and up. If he's support, that would pose an issue financially.

In any case, someone in IT Security should be able to sufficiently afford a house in the $350k range on a single income. However, living in NYC, we all know the pay check-to-pay check lifestyle, so I'm sure savings are non-existent. Maybe it's simply a down payment issue?

$350k budget makes this move a slight possibility, $250k not so much.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by mwj119

Just depends on what he'd doing.

Security Sales OTE should be anywhere between $140k-$250k. Sales Engineer should be $120k-$160k salary with team performance commission. If he's a security/network/systems admin, entry pay should be $80k and up. If he's support, that would pose an issue financially.

In any case, someone in IT Security should be able to sufficiently afford a house in the $350k range on a single income. However, living in NYC, we all know the pay check-to-pay check lifestyle, so I'm sure savings are non-existent. Maybe it's simply a down payment issue?

$350k budget makes this move a slight possibility, $250k not so much.

That pay seems a bit high?

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by redplum33

The only people looking to rent a room are uber/lyft drivers......period.

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

This is a BS comment

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

He's referencing a debate we had from earlier in the week - definitely NOT a sincere comment.

Yes, definitely a BS comment. Sorry for the confusion, BosYuppie.

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

That pay seems a bit high?

As someone who recently switched jobs in tech, I think the ranges he listed are accurate. All the tech jobs are mainly coming back into the city from the suburbs, and not only is there the Boston COL/commuting bumps with that, but they’re now all competing with Facebook, Amazon, Google and MS for a small pool of talent too. (Unsure if there is a big Netflix or Apple presence in town)

Six figures ain’t what it used to be.

Originally Posted by redplum33

Yes, definitely a BS comment. Sorry for the confusion, BosYuppie.

My B!

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

OPs friend needs to also consider the types looking to rent a one room in any of the mentioned/financially viable towns. Spoiler: they're not working in biotech.

They're absolutely working in biotech. Have you looked at rents lately?



Even on a 6 figure income, many young professionals are paying off significant student loan debt and trying to save for a down payment... that even extends into the suburbs. I think I was the first among my young professional crew (though I don't work in STEM and make less than 6 figures) to leave a roommate situation at 30, and that's only because I have no student loan debt. Even then, I had to move all the way to Marlborough to afford a 1 bedroom.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

This is a BS comment, a lot of grad students and young professionals, even ones I'd consider to be relatively well compensated for their age cohort in tech, etc, will have roommates around here. Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, North End, Allston/Brighton, JP.. all very difficult to find a truly affordable 1bed or studio on a young professional budget. Me and many of my friends had no realistic choice but to roommates if we wanted to live in these neighborhoods into our thirties despite having white collar jobs.

Believe me, I was looking, but to have a 1bed or studio was going to be a major compromise in location or sqft.

That is true for the city but OP asked for a SFH for 250k within an hour of Boston. A young professional is not going to rent a single room in Lawrence or New Bedford etc. More likely to get a drug dealer.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

That is true for the city but OP asked for a SFH for 250k within an hour of Boston. A young professional is not going to rent a single room in Lawrence or New Bedford etc. More likely to get a drug dealer.

By land area, more than half of New Bedford is dense suburban middle class housing. It’s not all tenement buildings, junkies, and hookers. It’s also not an hour from Boston at rush hour and Phase I SouthCoast Rail doesn’t fix that.