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Well I can say a number of things given I grew up in mass move to western and live and work in ct now. The material I'm going to say usually gets removed from the Connecticut Board but I think I can say it here.
First I'd have to ask how long are you looking to own the house? Are you anticipating telecommuting or not?
Second what are you already used to at this point? Health care, shopping, walkability, bars/clubs
Third can you and your mom drive well?
I would generally recommend central and western mass, probably Springfield and Worcester.
Why
1)Floods-Flood factor shows Boston and much of the ct coast will be under water. Springfield has hardly anything and Worcester nothing.
Not in my lifetime, nor likely yours. I'm a believer in climate change but isn't this statement a bit much? For someone looking to relocate here?
Well I can say a number of things given I grew up in mass move to western and live and work in ct now. The material I'm going to say usually gets removed from the Connecticut Board but I think I can say it here.
First I'd have to ask how long are you looking to own the house? Are you anticipating telecommuting or not?
Second what are you already used to at this point? Health care, shopping, walkability, bars/clubs
Third can you and your mom drive well?
I would generally recommend central and western mass, probably Springfield and Worcester.
Why
1)Floods-Flood factor shows Boston and much of the ct coast will be under water. Springfield has hardly anything and Worcester nothing.
2)Telecommuting. As much as I might like to say otherwise telecommuting is gradually become Norm. Pricewaterhousecoopers had 500 job openings in Hartford and then decided to make everything in the entire company telecommuting. In Massachusetts there's a state law that state employees must live in the state. In Connecticut that's not the case. As a ct state employee there are some people in my department in places like Ohio and New Jersey.
3) Finances. Mass has legit controls over taxes and spending. It can still go up but at least it isn't a flood. I pay relative to valuations 30% more in property taxes vs my folks in Mass. Sales taxes are the same but nothing is taxes in CT. Gas taxes are significantly higher.
4) Mass is growing ( Berkshires is dying) CT is flat (Eastern CT is dying). Mass has invested heavily in its urban areas. The relationship between the state and local governments is much better than Massachusetts and Connecticut. Hartford is lost 3,000 people over the past 10 years Springfield has gained 3,000. There was a time when Hartford was a bigger city but that is not been the case for quite some time.
5) Standards in ct are lower. For example in Massachusetts that an educational reform in the early 1990s with sleds to estate development of the mcast test which has been standardized for probably the past twenty or so years Connecticut got rid of their standardized test years ago. Massachusetts is very strict rules and terms of purchasing Connecticut does not a fair amount of Connecticut actually purchases Goods from Massachusetts via the Mhec. Massachusetts (and technically New York) have housing mandates where they have to make attempts to house people as they don't want homeless people on the streets. As a result there was a housing reform in 2014 where people can be assigned public housing when there's openings Statewide. Connecticut doesn't have this. Generally speaking Massachusetts has a pretty strong state government. Now I'm not saying that everybody loves the laws and regulations but they're written in such a way that you know what they mean and you know how they can be enforced. Connecticut isn't like that at all.
6) historical preservation is much better than Massachusetts. There's this then call the community preservation act which provided for an incentive to enable local governments to preserve local history. Connecticut doesn't have this. I'm not saying everything was saved in Massachusetts but the historical districts have much more funding and much more ability.
7) electrical costs are some of the highest in the nation in Connecticut. These are where the terminal ends are from many pipelines so if we can't get the natural gas to power the electrical plants it's going to take a while before rates get lower. Eversource is hated here like you wouldn't believe.
Where I work has a vaccination rate of 95-99% we still don't go in full time. At this point it's no longer about covid but that other employers have hybrid and fully remote so it's normalized and expected. Yes there are many job openings in Connecticut I'm not doubting that. But unless you actually have population growth eventually what's going to happen is they'll continue to have these jobs go online with nullify the reasons to move there.
