$250K Houses With the Closest Proximity to Boston That Are Also Safe? (Taunton: live, prices)

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

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.

My point was that a young professional won't be looking to rent a room an hour away from the city. Obviously it's different in Cambridge, Somerville etc.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

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.

Friends of ours ended up moving to NH because they were priced out of places along the Rte 2 corridor. Even though their rent for a 1 BR is cheaper up there, rents are also climbing because everybody's getting priced out of MA.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

My point was that a young professional won't be looking to rent a room an hour away from the city. Obviously it's different in Cambridge, Somerville etc.

Yeah, but a grad student at UMass-Dartmouth might. An instructor getting paid slave wages, maybe.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yeah, but a grad student at UMass-Dartmouth might. An instructor getting paid slave wages, maybe.

You're grasping at straws. OP is 34 years old. What 18-21 year old student wants to live with a 34 year old? When I was 21 I thought 34 was middle aged. It would have felt like living with my parents. OP has to get up at 6am to get to work, do you think he wants teenagers across the hall getting it on at 3am? How about partying with people half his age every thirsty Thursday?

Edit: I just realized you said grad student but the same thing applies. My wife and I partied harder in grad school than undergrad.

[Japanfan1986]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

You're grasping at straws. OP is 34 years old. What 18-21 year old student wants to live with a 34 year old? When I was 21 I thought 34 was middle aged. It would have felt like living with my parents. OP has to get up at 6am to get to work, do you think he wants teenagers across the hall getting it on at 3am? How about partying with people half his age every thirsty Thursday?

Edit: I just realized you said grad student but the same thing applies. My wife and I partied harder in grad school than undergrad.

I’m not saying it’s a good idea (I’m the OP by the way and it’s a friend who is moving here from NYC who wants to do this), but I think you’re overestimating how picky college students are with who they rent from. Sure, plenty of teens are babied these days and parents finance them to live in ridiculously overpriced places either by themselves or with their besties. But not everyone is so lucky.

When I first moved out of the dorms at 19 the guy I rented from was at least in his 40s. Maybe 50s. It was 3 rooms with me renting one and the other spare being rented to some woman who was also in her 40s.

True, it’s not like I was partying with my housemates. But not everyone in college parties all day. There are plenty of nerds who just want to work and save on housing.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

You're grasping at straws. OP is 34 years old. What 18-21 year old student wants to live with a 34 year old? When I was 21 I thought 34 was middle aged. It would have felt like living with my parents. OP has to get up at 6am to get to work, do you think he wants teenagers across the hall getting it on at 3am? How about partying with people half his age every thirsty Thursday?

Edit: I just realized you said grad student but the same thing applies. My wife and I partied harder in grad school than undergrad.

I roomed with college undergrads in the recent past and I am in my 30's. Sure they can be slobs but there were other benefits such as they don't cook much so I pretty much had the kitchen all to myself and lots of space in the fridge. My landlady had very strict rules and no one was allowed to party, make loud noise, do drugs, drink to get drunk, etc. So not every experience living with undergrads can be horrible.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

Y
Edit: I just realized you said grad student but the same thing applies. My wife and I partied harder in grad school than undergrad.

I have a UMass-Dartmouth physics prof friend who was splitting a New Bedford apartment with another friend of mine when they first landed in town with a low paying instructor job. Until you get on tenure track, those jobs pay chicken feed. That kind of thing happens all the time. New hire public school teachers are usually splitting apartments until they get a few step raises. Most grad students are closer to 30. The law school in Dartmouth doesn't have many 22 year olds. The average age for incoming students is 27. Personally, I didn't have the time to party much in grad school. I had a really big work load.

[TF04]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

If he increases his budget to 350k or even 300k he'll have exponentially more options.

What would those be?

[MassNative2891]

Originally Posted by TF04

What would those be?

Not the person you're responding to but I'd have to assume....Dedham, Everett, Malden, Quincy? Like the lower end of the homes there?

Realistically I think that range actually puts OP dead in the middle of the towns we already mentioned. 50-100k more doesn't do much to change the situation. 400k and then you have a bevy of options (maybe).

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by TF04

What would those be?

Hanson, Holbrook, Abington, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Stoughton, Raynham, Taunton, Rockland, Whitman etc. Take your pick.