What gave me the incentive to move to Connecticut was that the house was very cheap in my price range and in livable condition and I am closer to my girlfriend. I would say I'm within about a half hour from Hartford and Springfield in about 45 minutes from Worcester. The house itself was flipped and I'm continuing to put in money for improvements and maintenance and it will continue to appreciate in value and I will build equity. Houses in Springfield went up exponentially over the past couple years
The argument that Connecticut is the backyard of Massachusetts and New York only goes so far. People can drive to a given point but if they don't have access to things it's going to hurt later on in life. What if people can't drive. In more suburban and rural areas public transit is much harder to find. I don't wish bad things on the city of Hartford I've dealt directly with the city and number of times and I could literally get the mayor's office to reply back to me in less than a day. The city of Hartford is in state receivership and will continue to do so for probably years if not a Whole Decade. It's not the mayor's fault but there's systemic issues embedded within the Departments and they're hiring system which make it much harder to get talent and to retain it. Sometimes it's like The Emperor's New Clothes. We think things are the way they are but we not seeing what they are now. I was in Hartford a few months back on a Friday at noon a beautiful day and hardly anybody was there. I saw him maybe Thirty or forty people at the most. The other day I went by Blue Block Square a few people here and there but the cars are really because there's apartments on top of those stores. I'll be going in again in another week or so but I'm not anticipating doing as much. They're trying to convert many of the hotels into Apartments to try to attract people but I don't think that's a good long-term solution. If you want people to spend more money you're going to have to build more actual houses in the city and get them to live there. Otherwise there's not much somebody can do to an apartment to make it better.
Alright, I'll elaborate a bit:
1. We're looking to move into an apartment together, my mother and I, in either state by the time my sister graduates in May. I currently live with my Dad, but due to differences, it seems that he'd rather insist on moving out on his own while my sister moves with her friend post-graduation, leaving only us to figure out where to go from here. Originally, it seemed that it'd be my father and I moving into CT or MA, which would've been easier given our income and the fact that I'd be able to go to school, but looking into the reality of it, there's no way that I'd be able to survive and the fact that working in retail while attending school just wouldn't seem to cut it. I have already taken dorming and the meal plan out of the equation due to the fact that covid has seemingly mucked up my chances and rendered it pointless, but simultaneously, it'd save me a lot more on student loan debt if I have tried to cut down on costs.
2. Honestly, it's all just fair game at this point. Even before covid, I barely did anything but ate, slept, and work since there's just BARELY anything to do for me around here, especially in Westchester County. There's only a handful more jobs that I can work given my age and experience and it's all just grocery, Starbuck's, or retail. Even prior to when I first joined and made my post regarding Herkimer, the circumstances were still somewhat the same as they are now. Usually, though, Westchester as a whole has just a lot of small growth that isn't applicable enough to someone my age since usually everyone post-HS just leaves for college at this point going forward. But the reality with me was that I felt like I was going too fast with my education and that I needed to give myself time for what I really wanted to do.
I don't drink or smoke, most of my shopping is done online, walkability, I wouldn't mind, but it doesn't do me much as opposed to commuting to school/work. Plus, most of the bars around where I live just seem to either close early, be very liberal, or just nonexistent. Even clubbing sucks around here and I could care less about it either way.
3. I don't have my license so I can't drive. My mother doesn't have the car anymore since we had to sell it when we were downsizing to an apartment back in June 2017.
What you say about finances is generally true, though. Though by now it just seems that my mother favors Massachusetts due to the fact that there's more people there and probably has better livability, despite the price tag that shows for it. MA might pay a little less than CT in terms of taxes, though, afaik.
As with one person said about me wanting to become a butcher, that's just mainly more so a day job to get me by. As I said before, I can only find retail-based jobs and it drives me sick due to the fact that it's the only thing for me and it gets boring the more you have to do it. It's fine enough if you use it to pick yourself up, but the reality is that a person is going to need more new skills as they get older. I could work in construction or in a butchery if I could (since what else is a guy like me supposed to do at this point and age), but the reality is that neither of those places are around due to the fact that there's no firms that I could work in and the fact that the one butcher that does have work around me doesn't have enough to need another person since right now there isn't much business going by. Which is why the only job that I can find in my area until we move (and the one I'm working in right now) is a night shift job at a grocery store, which as pathetic as it sounds, but unfortunately, people have grown too self-entitled now thanks to the pandemic and I figured that I'd tell myself that if I'm going to work the one job that has a position for something with the least trouble, then I might as well do it as a one-and-done thing. It's rather emasculating when you're stuck in the one place where you can't do anything or can't do what you want/need to do.
Unfortunately, that hasn't seemed to work out either since during this week I had to work during the day due to my supervisor having to take vacation one last time (he had 5 weeks apparently) and my coworkers had already quit prior to Thanksgiving due to one having to take care of his 4-year old child and the other having to move to Florida, leaving me having to do the work during the day. And I will have to do so again during January if we don't have anyone else working with me since the supervisor also has to go to his son's wedding for the whole month at that time. Whether it's after New Year's day or just a few days after January, I can't be sure. I mean, I worked in retail for 2 years now. I have already worked jobs prior to that such as working as a tutor and as a librarian. The only reason why I insisted on working so much is because of how much I want to save to go back to college for since there's no one else that I count or depend on but myself to reconvene with the situation at hand.
Either way, it seems that the odds are skewed or favored towards MA due to having stronger economic growth and more people for me to meet. I wouldn't mind going to UMass Lowell or Amherst if that's the case, but unless there's anything else for you that you'd like for me to add, I'll leave this post here as it is for now.
As degree during a market bubble but no debt
Dead end jobs but banked $
Went to school and completed degrees no debt
Made much more with degrees and invested well
Used investments to buy a house and also got a better job
Granted it took awhile but things build up. I know of Herkimer, never got any of those diamonds.
Amherst actually is very hard to find housing. Despite what some may have said but long story short work from home became the norm and graduates stayed. New students came in and rents kept going up.
I don't see that much for easy solutions. Maybe you might do well in Worcester (Hudson is nice) if you finally get a car I90 isn't exactly that bad if you have to go to NY. Boston is very expensive as is FFC. The spillover is reaching Worcester and New Haven.
As degree during a market bubble but no debt
Dead end jobs but banked $
Went to school and completed degrees no debt
Made much more with degrees and invested well
Used investments to buy a house and also got a better job
Granted it took awhile but things build up. I know of Herkimer, never got any of those diamonds.
Amherst actually is very hard to find housing. Despite what some may have said but long story short work from home became the norm and graduates stayed. New students came in and rents kept going up.
I don't see that much for easy solutions. Maybe you might do well in Worcester (Hudson is nice) if you finally get a car I90 isn't exactly that bad if you have to go to NY. Boston is very expensive as is FFC. The spillover is reaching Worcester and New Haven.
Right, but that may have been different for during your time.
For me, it felt like the reverse happened:
Went to community college but dropped out. Worked at parents business but was laid off.
Parents lose their jobs as I went through with community college.
Graduated with A.A.S. but worked through covid and grace period. Banked some $ but unemployment and post-work fatigue just ate it up.
Still having to wait through the graduation in order to figure out the move, hence why I'm posting here.
I subscribed to The Market Ear as I figured it's the only newsletter that doesn't give me the most B.S. I know of Robin hood and E-Trade, but I don't know of any useful stocks to invest in. One guy told me to invest in Tesla and Work Horse or something idk.
Herkimer went through a flood in 2019 during my last semester. The National Guard had to get involved. The Diamond house also went through a fire prior to then from what I've heard.
Even then, I've already made that clear about the housing/dorming situation. The main issue is just going back to school, earning my degree, working through it, and being done with it finally. Even then, I still wouldn't know what to do with my life. I have no friends, no gf (hell, I even went to an all-boys HS so that made things even worse off), but I'm not worried about it, nor am I desperate, as I tend to look after myself, but it is getting hard having to literally figure everything out by yourself cause my mother isn't the one having to do all this. I'm more worried, however, about the competence of my own generation, which, as you already know, is getting worse off due to the inclusiveness of our society and the seclusion/isolation of how everyone would prefer to work at home. I have looked into places like Colorado, Scotland, etc. Places that have more grit to them since CO and MA are similar in the tax range yet CO has more interesting mountainous regions, especially for hunting and sharpshooting. Scotland is also a bit better when it comes to people when compared to England or Ireland, though that's more of if I want to travel, not make a habit of going there, as that would be too expensive.
My mother has been keen on moving to Boston, but again, there's really not much to say besides working and going to school. Meeting new people is important but that's more up to where I would move to and how I would figure myself out from there. I just need a place that's liquid and unfortunately, Westchester is drying up.
I'm already sick of NY. Sick of all the people here. So fat, lazy, and boring. Sick of Italians.
I'm not expecting myself to thrive, but to make do and the most of it whereever and whenever I can. Plus, last time I checked, Boston/MA has more Irish than Italians.
Just got off the phone with my mother. Apparently, she is looking into the Boston, Northbridge, Cambridge area on Zillow, since that seems to be her priority atm.
With updated information on no car, that removes Hartford from the list. The public transportation network there is very limited compared to Boston. I used it quite a bit when we lived in West Hartford. It’s designed to get people downtown to the office towers and there’s nothing in downtown Hartford.
Philly would be my more affordable pick to be without a car.
CT will take you further with that income and you can live in a top tier suburb of Hartford, or somewhere down in New Haven County and live very well.
Im more partial to CT now and think its a great state. Taxes are hell though.
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